THE EXPOLARATION OF THE PORTUGUESE SHIPWRECKS

A short summary/comparison of two Portuguese shipwrecks; The Sunchi Reef shipwreck and the Oranjemund shipwreck.

By: Henry Nakale

The history of the Portuguese shipwrecks began in Goa waters since the first quarter of the sixteenth century. The marine and other related documents state that between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries a number of ships wrecked off during their journey from Portugal to India and back. The majority of them have occurred due to storms, hidden rocky reefs, woodborers, unskilled navigation, etc.

Shipwrecks are nothing but maritime causalities’ considered to be important to maritime and underwater archaeologists who enhance their knowledge on maritime history, trade and cultural contacts from material remains of the shipwreck sites hence shipwrecks are also known as time capsules.

THE CARGO OF THE SHIPS

The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), has undertaken the exploration of the Portuguese shipwreck in Sunchi Reef of Goa, which led to the recovery of storage jars, Iron anchors, gun shot, bases of glass bottles, lead pipes and sheets, copper straps, stone and terra cotta bricks and a number of dressed granite blocks, barrel of hand guns, Chinese ceramics, elephant tusks and hippopotamus teeth.

The artifacts excavated from the Oranjemund shipwreck are very much similar to those recovered from the Sunchi Reef wreck, the maritime archaeologist who excavated the Oranjemund shipwreck have recovered the following artifacts, Copper ingots, tin ingots, lead sheets and ingots, swivel guns, cannon balls, navigational equipment’s, elephant tusks, ceramics, kitchen utensils, silver coins, gold coins and bronze coins.

Both Cargoes share a thing in common as they both narrate the story about the sailors, voyages of the trade, and the provenance of the cargoes reveal the networks of exchange and distribution that directly and indirectly existed between regions, indeed, their objects are neutral witnesses to the past. Therefore the remnants of these two shipwrecks, the copper ingots, cannon swivels, gun shot, the gold and silver coins, and the rosary beads contain information on technology, shipbuilding, armaments, monetary system as well as the social belief system of the sailors (Hamilton 1997).

ENVIRONMENT AND PRESERVATION

 Both the Oranjemund and the Sunchi Reef shipwrecks were recovered from a marine environment, but from different waters. The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) did however not outline how the Sunchi Reef shipwreck and its artifacts were excavated and preserved, but for the Oranjemund shipwreck during the excavation process, some first aid was administered on the findings. For example, the wooden artifacts were wrapped in cling wrap and were watered on a regular basis, after its removal it was stored in water tanks. Other smaller objects were also immersed in water baths pending desalination and other conservation interventions.    

WHEN THE SHIPS SUNK

Among the shipwrecks explored in the Indian waters the wreck of Sunchi Reef is the oldest and is an evidence of Indo-Portuguese trade and commerce of the sixteenth century. Though there is no documentary evidence has so far been found on Sunchi Reef wreck, which could provide some more information of the ship. The information and location of this wreck was given by the local divers and fisherman but it’s estimated that it was a sixteenth century ship. During the Portuguese regime old Goa was the capital and main trade centre in India. The Oranjemund shipwreck also sunk in the early 16^th century and both ships were on their way to India to go trade most of their cargoes.

As both ships wrecked in rocky and swallow waters, the perishable materials may have been decomposed and subsequently disintegrated, the light material such as glass bottles, tusks, ceramics, etc. was scattered over the region. Some of them have been retrieved for study and analysis; whereas heavy materials namely the cannons, copper ingots, granite blocks and iron anchors were find lying in situ in their original location on both wrecks.

Comparatively the finding of storage jar shreds recovered from both shipwrecks is more in number then the Chinese ceramics, which appear to be used daily on board. This is if the Chinese ceramics had been part of the cargoes then a large quantity of shreds could have been found in the course of exploration. The bases of glass bottles indicate that both olive oil and wine were imported from Portugal to India (Goa). And the Hippopotamus teeth and ivory were either imported from Mozambique or some other countries of Africa to Goa and from Goa those were sent to Gujarat for carving sculptures and making handles, chess pieces, dices, etc. finally the finished artifacts were sold in Portuguese colonies.

Due to non-availability of archival information, it is not possible to state whether the Sunchi Reef shipwreck was built in Portugal or India, as also its name, name of the captain, whether all crew on board died or survived. Similarly with the Oranjemund shipwreck, except for its name, it was called the Bom Jesus ship.

In conclusion the findings from both the Oranjemund and Sunchi Reef shipwrecks are an interesting snapshot of the early transoceanic commerce at the beginning of the age of discoveries as well as the way of life of the sailors. The wide ranging provenance of the cargo on the ships involving central European copper and tin, Portuguese  and Spanish finance, Portuguese workmanship and the African ivory shows the connections that were characteristic of the world during that period.

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