The Search for Vasco da Gama’s Lost Ships - Esmeralda and São Pedro

Author(s): Peter Holt

Year: 2018

Summary

Two Portuguese ships from Vasco da Gama’s second voyage to India, left behind to disrupt maritime trade through the Red Sea, were wrecked during a storm in 1503 on the coast of Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman. The remains of at least one of the ships was found in 1998 prompting a search for the second ship that was undertaken in 2013 as a collaborative project with Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Culture.  A marine geophysical survey of the area identified a number of targets which were investigated by divers. The survey results were also used to create detailed topographic maps which provided more information about the site formation processes that affected the shipwreck located in 1998.

Cite this Record

The Search for Vasco da Gama’s Lost Ships - Esmeralda and São Pedro. Peter Holt. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441909)

Keywords

General
Esmeralda Oman

Geographic Keywords
United Kingdom Western Europe

Temporal Keywords
1500

Spatial Coverage

min long: -8.158; min lat: 49.955 ; max long: 1.749; max lat: 60.722 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 460