On a remote island at the southern tip of Argentina, wooden shipwreck remains lie scattered along a rugged inlet, while traces of a small settlement survive on a steep hillside nearby. Among the objects recovered are glass beads, ceramic buttons, a ship’s deck prism and a rudder hinge. Together, these discoveries may be connected to the crew of the Espora, a sailing vessel lost in 1873 under the command of Argentine sailor Luis Piedra Buena. Archaeologists are now investigating whether the wreckage and hillside settlement preserve evidence of the crew’s efforts to survive after the disaster.
The discoveries were made at Lacroix Inlet in Franklin Bay on Isla de los Estados, an isolated island separated from mainland Argentina by the Strait of Le Maire. The island lies along a historic sailing route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, which had been used by ships since the early seventeenth century.
Despite its importance to maritime travel, the island’s archaeological heritage has received relatively little investigation. Its difficult sailing conditions, exposed coastline and isolation have made it a challenging environment for seafarers. Historical accounts, however, suggest that shipwrecks and temporary settlements left behind by stranded crews may preserve valuable evidence of life at sea during the nineteenth century.
An archaeological team recently returned to the area to examine previously reported shipwreck remains, search for additional evidence and investigate a possible temporary camp associated with one of the island’s maritime disasters.
The 1873 loss of the Espora
The archaeological investigation is closely connected to the history of the Espora, a schooner brig commanded by the renowned Argentine sailor Luis Piedra Buena.
By the early 1870s, Piedra Buena had been granted Isla de los Estados, although no permanent settlement had been established there. He was involved in commercial activities, efforts connected to Argentine sovereignty in Patagonia, and humanitarian work.
During an expedition to exploit penguins for oil, Piedra Buena and his crew lost the Espora in 1873. The vessel, formerly known as Nancy, was a 157-ton brig with one deck, built in Maryland in the United States.
The crew faced the immediate challenge of surviving on the remote island. According to historical accounts, they built another vessel, a cutter named Luisito, and eventually sailed to Punta Arenas in Chile.
The loss of the Espora is part of a wider maritime history associated with Isla de los Estados. Other shipwrecks and the remains of a lighthouse on the island also reflect the dangers faced by vessels navigating the region. The lighthouse later inspired Jules Verne’s 1905 novel Le Phare du bout du monde.
However, the precise location of the Espora wreck has remained uncertain. Accounts by Piedra Buena and other historical evidence suggest that Franklin Bay may be the place where the vessel sank, but there is no general agreement about the identification.
The newly investigated remains at Lacroix Inlet provide an opportunity to examine that possibility through archaeological evidence rather than relying exclusively on historical descriptions.
Three areas of wooden shipwreck remains
In January 2026, an interdisciplinary team travelled to Isla de los Estados aboard the sailboats Pampa Mía and Galileo, as part of the expedition Aquí hay dragones. The Argentine Navy supported the fieldwork.
The expedition visited San Juan de Salvamento, Cook Harbour and Franklin Bay. At Lacroix Inlet, the researchers conducted archaeological surveys along the coast and surrounding landscape.
The inlet is particularly exposed to strong southwesterly winds and has a steep coastal landscape. Its shallow waters are also affected by changing tides, making the timing of fieldwork important for locating remains in the intertidal zone.
The team identified three areas containing wooden vessel remains.
The first, designated BF010, lies near the entrance to the inlet on its southern side. It consists of the lower portion of a vessel’s hull in the intertidal area, accompanied by an iron chain identified as BF009.
A second structure, BF005, is located slightly above the high-tide line during a quadrature tide. Unlike the lower hull remains at BF010, this structure preserves part of a vessel’s hull up to the level of its deck.
The researchers also identified a third structure, BF004, on the northern side of the inlet. It consists of a smaller section of a wooden hull.
These discoveries are not entirely new. The BF010 and BF005 remains had previously received partial archaeological attention. Personnel from the Ushuaia Maritime Museum investigated the first site, while archaeologists from the Austral Center of Scientific Research (CADIC-CONICET) examined the second.
The 2026 expedition expanded on this earlier work by recording the visible structures and examining their locations in relation to one another.
The researchers photographed, measured, drew and geographically recorded the archaeological remains. They also used a drone to survey the southern coast, providing an aerial view of the spatial relationship between the sites.
Although the team prioritized non-invasive investigation, it also excavated test pits and collected wood samples for further analysis.
The architectural characteristics of the vessels will be particularly important in determining whether the structures represent different sections of one wreck or remains from multiple shipwrecks. Their dimensions, construction features, functions, dates and possible origins still need to be investigated.
At this stage, the researchers have not established the identities of the vessels represented by the three structures.
A possible camp on the hillside
The investigation also identified evidence of a short-term human occupation away from the immediate shoreline.
Designated BF008, the site lies on the lower slope of a steep hill, more than 12 meters above sea level and beside a small stream. It is approximately 150 meters from each of the two southern shipwreck structures, BF005 and BF010.
The location and archaeological materials suggest that people may have established a temporary settlement there.
Among the objects found on the surface were European and Creole artefacts associated with everyday activities and personal belongings. These included glass beads, ceramic buttons of the Prosser style and corrugated galvanized metal sheets.
The researchers also recovered objects with more direct nautical associations. These included a deck prism, a device used to bring natural light into the interior of a vessel, and a small rudder hinge made from a non-ferrous metal.
The combination of everyday objects and ship-related equipment makes the site particularly interesting. Rather than representing only discarded ship components, the assemblage contains evidence of human activity in a location close to the wreckage.
The researchers collected a selection of diagnostic artefacts for further examination of the site’s character.
The spatial relationship between BF008 and the nearby wooden structures also supports the possibility that the camp was connected to people who had experienced a maritime accident. However, the archaeological evidence does not yet establish who occupied the site or precisely when they were there.
Its possible association with the Espora and its crew remains an interpretation under investigation.
What the wreckage says about the Espora’s fate
One important question concerns what happened to the Espora after it was lost.
Historical accounts contain inconsistent information about how much of the vessel was dismantled. Some descriptions suggest that the ship was taken apart to obtain materials, potentially as part of the effort to construct the Luisito.
The newly recorded archaeological structures offer an opportunity to reassess those accounts.
In particular, the BF005 structure remains preserved up to deck level. Its condition does not fit straightforwardly with expectations that the vessel was extensively dismantled for materials.
The researchers also considered the historical account that Piedra Buena established a shipyard to build the Luisito. However, no traces of such a shipyard have been identified during the investigation so far.
These observations do not settle what happened to the Espora or establish whether the surviving structures belong to that vessel. They do, however, provide physical evidence that can be compared with the historical descriptions.
A more comprehensive examination of the wooden remains, their construction and their archaeological context will be necessary to determine whether the different structures represent one or several vessels.
The relationship between the temporary settlement and the shipwreck sites also requires further investigation before the occupants can be confidently identified.
Preserved traces of temporary survival
Franklin Bay’s isolation and protected natural environment have helped preserve archaeological contexts that might otherwise have been disturbed or lost.
The BF008 settlement is particularly relevant to an emerging area of archaeological research examining temporary occupations associated with maritime accidents in Patagonia.
Such sites offer evidence of how people occupied remote coastal environments following shipwrecks, including the material objects associated with their everyday activities and survival.
Previous investigations have examined similar temporary camps in continental Patagonia, but this remains a developing field of research.
At Isla de los Estados, the combination of wooden vessel remains and a possible hillside camp provides an opportunity to investigate the relationship between maritime disasters and short-term human occupation in an isolated environment.
For now, the archaeological evidence establishes the presence of nineteenth-century shipwreck remains and a temporary occupation at Lacroix Inlet. Whether they belonged to the Espora and the castaways who built the Luisito remains an open question.
The identity of the vessels and the movements of the people who occupied the site are still under investigation.
The study was published in Antiquity.
