Is it Esmeralda?
In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama
created shock waves in Europe when he reached and returned from the Indian
coast—and its valuable spices—by sailing all the way around Africa, a
24,000-mile journey. Da Gama found both success and hostility in the Indian
Ocean, so when Portuguese king Manuel I dispatched him to the Indies again, in
1502, he went equipped with an armada of 20 ships and instructions not only to
acquire spices, but also to harass and destroy the Muslim shipping industry
that had monopolized the spice trade. One of these ships, Esmeralda, was
captained by da Gama’s uncle, Vicente Sodré. Though the infamously brutal Sodré
was directed by da Gama to patrol the Indian coast and protect Portuguese
interests, he opted to sail toward the Arabian Peninsula in search of conquest
and the rich plunder of Muslim ships. In 1503, Esmeralda and its
crew, including Sodré, were lost in a storm off the coast of present-day Oman.
(Courtesy David Mearns)
Divers excavate a wreck thought to be Esmeralda,
Oman |
Because the ship’s cargo had remained underwater for more than five centuries, many of the artifacts were badly corroded and difficult to analyze. Researchers relied on imaging technology to gather information invisible to the naked eye or that would require destructive techniques to obtain. A CT scan of the ship’s bell allowed some of its faded lettering to be read. Thus far, the numbers 498 and the letter M have been identified, which experts believe may be part of the inscribed year 1498 and, perhaps, the name Esmeralda.
(Courtesy David Mearns)
3-D scan of índio
coin |
Another CT scan was performed on a clump of 24 silver coins, which had corroded into a large mass and were too brittle to be separated. The image revealed the presence of a Portuguese índio coin, one of the rarest coins in existence. The silver índio—of which there is only one other surviving example—was minted by Manuel I in 1499 after da Gama’s first return from the East, and was designed specifically for trade with India. Because it was only minted for a short time (it was replaced in 1504), this discovery has been a useful tool in helping both date and identify the shipwreck. “Even at this relatively early stage in the archaeological assessment of the wreck site,” says Mearns, “the evidence strongly indicates that the wreckage we found is from Sodré’s Esmeralda.”
(resources: JASON URBANUS, Archaeology Magazine, 13/06/2016)
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