Secrets Unearthed: Legendary Pirate Treasure Shipwreck Discovered Off Madagascar’s Coast
Center for Historic Shipwreck PreservationA small sample of the thousands of fragments that researchers recovered from the shipwreck site.
“Together with the structural timber evidence, these materials provide a robust material profile of a ship engaged in transoceanic trade with sacred and diplomatic associations; characteristics strongly aligned with historical records of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo,” the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation reported. This evidence, and primary sources, “build a strong case for the identification of the ship as… the Nossa Senhora do Cabo.”
Thus, the ship has seemingly been located three centuries after it was captured by pirates.
The Story Of The ‘Nossa Senhora Do Cabo’ Shipwreck
Center for Historic Shipwreck PreservationArchaeologists believe that they’ve identified the Nossa Senhora do Cabo after more than two decades of fieldwork.
In the 18th century, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo was described as a “massive 72-gun former Dutch man-of-war turned Portuguese treasure ship… heavily laden with diplomatic, religious, and economic cargo.” In 1721, it was en route from Goa, then a Portuguese colony in India, toward Lisbon.
But during its voyage, the ship was caught in a violent storm. It lost all of its masts and two-thirds of its cannons, and it sought refuge near Réunion Island. There, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo was easy prey for pirates Olivier Levasseur and John Taylor, who easily seized the ship and its treasure.
“The pirates seized a staggering amount of treasure,” the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation notes, “which in the annals of history would become one of the richest pirate heists.”
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