300-year-old pirate-plundered shipwreck that once held 'eyewatering treasure' discovered off Madagascar
Archaeologists say they've found the submerged wreck of a sailing ship captured in 1721 near Madagascar, during one of history's most infamous pirate raids.
The American researchers, from the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation, have investigated the wreck for 16 years and now think it's the remains of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, a Portuguese ship carrying cargo from India that was attacked and seized by pirates, among them the notorious pirate captain Olivier "The Buzzard" Levasseur.
The wreck now lies on the floor of a small harbor on the island of Nosy Boraha off the northeast coast of Madagascar, which was a hangout known as Île Sainte-Marie during the "Golden Age of Piracy" in the early 18th century. New details of the investigations have been published in the latest issue of Wreckwatch magazine.
The identification of the wreck is "supported by multiple lines of evidence," the center's co-founder and director Brandon Clifford, one of the researchers, told Live Science in an email. These include analysis of the structure of the ship from its underwater remains, historical records and artifacts found in the wreckage.
Among them are devotional figurines and objects made from wood and ivory, including one that depicts Jesus' mother Mary; part of a crucifix; and an ivory plaque inscribed with gold letters that read "INRI." (According to the Christian gospels, these letters were inscribed by the Romans above the crucified Jesus and stood for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" in Latin.)
The researchers think these artifacts were made in Goa, which was then the center of a Portuguese colony on India's west coast, and were being shipped to Lisbon in Portugal.
Related: 'Pirate' shipwrecks that sank in 1710 off Costa Rica are actually remains of Danish slave ships
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A sonar image of the seafloor shows the wreck thought to be that of Nossa Senhora do Cabo. Researchers think there are at least four pirate wrecks in the main harbor on the island of Nosy Boraha, off Madagascar.
Image 2 of 3
A mosaic image of the harbor floor shows overlapping piles of ballast stones from ships' hulls. The ballast pile from Nossa Senhora do Cabo is at the right.
Image 3 of 3
The island of Nosy Boraha off Madagascar's northeast coast was once a notorious hangout for European pirates known as Île Sainte-Marie.
According to records, Nossa Senhora do Cabo (Portuguese for "Our Lady of the Cape") had left Goa early in 1721 bound for Lisbon, with the outgoing Portuguese viceroy and the Archbishop of Goa both on board.
But the vessel was attacked and captured by a group of pirate ships on April 8, 1721, near the French island of La Réunion (also known as Réunion Island) in the Indian Ocean.
The treasure it carried included ingots of gold and chests full of pearls, according to the researcher Denis Piat in his book "Pirates & Privateers in Mauritius" (Didier Millet, 2014).
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Artifacts recovered at the wreck site include gold coins inscribed with Arabic writing and pieces of fine porcelain.
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The researchers have recovered several religious figurines and other devotional objects made from wood and ivory, presumably at Goa.
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More than 3,300 artifacts have now been recovered from the wreck, but many others are still covered by sand and silt.
Clifford and his colleague Mark Agostini, an archaeologist at Brown University, said the Portuguese ship had already been badly damaged in a storm and had jettisoned most of its cannons to stay afloat; and so it was captured with little resistance.
The viceroy was eventually ransomed, but it's not known what became of the archbishop. About 200 enslaved people from Mozambique below decks, but there are no records of what happened to them.
According to Clifford and Agostini, the entire haul was "an eyewatering treasure, even by pirate standards," and the cargo alone may have been worth more than $138 million in today's money.
The pirates then steered their captured prize toward Madagascar, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) west of La Réunion, to divide up their loot.
The researchers wrote that Île Sainte-Marie was chosen by European pirates because its sheltered anchorages were close to major shipping lanes. It was also known for its "absence of colonial governance," making it an ideal pirate base.
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Clifford added that between seven and 10 shipwrecks were wrecked or scuttled near Île Sainte-Marie during the Golden Age of Piracy and "at least four pirate shipwrecks or their prizes lie in the harbor itself."
Agostini, meanwhile, told Live Science in an email that more than 3,300 artifacts had now been recovered from the wreck of Nossa Senhora do Cabo, but that the overlying silt and sand had made further recoveries difficult.
He added that archaeologists had previously overlooked Île Sainte-Marie and the scientific treasures it contained. "Ideally, future fieldwork will lead to more analysis of the many wrecks there," Agostini said.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 2:32 p.m. ET to remove a detail about a gold- and ruby-encrusted cross being on the ship at the time of its capture. This cross was mentioned in a book about the shipwreck, but Live Science has since learned that it might be a myth.
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Called Palaspata after the native name for the region, the temple lies outside the borders of where Tiwanaku was previously known to have expanded, said Dr. José Capriles, a Bolivian archaeologist and associate professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. Capriles, who was the lead author of the study, noted that the building's architectural elements, including a terraced platform and sunken courtyard, have a striking resemblance to the Tiwanaku style found in other parts of the Lake Titicaca region. 'We don't expect it in this particular place and the fact that it exists there is remarkable,' he said. The temple, which has a trail cutting through it from repeated travel by locals, is near a long-used Bolivian travel route, now called the La Paz–Cochabamba Highway, which connected three trade routes used by other societies that followed, like the Inca. The discovery of the ceremonial temple is shedding light on the interconnectivity of the lost society's various territories and how Palaspata could have served as a gateway for Tiwanaku society to expand its power in the region, according to the researchers. Archaeological investigations of Tiwanaku sites began in the 1860s, but researchers still have scant knowledge of the society. Most of what experts know has been deduced from studying ceramics, camelid remains, and other religious sites, such as Akapana, that dot the Andean highlands. Tiwanaku communities first emerged in an altiplano, or high plain, of the Andes called the Titicaca Basin, named after Lake Titicaca. Due to its location, farming crops, like maize, was difficult, so the people relied on llama caravans to connect the communities in the region and facilitate trade. The capital city of Tiwanaku, also called Tiwanaku, managed trade, commerce and interregional interaction, according to the study. 'Tiwanaku was what we call a primary state formation, meaning that it was a complex society that had complex social stratification,' Capriles said. The empire developed without external influence and 'emerged out of a series of prior agricultural societies.' Evidence of Tiwanaku objects, like pottery, suggests Tiwanaku people began to settle in that area around AD 700, as well as farther west in a valley that's now southern Peru, according to Dr. Nicola O'Connor Sharratt, associate professor of anthropology at Georgia State University. She was not involved in the study. Tiwanaku populations are also suspected to have lived in what is now northern Chile and in Cochabamba, Sharratt added. The Tiwanaku constructed Palaspata to further exert its sociopolitical influence over other societies in the area by controlling trade between regions, the new study suggests. 'The placement of this site is strategically located between two major geographic zones of the Andean Highlands,' Capriles said. 'This might have been sort of a nice strategic control outpost that not only controlled flow of goods in an economic and political sense, but it also did so through religion, and this is why it is a temple,' he said. 'The alignment of religious, political and economic institutions, which is how many of these institutions emerge, is something that I think people were kind of surprised about.' The temple Palaspata is only visible by its perimeter wall, which is outlined with red sandstone. While working on an unrelated archaeology project near the highway, researchers noticed the structure and decided it 'seemed significant,' Capriles said. They investigated the area further on foot and with drones. From the initial findings, Capriles was able to use 3D rendering to create a digital reconstruction of the temple. The structure is 125 meters long and 145 meters wide (410 by 475 feet) — about the size of a city block — with 15 modular enclosures that were likely rooms surrounding an inner courtyard. The building's main entrance faces west, aligned with the solar equinox and indicative of the temple's religious role in the society. While not much is known of Tiwanaku's spiritual practices, archaeologists have previously found stone monoliths and ceramics with plant- and animal-based symbolism that may allude to traditions known to be part of other pre-Inca societies. Researchers on past expeditions related to Tiwanaku commonly uncovered religious structures designed to highlight the landscape's natural features and align with key events in the solar cycle. Archaeologists have also found Tiwanaku pottery at the site, such as keru cups, typically used to drink some form of maize-based alcohol. This suggests that the building was likely used for parties or large gatherings, Sharratt said. Compared with other ancient societies, Tiwanaku remains enigmatic, and researchers have a limited, patchwork understanding of the civilization, according to Sharratt. Archaeological theories suggest that Tiwanaku collapsed because of a drought or environmental degradation. Others experts believe that both of these factors may have led to social tension and unrest, ultimately giving rise to a populist uprising. Why don't researchers know much about this cryptic society? Tiwanaku 'didn't fit some early archaeologists' ideas about what a state should look like or where you could have a thriving city,' Sharratt said. 'It hasn't necessarily met all of our expectations, so I think that's partly why.' Sign up for CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.
