Hungarian divers find 17th-century Dutch ship near Brazil

A team of Hungarian marine archaeologists has found the wreckage of a Dutch cargo ship which sank near the Brazilian coast over three centuries ago.

Voetboog was a three-mast flyboat, which left the port of Batavia (now Jakarta) for The Netherlands with a 109-member crew on board, the expedition leader Attila K. Szaloky told MTI.

Owned by the Dutch East India Company, the Fluyt ship carried silk, spices, tea, Japanese and Chinese porcelain as well as nearly 180,000 pieces of Dutch golden ducats. The estimated value of the wreckage is about 1 billion dollars, he said.

Sailing on the Atlantic, the ship was probably caught by a storm and its only chance to get home was to stick close to the Brazilian coast. For reasons unknown, however, it sank near the coast of Pernambuco state on May 29, 1700.

The team of Octopus Association for Marine Archaeology found the wreckage in October 2008 but announced the discovery only after the first phase of examinations came to an end. The objects found in the depths suggest that it is indeed the wreckage of Voetboog which is lying on the seabed under several metres thick of sediment. Over the past 309 years, the ship has virtually disintegrated, Szaloky said.

The finds will be brought to surface and conserved in line with Brazilian law.

There's also a story that can't be used on FR (copyright complaint) regarding a possible pre-Captain-Cook wreck in Australia.

1 posted on 12/02/2009 10:27:22 AM PST by SunkenCiv

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2 posted on 12/02/2009 10:28:24 AM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)

Pinging Dirk Pitt.

omg! for kewl!!

4 posted on 12/02/2009 10:29:25 AM PST by hennie pennie

A $billion? No wonder that pirate stuff was good micro economics.

5 posted on 12/02/2009 10:29:25 AM PST by Paladin2

6 posted on 12/02/2009 10:35:25 AM PST by BP2 (I think, therefore I'm a conservative)

Hungarians do the work, Brazilians take the majority of the loot in world court, and the Dutch sue to get back their so called possessions.

7 posted on 12/02/2009 10:40:12 AM PST by vetvetdoug (FUBO, a fashion statement for conservatives.)

Hungarians do the work, Brazilians take the majority of the loot in world court, and the Dutch sue to get back their so called possessions.

8 posted on 12/02/2009 10:40:17 AM PST by vetvetdoug (FUBO, a fashion statement for conservatives.)

I checked and Holland had already ceded their colony in Brazil to Portugal by this time. So, this must have been the faster way home. Too bad. They made it through the Straits of Magellan only to be nailed by a tropical storm.

9 posted on 12/02/2009 11:06:46 AM PST by colorado tanker (What's it all about, Barrrrry? Is it just for the power, you live?)

Hungarians do the work, Brazilians take the majority of the loot in world court, and the Dutch sue to get back their so called possessions.

Why... that'll make the lawyers happy!

10 posted on 12/02/2009 12:13:44 PM PST by coconutt2000 (NO MORE PEACE FOR OIL!!! DOWN WITH TYRANTS, TERRORISTS, AND TIMIDCRATS!!!! (3-T's For World Peace))

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