Divers Discover Portuguese Shipwreck Off Madagascar

Archaeology Magazine ^ | July 7, 2025 | editors / unattributed

[SunkenCiv]

According to a Live Science report, archaeologists from the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation believe they have identified the wreck of a treasure-laden eighteenth-century Portuguese ship that was famously attacked by pirates off the coast of Madagascar. In 1721, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo departed India en route to Portugal with a cargo of gold, silver, and precious gems. It was also transporting the outgoing Portuguese viceroy and the Archbishop of Goa when it was captured by a group of pirates that included Olivier Levasseur (La Buse) and John Taylor. Divers located the ship's remains on the seafloor near the island of Nosy Boraha, which was historically known as Île Sainte-Marie during the "Golden Age of Piracy." Divers have retrieved more than 3,300 artifacts from the wreckage. According to research center director Brandon Clifford, the ship's identification as the Nossa Senhora do Cabo is supported by several key pieces of evidence, including religious items and objects that were made in Goa, a Portuguese colony on India's west coast. To read about the search for evidence of Captain Henry Morgan's raid on Panama City, go to "Pirates of the Original Panama Canal."

[SunkenCiv]

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha:

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[SunkenCiv]

Pottery fragments recovered from the Nossa Senhora do Cabo wreck

Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation

[SunkenCiv]

Shiver me timbers. Digest topic list for the week is up top.

[Sacajaweau]

Always cool...and the fight over the spoils makes it more interesting.

[OldHarbor]

Pottery, Yargh… Where be the doubloons and jewels ?

[silent majority rising]

There have been many offshore investigations from Caesaria Maritima in Israel, that are perhaps the best analysis of the Roman Empire 2000 years ago. I once was standing by a Roman road that had the cobblestones preserved, a tourist who was walking on it complained “Who the hell built this road. It really sucks!” I told him “The Romans did (Tenth Legion) 2000 years ago. You know, nothing lasts anymore, does it?” The other members of his tour group laughed.

[one guy in new jersey]

Arrrrrrgh

[OldHarbor]

Two gold coins from the wreck have Islamic writing.

[sauropod]

bkmk

[MarlonRando]

so did the pirates get the gold??? Don’t leave us hanging

[SunkenCiv]

• Whoops! Forget this one: Scientists Stunned As Tomatoes "De-Evolve" in the Galapagos [07/12/2025]

[SunkenCiv]

File under, “What have the Romans done for us?” 😊

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, don’t read anything into this yardarm.