Underwater Excavation of A Vasco da Gama Wreck [Video]

Marine archaeologists believe they have found the wreck of  Vasco da Gama’s second armada to India.

This is considered a major find that could potentially change how historians view trade and warfare during the development of Western civilization, as expressed by Alex Johnson in the article referenced below.

The ship is believed to be the Esmeralda.  The Esmeralda sank in 1503 of the Omani island of Al Hallaniyah during a storm. It would be the earliest ship ever recovered from the era of Portuguese exploration. The wreckage was discovered in 1998 and excavation began in 2013 which resulted in recovering more than 2800 artifacts.

Read on for details of their finds:

A trove of armaments was also discovered at the wreck site, and it’s already revising how experts regard the extraordinarily violent nature of the Portuguese armada expeditions, researchers said.

“The bulk of the recovered artefacts were artillery and ordnance from the arsenal on board the ship,” the researchers said. “These included lead, iron and stone shot of various calibres, a large number of bronze breech chambers and several ancient firearms.

“Together they provide tangible proof of the military objectives of this fleet as ordered by Dom Manuel and brutally carried out by Vasco da Gama and his two uncles Vicente and Brás Sodré.”

Read the full article on nbcnews.com

What an amazing find.. I have to give these divers a lot of credit for having enough patience to find/ uncover these hidden underwater artifacts.

The following video shows divers recovering the ship’s bell of the Esmeralda from below a boulder 4.3m below the surface.

Images Source: YouTube Clips

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