According to Cubadebate, Cuban archaeologists carried out an extensive study last year that determined that at least five munitions should be in this place at the bottom. They have remained there since the first battle for the city of Matanzas on April 27, 1898 between American ships and the defending Spanish, whose colony at the time was Cuba.
To carefully extract valuable finds, the experts first made a virtual model of the seabed. After rising to the surface, the shells that had lain in salt water for 125 years were immediately preserved in a special way to prevent corrosion. Despite the long time that the ammunition was under water, throughout the operation the archaeologists were advised by the explosives experts of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior.
Let us remember that the military conflict between the Spanish crown and the United States took place in 1898. Then the United States intervened in the Cubans’ fight for the independence of Madrid. The war went on for ten weeks. As a result, the Spanish suffered a crushing defeat and, as a result of the peace treaty signed in Paris in the same year, lost several of their colonies: the United States gained control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands, and also essentially established a military protectorate over Cuba.