Researchers may have found the wreck of a vessel belonging to the famous Portuguese explorer during his final voyage.
A wreck off the coast of Kenya could potentially be the ship from one of Vasco da Gama’s pioneering journeys to the Indian Ocean 500 years ago. The wreck was discovered near the town of Malindi, Kenya, in 2013 and is among eight known Portuguese shipwrecks from this period in the region. Researchers believe it might be the São Jorge, which sank in 1524, although its identification remains uncertain, according to a report from Live Science on November 25. If the wreck is indeed the São Jorge, it would be the oldest European shipwreck in the Indian Ocean, according to Filipe Castro, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Coimbra in Portugal.
Diver exploring the wreck site. (Photo: Filipe Castro).
According to a study published in the journal Maritime Archaeology, Castro and his colleagues hope to verify the ship’s identity, in part by conducting surveys of the coral reefs extending north from Malindi to Ras Ngomeni, Kenya, over a distance of 25 km. The wreck is located about 500 meters offshore, at a depth of 6 meters. While they could not observe much of the wreck among the coral on the seabed, Castro and other divers excavated wood from the bow and hull at two trenches they dug at the wreck site.
Da Gama (1469 – 1524) was a pioneer who traveled from Europe to the Indian Ocean in 1497, when his ship became the first to sail around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The Spanish explorer made three other voyages along the route before dying in India in 1524, possibly due to malaria. His expeditions laid the groundwork for Portuguese trade in the Indian Ocean.
São Jorge was one of 20 ships that joined da Gama’s final expedition in 1524, but the ship sank shortly before his death. The new study indicates that this is one of two original Portuguese ships that sank near Malindi, the other being Nossa Senhora da Graça, which was wrecked in 1544. If the wreck near Malindi is confirmed to be the São Jorge, it would hold significant historical meaning and symbolic value as evidence of Vasco da Gama’s third fleet’s presence in the waters off Kenya, according to Castro.
The Kenyan authorities are very interested in the Malindi wreck, and the area could potentially become an underwater museum. The wreck was discovered by Caesar Bita, an underwater archaeologist at the National Museum of Kenya. Bita also collected several ingots of copper and ivory from the wreck site. However, further archaeological research is needed to confirm that this is one of da Gama’s ships.
