326-year-old beeswax is washing up on Oregon beaches

Sponsorship

Stephen Hegg

Stephen Hegg Jan 29, 2019

Jan 29, 2019

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>326-year-old beeswax is washing up on Oregon beaches</h1>
                <h2><p>In the late 1600s, a Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast. Its cargo? A bounty of beeswax, used for candles to light the churches and major institutions of the Spanish colonies. Beeswax and other artifacts from the epic shipwreck are still being found</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/stephenhegg-crosscut-com/">Stephen Hegg</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 29, 2019</time></p>
            </header>
            <figure class="kg-card kg-embed-card"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="100%" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="https://player.pbs.org/partnerplayer/XaUbIbjppTBPZOVRe9GvAQ==/?start=0&amp;end=0&amp;topbar=false&amp;autoplay=true&amp;endscreen=false" width="100%"></iframe></figure><p>In the late 1600s, a Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast. Its cargo? A bounty of beeswax, used for candles to light the churches and major institutions of the Spanish colonies. Beeswax and other artifacts from the epic shipwreck are still being found on beaches today. In this edition of Mossback's Northwest, Knute Berger recalls the complicated journey that some observers say resulted in the first-ever contact between Europeans and Northwest indigenous peoples.</p>
          </article>

In the late 1600s, a Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast. Its cargo? A bounty of beeswax, used for candles to light the churches and major institutions of the Spanish colonies. Beeswax and other artifacts from the epic shipwreck are still being found on beaches today. In this edition of Mossback's Northwest, Knute Berger recalls the complicated journey that some observers say resulted in the first-ever contact between Europeans and Northwest indigenous peoples.

By Stephen Hegg

Stephen is formerly a senior video producer at Crosscut and KCTS 9. He specialized in arts and culture, and produced Mossback’s Northwest and Crosscut NOW.