Posted on 12/30/2024 10:16:38 PM PST by nickcarraway
Marine archaeologist Alexandre Monteiro has said that the coast of Portugal between the Azores and Madeira islands holds golden treasure-laden shipwrecks. This region is said to contain close to 8,620 ships, and 250 of them are said to hold a significant amount of gold treasure.
Monteiro is an investigator who works with Nova University in Lisbon and has built a database that records shipwrecks dating back to the XVI century when historical records become more easily accessible.
In an interview with a local outlet, Lusa, Monteiro claims to have documented more than 7,500 shipwrecks off Portugal’s continental coast, 1000 near the Azores, and 120 off the island of Madeira.
Some of the most significant shipwrecks on the coast of Portugal are ships filled with gold treasure In the interview, Monteiro highlighted some of the most significant shipwrecks he could identify in the area. For instance, he claimed that near Troia there is a Spanish ship called Nossa Senhora do Rosário, which according to Monteiro was carrying 22 tons of gold and silver. Unfortunatley, the exact location of this ship remains undiscovered.
Since this ship has sunk, the treasure is secure from potential looting due to its depth in the ocean. This is also the case for many of the alleged 250 shipwrecks in the area.
Grecian Delight supports Greece Remarkably, Monteiro claims that in the immediate area, there are almost 250 shipwrecks that hold treasure with similar characteristics.
“We know that there are 250 ships that hold treasures, and sooner or later, a construction project or something similar will discover it. Regardless, there is no contingency plan to protect these findings,” he said.
The Portuguese government has failed to take action over Monteiro’s findings
Monteiro’s research is accessible to anyone, and the data he compiled has been handed to Portuguese officials. Despite this, however, the Portuguese government has not taken any measures to protect the sites.
Cultural sites such as the ones described by Monteiro’s research represent an invaluable heritage to the country, both culturally and economically. Failing to act to protect these sites could put these unique sites and the treasures they hold at risk.
According to the marine archaeologist, the biggest tragedy of these shipwrecks is the fact that no one really knows how many ships there are, and where they are located. But Monteiro says this is only the first step, as it is much more important to actively protect the shipwrecks.
The local scientific community is applying pressure for more proactive action from the government to preserve the remains of these ships, as despite them being safe from looting, construction projects pose the greatest threat to these sites.
In before Spain claims it...
We know that there are 250 ships that hold treasures, and sooner or later, a construction project or something similar will discover it. Regardless, there is no contingency plan to protect these findings,” he said.
Easily 1.5 billion dollars just on the metals value. Probably much more as artifacts to sell to people. There is no sane argument beyond feminine emotion to think it should remain on the ocean floor if it could be found.
No government should be able to lay claim to something lost in a wreck 400 years ago. I know they do, but it’s pure greed and power... which they accuse treasure hunters of.
Can you claim it on the basis of who the ship belonged to? I thought it was only on the basis of whose territorial waters it was in?
Are wen claiming we shouldn’t recover?
I knew I had dropped 22 tons of gold somewhere...
“Money Heist”
More AI-written crap-worded unreadable junk. Is there a real article that contains more and better information?
Maritime treasure law is a true snakepit. Countries claim it if the ship flew their flag, even hundreds of years ago no matter where the wreck is located. Then it’s always possible that some insurance company paid out back then and then THEY make a claim. Countries go to court against each other, insurance companies join in, and there are treaties that come into play. It’s supposed to be a real mess.
The one with the least rights always seems to be the person who finds the claim and wants to salvage it. At best they are offered a pittance, even though they are the only ones doing the slightest work to actually locate and recover the treasure.
And then of course the museums and archeologists who operate only on emotion, and want it to remain unrecovered, or given to them so they can put it in a box and hide it away like Indiana Jones Ark in the Box.
I bet Travis McGee would know a heck of a lot more about this topic. I’ll ping him.
Does that sound reasonable? Were cargo ships being built in less than a month's time, continuously for 550 years? That's some serious manpower and material procurement. And that's just for the ones that sunk in the regions around Portugal?
I'm skeptical. Not saying it's impossible, but just that it sounds excessive by a considerable factor.
I think the numbers of sunken ships is reasonable. In the age of sail wooden ships were much smaller than freighters today. A typical Spanish galleon was 100-150 feet (30-45 m) in length and 40-50 feet (12-15 m) wide (the preferred ratio was 3:1 or 4:1). If you have smaller ships you have to have more of them to move cargo.
Also sailing ships depended on the wind to move and often the wind, even without a storm, would remorselessly drive these ships onto rocky shores to break up and sink despite all efforts of the sailors. Sailors called shores where conditions were likely to drive their ship onto the land a lee shore.
A lee shore, sometimes also called a leeward (/ˈljuːərd/ shore, or more commonly /ˈliːwərd/), is a nautical term to describe a stretch of shoreline that is to the lee side of a vessel—meaning the wind is blowing towards land. Its opposite, the shore on the windward side of the vessel, is called the weather or windward shore (/ˈwɪnərd/ or, more commonly, /ˈwɪndwərd/).
Because of the danger of being driven aground on a lee shore it is essential seamanship to treat one with caution. This is particularly the case with sailing vessels, but a lee shore is an issue for powered vessels as well.
dayglored has a point, the math seems to not add up and I question it too. But to support your argument also I think there is another factor. I’m sure they were not all treasure ships. I’m sure the bulk of them were large daily fishing vessels labeled as ships. And there were a LOT of those... They were probably built in many locations simultaneously dozen or more a month.
Back then at lot of songs and poems were written about sailors going to sea and never returning. So I’m thinking it was pretty common. Sailing was a risky business and every time they went out they said their last goodbyes in case they never returned because it was so common.
Every trip out it was a really big deal when a ship actually returned back to port. With that said I wonder how many viking ships are on the floor between Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and in the North Sea? Fishing vessels included bet there are several thousand at least. The North Sea is brutal...
That’s what I thought...However, in international waters, all bets are off
Thank you. As a Gen Xer it is excruciating to read the AI garbage that passes for “journalism” these days.
Mel Fisher would agree with that.
Over 8,000 ships sunk? No wonder their forests were depleted. Takes a lot of timber to make a sturdy ship, and a lot of waste also.
“And then of course the museums and archeologists who operate only on emotion, and want it to remain unrecovered, or given to them so they can put it in a box and hide it away”
I may have this wrong, but I seem to recall reading that the guy who found the Edmund Fitzgerald worked hard to have access to the wreck site restricted so he could somehow benefit.
I have that book here somewhere but it’s been 30 years since I read/last saw it.
Last I read...if it’s a warship it belongs to that government. If it’s a private/commercial ship it’s finders-keepers....
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