500-year-old shipwreck tied to Vasco da Gama discovered off the coast of Oman
The 500-year-old wreckage of a Portuguese ship piloted by an uncle of famed explorer Vasco da Gama has been found off the coast of Oman, archaeologists said Tuesday, a discovery that included the recovery of an extraordinarily rare coin.
The Esmeralda sank during a storm near al-Hallaniyah Island in the Indian Ocean in May 1503, killing commander Vicente Sodre and all those aboard.
You May Also Like
A large group of researchers have been carefully studying the shipwreck since 2013, but are only now revealing many of their findings after completing their analyses. Esmeralda is the earliest ship from Europe's Age of Discovery ever to be found and scientifically investigated, according to a press release announcing the findings.
A team from the UK-based company Blue Water Recoveries and the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture explored the site in the island's Ghubbat ar Rahib Bay. They later determined the debris found there came from the long-missing ship, one of two lost in the storm from da Gama's second voyage to India.
There is only one other known example of this coin in the world
Divers recovered numerous objects from the ship's remains, including a copper-alloy disc marked with the Portuguese royal coat of arms, which was the personal emblem of King Dom Manuel the First.
The team also uncovered a bronze bell with an inscription that indicated it was probably made in the year 1498, along with gold coins minted in Lisbon between 1495 and 1501.
In addition, many forms of armaments were found, indicating the ships had a military mission.
However, the most important object they recovered was an extraordinarily rare silver coin, called the "Indio," that was commissioned by Dom Manuel in 1499 for the purpose of trading with India. There is only one other known example of this coin in the world, according to a scientific report about the findings published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology on Tuesday.
According to a press release, the coin is also referred to as the "lost" or "ghost" coin of Dom Manuel.
David L. Mearns, the director of Blue Water Recoveries, a U.K.-based company that discovered the shipwreck and excavated it in cooperation with Oman's government, the coins were forged in 1499 after da Gama's first voyage to India, which helps date the wreckage.
"That was an amazing discovery," Mearns said. "It was like a thing you read about in a Hollywood story."
Ayoub al-Busaidi, the supervisor of marine archaeology at the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture, said this marked the first underwater excavation carried out by his country. He said it inspired officials to continue to explore the waters around the sultanate for other finds.
"Oman is now looking at outside archives to read about the relationships and trade between Oman and the outside" world, al-Busaidi said.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
This story has been corrected to indicate that Vasco de Gama was a Portuguese explorer, not Italian as a previous version indicated.
Andrew Freedman is Mashable's Senior Editor for Science and Special Projects. Prior to working at Mashable, Freedman was a Senior Science writer for Climate Central. He has also worked as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly and Greenwire/E&E Daily. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Post, online at The Weather Channel, and washingtonpost.com, where he wrote a weekly climate science column for the "Capital Weather Gang" blog. He has provided commentary on climate science and policy for Sky News, CBC Radio, NPR, Al Jazeera, Sirius XM Radio, PBS NewsHour, and other national and international outlets. He holds a Masters in Climate and Society from Columbia University, and a Masters in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
