The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2001) 30.2: 279–281 doi:10.1006/ijna.2001.0356 Recovery and conservation of navigational instruments from the Spanish troopship Salvador which sank in 1812 in Maldonado Bay, Punta del Este, Uruguay Atilio Nasti Maldonado Bay Underwater Archaeological Project, Venezuela 306 (1704) Ramos Mejı ´a, Buenos Aires, Argentina The Spanish ship Salvador sank on 31 August 1812 in Maldonado Bay. A 50 m-long merchant ship, it was used for troop transport and originally destined for Peru. After the revolution in the Oriental Band of the River Plate (actually Uruguay) against colonial power, the ship deviated from its course to attack the port of Montevideo captured for the patriots. On board were 520 soldiers belonging to the Albuhera battalion, along with crew and passengers. It was taken by surprise by a strong south-east wind, known locally as Pampero, and ran aground on sandbanks. The ship broke into two parts and only 130 people survived.  2001 The Nautical Archaeology Society Key words: Spanish shipwreck, navigational instruments, conservation. Introduction M aldonado Bay fronts the city of Punta del Este, 250 km north-east of Montevideo city. It is a narrow and shallow bay, but apart from the shelter of Gorriti Island, the bay is exposed to the strong south-east winds that blow onshore. The ship was blown in the direction of the coast and ran aground on sandbanks. According to documents lodged in the Archivo de la Marina (Campo Mun ˜ oz, 1991), the strong wind and lack of manoeuvrability caused the ship to heel over on one side. The ship was broken and the upper deck was dragged away from the hull. Due to the storm, the two sections of the ship (the hull and the upper deck), were deposited 50 m apart from each other with contents spread over the sea floor. The shipwreck was found by two professional divers, Hector Bado and Sergio Pronkzuc, in 1985. During 1997 the area was investigated by these professional divers together with archaeo- logical and technical support supplied by Oxford University Maritime Archaeological Research (MARE) directed by Mensum Bound, who made the first archaeological research in the Maldonado area (Bound, 1995). Since 1999, and with the financial support of the Innerespace Exploration Team, the author has directed the Maldonado Bay Underwater Archaeological Project, with MARE acting as the consultant institution. During this period, we have been working in a new area of the shipwreck and have recovered more than 4000 items. During next year, it is our intention to make a new plan of the wreck and recover some complete human skeletal remains (Nasti, 1999; 2000). Due to the way in which the wreck was scattered, the plan comprised two sections. One towards to the south-east covered 650 m 2 where parts of the ship, in particular the stern, predomi- nantly lay. The other area towards the north-west covered 600 m 2 . Numerous objects were found there, such as chinaware, bottles, wine glasses, silver coins and medical instruments, plus military artefacts such as bronze cannon, cannonballs, swords, guns, and other artefacts of wood and leather. Among these finds, there were recovered three navigational instruments: one sextant and two octants. Description of the navigational instruments In ancient times the term cuadrant was used by most navigators for an instrument to determine 1057–2414/01/020279+03 $35.00/0  2001 The Nautical Archaeology Society