The vanished almiranta Santa Isabel
During Mendaña's second voyage in 1595, the ship Santa Isabel, carrying about 180 people, separated from the fleet near the Santa Cruz Islands and was never seen again.
1595 CE · -10.70, 165.85 · status: unexplained
The account
Mendaña himself died at a failed colony in Graciosa Bay, Nendö. The fate of the missing ship has been debated ever since; archaeologists have investigated Spanish-era remains in the Solomons as possible traces of survivors.
The sceptical view
Most likely the ship was wrecked; the absence of records reflects the period, not mystery.
The researched reading
A ship lost in dangerous, poorly charted waters in 1595. A wreck is almost certain, and survivors may have reached Makira. The mystery comes from missing records.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 40% | The ship separated in bad weather near volcanic islands and reefs, with a sick and quarrelsome crew. Wreck or loss at sea is the expected outcome. |
| Undetermined | 30% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| A cultural story | 22% | Spanish-era remains at Pamua on Makira, investigated by archaeologists, have been read as traces of Santa Isabel survivors who settled among Solomon Islanders. If so, the ship’s end was ordinary and its people simply left no written record. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | There is no sign of invented accounts. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 2% | Not relevant. |
| Something in the surroundings | 2% | Covered by the weather and reefs above. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 2% | The ship went missing in a period of sparse records, which is the whole of the mystery. |
Official position: No contemporary finding; historians assume a wreck.