Survey Location: Rio Chagres and the Pearl Islands, Panama
Dates: January 22 – February 9, 2008

Principle Investigators
Dr. James P. Delgado 
Nautical Archaeologist/President/Institute of Nautical Archaeology

Frederick “Fritz” Hanselmann
Research Associate/Nautical Archaeologist
Office of Underwater Science at Indiana University

In Collaboration With
Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Panama (INAC) 

Expedition Background
Prior to the construction of the Panama Canal, for five hundred years the Rio Chagres carried people and cargo from the Caribbean deep into the jungle, where overland trails would then deliver them to waiting ships in Panama City. The pirate Captain Henry Morgan used this very same route in 1671 when he sacked and burned Panama City – the second most important city in the Spanish New World at the time. Four of Morgan’s ships sank off the mouth of the Chagres as he made his escape. Dozens of ships went down near the mouth of the Chagres, yet many have not been located and none have been formally mapped or recorded.

Nearly 200 years later, the Isthmus of Panama became a major highway for gold seekers enroute to California. The passageway supported ships on their way to take part in the Gold Rush.  Steamers made fast journeys from New York and New Orleans to Panama, where the small settlement of Chagres expanded across the river to “Yankee Chagres,” a temporary settlement of hotels, restaurants, bars and brothels.  One of the ships that participated in the “Panama Route” was the steamship Lafayette (1851), which sank near the mouth of the Chagres River.  At least five other shipwrecks from the Gold Rush also lie off the entrance to the Chagres.

On the Pacific side, the Pearl Islands are home to one of only four known submarines from the Civil War era. The Sub Marine Explorer (1865) lies half-submerged on a beach on Isla San Telmo. These islands harbored pirates and buccaneers lying in wait for treasure-laden galleon en route from Peru to Panama City. They also supported the pearling industry of the mid-1800s, which brought Explorer to Panama.

Photograph by Dominique Risollo

Expedition Summary
The Waitt Institute for Discovery partnered with the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) and the Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Panama (INAC) for this exploratory survey on the Rio Chagres and Isle San Telmo in Panama. Leading the expedition as Principle Investigators were Dr. James P. “Jim” Delgado and Frederick “Fritz” Hanselmann.

The 18-day expedition had several goals in multiple locations in Panama. The WID expedition team first conducted a survey in the mouth of the Chagres River at the site of the fabled Castillo de San Lorenzo in a search for the steamship Lafayette and other wrecks from the Gold Rush era. The team then transited the canal to the Pearl Islands and to complete an investigation of the sub started by Dr. James Delgado in 2001. Additionally, a first-ever sonar survey of the waters around Isle San Telmo was conducted.

Photograph by Lance Milbrand

Expedition Team Members
Dr. James P. Delgado/Co-Principal Investigator
President and CEO/Nautical Archaeologist Nautical Archaeologist, Institute of Nautical Archaeology

Fritz Hanselman/Co-Principal Investigator
Research Associate/Nautical Archaeologist, Indiana University

Dominique Rissolo, PhD/Expedition Coordinator
Executive Director, Waitt Institute for Discovery

Joe Lepore/Director of Dive Operations, Surveyor
Dive Safety Officer, Waitt Institute for Discovery

Mike Dessner/Logistics Coordinator, Surveyor
Director of Logistics, Waitt Institute for Discovery

Steve Bilicki/Chief Surveyor
Maritime Archaeologist, Azulmar Research, LLC

Donald G. Geddes, III/Historian
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Institute of Nautical Archaeology

Clyde Smith/Historian
Board of Directors, Institute of Nautical Archaeology

John McKay/Sub Marine Explorer Architectural Reconstruction and Documentation
Architectural Draftsman and Historian

Erich Horgan/Expedition Biologist
Biology Research Associate, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Mike Purcell/AUV Lead Technician
Senior Engineer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Greg Packard/AUV Technician
Senior Engineering Assistant, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)

Lance Milbrand/Videographer
Director, Milbrand Cinema