Shipwrecks of Puerto Rico

There are more than 200 shipwrecks in the territorial waters surrounding Puerto Rico, which include the main island and smaller ones (such as Isla de Mona, which has at least 20).^[1][2] Almost half (45 per cent) of the shipwreck incidents that took place during the first 150 years of Spanish settlement were at San Juan, with most ships being lost due to the ongoing military conflicts and weather conditions (predominantly tropical cyclones).^[3] In modern times, the San Juan Bay has been subject to dredging initiatives that have adversely impacted the sites, with part of the wrecks now contained within an artificial island, remaining unexplored.^[3] On August 7, 1987, Public Law 10 created the Council for the Study of Subaquatic Archaeological Sites and Resources, allowing the registry of underwater remains by archaeologists. However, the entity was defunded in 2013 and has remained inactive since then. As of 2020, the documents pertaining to the shipwrecks in Puerto Rican waters remain under the custody of the Council's former director, Juan Vera.

The handling of items found in sunken ships has been historically contentious, including proposals to fund the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games with the loot of two galleons believed to have belonged to the fleet of Francis Drake. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, there were at least 22 attempts at salvaging shipwrecks, which were mostly done independently and which employed smaller vessels.^[4] Government officials and citizens with ties to the ventures benefited from the subsequent auctions, in the case of politicians against royal laws.^[4] The protocol only allowed the wrecks that were reported within a day to be favored with a salvage operation, including the registry and auction of the cargo, with the government taking a fraction for its involvement.^[5] The practice of caretakers selling the merchandise under circumstances unfavorable to the merchants eventually lead to a reform in 1550, where sold under the supervision of the Casa de Contratación and items were classified as "belongings of the dead" and shipped to Spain.^[6]