Presido

(L'Estartit, Baix Empordà)

Esteemed colleagues Salvador Coll, Quim Aragonés and Telesforo Bardina discovered and declared this site in September 1996. It is situated along l'Estartit’s Platja Gran (beach) at a depth of 6 m. As the site rests at a shallow depth and in an open space constantly bombarded with waves, only part of the ship’s cargo has been preserved.

The CASC retrieved 165 lead ingots weighing between 35 and 45 kg each and extracted some 6500 kg in total. Each ingot bears a series of markings: some carry Roman numerals indicating weight controls, others Arabic numerals that almost certainly correspond to the caster. Presido is inscribed on all of them. This cargo is believed to have come from the casting workshop in Presidio de Andarax, today the municipality of El Fondón (Almeria); we know there existed lead mines and two casting workshops in the 18th century, one of which was known as the King’s workshop and was public property.