For hundreds of years beeswax and porcelain have washed ashore over a
small stretch of the Oregon Coast.

And inshore, tales of Spanish shipwreck survivors and mixed blood Native Americans have been passed down from generation to generation.

For a number of years, a small group of volunteers has searched this shore for clues that may reveal the identity of this enigma. In 2011 Scott Williams, leader of the shore based searches, and his team of volunteers recruited Dr. Mitch Marken, a veteran shipwreck archaeologist to take their search offshore.

In June, 2011, Marken received a permit from the Oregon State Historic Preservation Office to find and identify Oregon’s Mystery Galleon.