Spain logs hundreds of shipwrecks that tell story of maritime past

Weather rather than pirates caused majority of sinkings, says culture ministry team

The treacherous waters of the Americas had their first taste of Spanish timber on Christmas Day 1492, when Christopher Columbus' flagship, the Santa Maria, sank off the coast of what is now Haiti.

Over the following four centuries, as Spain's maritime empire swelled, peaked and collapsed, the waves on which it was built devoured hundreds of ships and thousands of people, swallowing gold, silver and emeralds and scattering spices, mercury and cochineal to the currents.