( CNN ) -- An underwater explorer who says he 's confident he 's discovered the Santa Maria , Christopher Columbus ' flagship , said Wednesday that there 's evidence that the ship has been looted . During a news conference , 68-year-old Barry Clifford said that the remains of the possible ship off the coast of Haiti probably hold `` a great deal of cultural material '' but that he and his team of divers can tell that thieves have disrupted the wreck and taken things . When asked when the ship might have been looted , Clifford said he did n't know . `` Something might have been done several months ago , maybe a couple years ago , I 'm not sure , '' he said . Clifford says he wants the Haitian government to act as soon as possible to help preserve the what he says is the ship 's remains . He also wants the Haitian government to give him permission to continue to study the wreckage . `` I 'm not looking for money , '' Clifford said . `` I 'm looking for the government ( of Haiti ) to protect this . '' He said that whatever his team does next must be coordinated through the Haitian government . A CNN team was in Haiti on Wednesday and asked the senior adviser to the country 's prime minister about Clifford 's claims . Adviser Damian Merlo said in an e-mail that officials did not know whether the wreck was indeed the Santa Maria . Merlo said Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said that if Clifford 's claims are correct , `` it would be of great importance , not only for Haiti , but for world history . '' `` We need to ensure the site is handled properly to protect any archeological findings , '' Lamothe said , according to Merlo . Clue from another wreck . Clifford is an experienced explorer , according to the History Channel website , which described him as `` one of the world 's premiere underwater archaeologists . '' His assertion that he 's probably found the Santa Maria is tied to a shipwreck he and his team investigated in 2003 . A cannon was found as part of the first wreck . But , Clifford told CNN , archaeologists at the time `` misdiagnosed '' the cannon . Two years ago , after having researched the type of cannon used in Columbus ' time , `` I woke up in the middle of the night and said , 'Oh , my God , ' `` Clifford said . He realized the 2003 find might have been the one . A couple of weeks ago , he returned to the wreck with a group of experts . The team measured and photographed the ship . But some items , including the cannon , had been looted from the ship in the intervening years , Clifford said . The ship `` still has attributes that warrant an excavation to determine the site 's identity , '' archaeologist Charles Beeker of Indiana University said Tuesday . `` Barry may have finally discovered the 1492 Santa Maria . '' The evidence , Beeker said , is `` very compelling . '' The ship was found in the exact area where Columbus said the Santa Maria ran aground more than 500 years ago , Clifford said . The wreck is stuck on a reef off Haiti 's northern coast , 10 to 15 feet beneath the water 's surface . Did Phoenicians beat Columbus by 2,000 years ? After 125 years , ship rediscovered at bottom of San Francisco Bay . Wrecked in 1492 . The Santa Maria was the flagship of Columbus ' small fleet that set sail from Spain in August 1492 under the sponsorship of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I . The voyage aimed to find a westward route to China , India and the gold and spice islands of the East . But the land the sailors set eyes on in October 1492 was an island in the Caribbean . Among the islands on which Columbus set foot was Hispaniola , which is divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic . Columbus established a fort in Haiti . That December , the Santa Maria accidentally ran aground off the island 's coast . Some planks and provisions from the wrecked ship , which was about 117 feet ( 36 meters ) long , were used by the garrison at the fort , according to Encyclopaedia Britannica . Columbus set off back to Spain with the two remaining ships , the Nina and the Pinta , in January 1493 . The Nina and Pinta were put back into service after their voyages and were not preserved , said historian Laurence Bergreen , author of `` Columbus : The Four Voyages . '' There have been reproductions of those ships , but they are based on vague assumptions . `` We do n't have very accurate records of what they looked like , '' he said . What caused this Civil War submarine to sink ? Piece of ironclad brought to surface . Shipwreck found on Gulf floor while thousands watched . CNN 's Danielle Dellorto , Ronni Berke and Miguel Marquez contributed to this report .
Explorer says ship he believes is Santa Maria has been partially looted . Barry Clifford says he does n't seek money , wants Haiti to protect what he 's found . Haiti prime minister : If wreck is Santa Maria , discovery would be of 'great importance ' to nation .