'The Goonies' Shipwreck Might Have Just Been Discovered In Real Life
A team of volunteer archaeologists searched the caves along the coast of Oregon in June and made a discovery that hints to the storyline of The Goonies.
There’s a lot we have left to discover in the ocean. New species, new environments, and shipwrecks that we once thought were lost forever are being found. The most recent discovery is a piece of timber that is thought to be from a centuries-old shipwreck that may have inspired the plotline of the movie The Goonies. Here’s what you need to know.
In the 1985 movie, directed by Stephen Spielberg, the characters were taken aboard a pirate ship captained by One-Eyed Willie. While the story is obviously fiction, the story was inspired by a real-life ship that went missing.
“According to a spokesperson at Spielberg’s company, Amblin Productions, the movie mogul used the story of the San Cristo de Burgos as inspiration for the film, which is set in Astoria, Ore.,” Washington Post reports.
Historians have long believed that the Spanish San Cristo de Burgos ship may be somewhere along the Oregon coast after it went missing in 1693. One promising find is a strong clue that they were on the right track. According to CNN, archeologists are now processing some timber that was found along the shoreline, which they believe to be from San Cristo de Burgos.
“No booby traps, just the timbers,” Scott Williams, president of the Maritime Archaeological Society, told Washington Post. “The caves are incredibly hard to get to,” he said. “They are located on a beach that is only accessible at high tide, and it’s a tough hike to get to it over landslides and boulder fields.”
It’s not yet confirmed that the pieces of timber found are from the long-lost ship, but historians are hopeful that more clues will be found in the coming months. Next up for the hunt is scheduling diving near where the archeologists believe the wreck to be with technology that will help them access the hard-to-navigate caves.
“We’re hoping that one of our divers will stumble on a Spanish cannon laying on the ocean floor,” Williams said. “That would be pretty exciting!”
