The wrecks should have been national treasure of Goa and Portugal but according
to the reports below they have been stripped off their bounty. Moreover I was
expecting some slaves to be found (reference to the title). But by the looks of
the article no slave was found or probably they were sold to the richest bidder.
BC
? Shipwreck treasure off Goa coast
Mayabhushan | Panaji
Next time you are headed for Goa, it makes sense to pack in your scuba gear
along with swimming trunks.
With more than three shipwrecks discovered and explored off the State?s coast
in the last seven years, marine scientists at the National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO) here believe that Goa might be the next big thing as far as
underwater shipwreck exploration is concerned.?
?We have begun explorations since 1988 but regular, organised explorations
began in 1997. We had found two ships earlier, but this is the first time we
found a steel-hulled steamship,? NIO marine researcher Dr Sila Tripathi told
The Pioneer, adding that the recent find was a century-old merchant ship.?
Over time, however, some of the underwater relics have been stripped bare of
their merchandise by local divers.
?Boilers, furnace bricks, flanges, broken copper pipes and tubes were found
scattered over a wide area. The engine, which appears to be a triple-expansion
type, is reasonably well preserved, though local divers have despoiled the
wreck in the recent past. They have removed copper alloys, and other attractive
or saleable items,? Dr Tripathi said.
In the last few years, three wrecks ? including a 17th century merchant ship
(oldest wreck found in Indian waters to date) ? were found at the Sunchi Reef
(between Mormugao harbour and the promontories of Cabo headland), a Basel
Mission Company shipwreck at St George reef (eastern side of Grande Island to
the south of Mormugao port) and the recently-explored merchant ship at Amee
shoals (a sand bank that divides the Mormugao bay from the Arabian Sea).
The Sunchi shipwreck, found in 2006, fetched a unique brass barrel of a
handgun, iron guns, an anchor, Chinese ceramics, Martaban pottery (stoneware),
assorted bases of glass bottles, elephant tusks, hippopotamus teeth, lead pipe
fragments, a copper vessel and strip, stone bricks and dressed granite blocks ?
all sitting pretty at one location.
According to the NIO, the wrecks have offered rare glimpses and vital clues to
the Portuguese and British maritime trade.?
?The stamps on the flanges and the name on the firebricks of the wreck suggest
a British origin, and the three scotch boilers indicate that it was a large
merchant ship (naval vessels used water-tube boilers),? Tripathi said.?
The scientist further said that in the 1880s, steel from Sheffield (England)
was imported by Portugal for the laying of a railway line from Mormugao to
Castle Rock, a railway station in Karnataka near the border with Goa. ?The
vessel could be from that period. However, lack of datable finds means that it
is difficult to identify the date and origin of this wreck,? Tripathi rued.?
With Goa being a major trading post for the Portuguese, it is suspected that a
large number of ships sunk off its shores. ?The Portuguese records housed in
the Goa State Archives, Panaji, and India House, Lisbon, hint at the wrecking
of numerous Portuguese shipwrecks in shallow waters off Goa, with its
treacherous reefs and sand-bars, in prevailing storms or due to enemy fire,? Dr
KH Vora, a marine archaeology project leader at the NIO said.
The Portuguese had established several shipyards in Bassein (Maharashtra),
Cochin (Kerala), Goa and Daman on the western coast of India.?
Goa alone had three shipyards situated on the banks of the Mandovi. Well-known
ships that were built in Goa shipyard at the time include the Santo Ant?nio de
Tanna, Cinco Chagas, S?o Jo?o Baptista, Bom Jesus and Madre de Deus.?
???
.
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End of Goanet Digest, Vol 11, Issue 483
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