ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered a 300-year-old shipwreck laden with treasure worth up to £101 million.
The ship – believed to be the Nossa Senhora do Cabo – was sunk by pirates off Madagascar in 1721 during one of the most infamous raids in history.
The sunken Nossa Senhora do Cabo’s lower hull captured in a photomosaic[/caption]
Researchers prepare for a dive off the coast of Madagascar, where the shipwreck was discovered[/caption]
Among the more than 3,300 artefacts recovered from the Nossa Senhora do Cabo shipwreck are pottery fragments[/caption]
The Portuguese vessel was transporting cargo from Goa, India, to Lisbon, Portugal, when it was raided.
The treasure ship is believed to have been attacked on April 8, 1721, by pirates led by Captain Olivier “The Buzzard” Levasseur, during what historians call the Golden Age of Piracy.
The raid became one of the most notorious of the era due to its staggering plunder – thought to be one of the richest pirate hauls in history.
An estimated 200 enslaved people were also onboard at the time, though their fate remains unknown.
The ship was a heavily armed, state-owned carrack, making its capture all the more humiliating for the Portuguese Empire.
After 16 years of investigation, researchers at the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation found the wreck in Ambodifotatra Bay, near the island of Nosy Boraha, off Madagascar’s northeast coast.
More than 3,300 artefacts were pulled from the site, including religious figurines, gold ingots, pearls and treasure-filled chests.
One ivory plaque is inscribed with gold letters reading “INRI”, the Latin abbreviation for “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum” – meaning “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”, as recorded in the Roman gospels.
Brandon A. Clifford and Mark R. Agostini, marine archaeologists from Brown University behind the find, described the haul as “an eyewatering treasure, even by pirate standards”.
They estimate the cargo alone could be worth more than £108 million in today’s money.
During the period that the Nossa Senhora do Cabo sailed, Portugal controlled key trade routes between India and Europe, transporting valuable goods from its colonies back to the Portuguese mainland.
Besides carrying spices and precious stones, the ship also transported enslaved people, who were forced to work on plantations, in ports and in mines throughout the empire.
Because of their valuable cargo and human freight, ships bound for Europe were prime targets for pirates, who could sell both goods and enslaved people for huge profit.
Ivory inscribed with the letters ‘INRI’ (Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum)[/caption]
A Madonna statue recovered from the 1721 shipwreck[/caption]
The discovery comes as researchers say they found a centuries-old Spanish galleon stacked with a £16bn treasure trove.
The San Jose, which was sunk by the British in 1708, was long thought to be lost beneath the Caribbean waters.
But academics in Colombia believe that a wreck found near Baru Island in 2015 is in fact the long-lost galleon.
An underwater drone mission a decade ago captured images of the cargo scattered in and around the shipwreck.
Among the items recovered were silver coins minted in Lima in 1707, Chinese porcelain from the Kangxi period and cannon inscriptions dating back to 1665.
Site plan of the Nossa Senhora Do Cabo shipwreck excavation[/caption]
