CASCAIS, Portugal: Archaeologists searching Portugal’s coast have found a 400-year-old shipwreck believed to have sunk near Lisbon after returning from India laden with spices, specialists said on Monday.
“From a heritage perspective, this is the discovery of the decade,” project director Jorge Freire said. “In Portugal, this is the most important find of all time.”
In and around the shipwreck, 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, divers found spices, nine bronze cannons engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms, Chinese ceramics and cowry shells, a type of currency used to trade slaves during the colonial era.
Found on Sept. 3 off the coast of Cascais, a resort town on the outskirts of Lisbon, the shipwreck and its objects were “very well-preserved,” said Freire.
Freire and his team believe the ship was wrecked between 1575 and 1625, when Portugal’s spice trade with India was at its peak.
In 1994, Portuguese ship Our Lady of the Martyrs was discovered near Fort of Sao Juliao da Barra, a military defense complex near Cascais.
“For a long time, specialists have considered the mouth of the Tagus river a hotspot for shipwrecks,” said Minister of Culture Luis Mendes. “This discovery came to prove it.”
The wreck was found as part of a 10-year-old archaeological project backed by the municipal council of Cascais, the navy, the Portuguese government and Nova University of Lisbon.
400-year-old shipwreck ‘discovery of decade’ for Portugal
400-year-old shipwreck ‘discovery of decade’ for Portugal
- Freire and his team believe the ship was wrecked between 1575 and 1625, when Portugal’s spice trade with India was at its peak
Small dog sole survivor of Peru helicopter crash that killed 15
- Rescue workers found the caramel-colored dog among the twisted wreckage of the Mi-17 helicopter
- Local media reported that the dog appeared OK, but as a precaution was taken to a veterinary clinic
LIMA: The only survivor of a military helicopter crash in southern Peru that killed 15 people was a small dog belonging to a colonel who was among the passengers, an air force source told AFP Tuesday.
Rescue workers found the caramel-colored dog among the twisted wreckage of the Mi-17 helicopter that crashed Sunday. It was lying next to the body of its owner, Col. Javier Nole, 50, who was on board with his wife and two daughters.
“It’s Col. Nole’s pet; it’s the only survivor,” the source, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
Local media reported that the dog appeared OK, but as a precaution was taken to a veterinary clinic.
Seven children were among the 15 fatalities when the Russian-made aircraft crashed in the Arequipa region. The helicopter had been recently deployed in rescue operations for victims of floods there.
It had taken off from the city of Pisco, in the Ica region. Rescuers located the wreckage on Monday just over 300 kilometers (186 miles) away near Chala Viejo, a town close to the Pacific coast in Arequipa.
The air force has launched an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.
