Exploration of the Portuguese shipwreck in Goa waters

Abstract

The history of Portuguese shipwrecks began in Goa water since the first quarter of the sixteenth century. The marine and other related documents state that between sixteenth and eighteenth centuries a number of ships has been wrecked off Goa, Cochin and Orissa 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. The National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, India, has undertaken the exploration of the Portuguese shipwreck in Sunchi Reef off Goa, which led to the recovery of storage jars, barrel and handgun, Chinese ceramics, elephant tusks, hippopotamus teeth, guns, iron anchor, gun shot, bases of glass bottles, lead pipe and sheets, copper strap, stone and terracotta bricks and a number of dressed granite blocks. Among the shipwrecks explored in Indian waters the wreck at Sunchi Reef is the oldest and is an evidence of Indo-Portuguese trade and commerce of that time