Santo Alberto (1593)
Chase Oswald, Zachary Mead, Filipe Castro
Country: South Africa
Place: Mouth of the Umtata River
Coordinates: Lat. ; Long. W
Type: Nau
Identified: Yes
Dated: 1552 (Historical accounts)
Introduction
Lost en route to Portugal after springing a leak in mid-ocean, the nau Santo Alberto is thought to have run aground close to the mouth of the Umtata River, on the east coast of South Africa, in 1593.
The account of its wrecking is part of Gomes de Brito’s História Trágico-Marítima, and was originally written by João Baptista Lavanha, the author of the Livro Primeiro de Arquitectura Naval.
This shipwreck site was tentatively identified after Ming Dynasty porcelain shards of the Wan-Li period were found near Sunrise-on-Sea, in South Africa.
History
The account of the Santo Alberto was authored by João Baptista Lavanha and primarily relies on a notebook written by the pilot of the ship, Rodrigo Migueis, and was confirmed by Captain Nuno Velho Pereira, who led the survivors back to Mozambique (Duffy, 1955: 34; Boxer, 1959; Bell-Cross, 1988: 56).
Captained by Julião de Faria Cerveira, the Santo Alberto left Cochin, India on January 21st, 1593 headed for Portugal. The ship sailed her course under favorable conditions until she reached a latitude of 10° South. As the ship began to round the southern tip of the island of St. Lawrence (Madagascar) she sprang a leak in the hull. Initially, this leak was not a major issue; however, at approximately, latitude 27° South a strong southern wind began, which increased the amount of water leaking into the ship. While sailing close to the wind to avoid the tip of St. Lawrence, the ship thrusted forward, resulting in the bowsprit springing and needing repairs. Despite these mounting problems the ship continued to sail towards her destination and on March 21st, at a latitude of 31 ½° sighted the Land of Natal (the southern end of Africa), coasting the next day to a latitude of 32° South (Boxer, 2001: 108-110).
At this point, the wind began to cause major leaking in the ship’s hull which lead to a rapid rise of water within the pump well. It was soon discovered that the leak was coming from the fashion-pieces of the stern, meaning a repair would have been exceedingly difficult. To remedy the situation the crew was ordered to cut away a piece of the timber above the leaking fashion-pieces and stop the intake of water. This task initially stopped the water from coming in; however, not long after, more water began to rush in possibly due to the now weakened hull. Soon the ship was reported to have been flooded with up to 18 hands of water (about 1.8 m), and a swift effort was made to lighten the ship and put her stern towards the wind. Empty kegs were taken below deck and used to bail out the water. The many trunks and chests belonging to the passengers were begrudgingly taken from below deck and thrown overboard to lighten the ship’s load. The latter task was only undertaken after Captain-Major Nuno Velho Pereira promised the passengers a reimbursement of 45 quintals (slightly over two tons) of clove each if they would part with their possessions. The crew subsequently threw everything from the gun-deck and spice-holds overboard. By the next day, the water was coming in so rapidly that the chests on the second deck could not be removed, but instead had to be opened with hatchets so their contents could be emptied from the ship (Boxer, 2001: 110-111).
The crew worked at the pump tirelessly all day to remove the water from the decks and hold of the ship, but to no avail, as the seawater was coming in too quickly to halt the sinking of the ship. By nightfall, the ship contained approximately 12 hands of water (about 1.2 m), but by now the pumps were rendered useless as they had become clogged with peppercorn. To continue to empty the water from the second-deck Nuno Velho Pereira was lowered into the hold of the ship via pump cords and began to fill kegs with water. Soon the crew joined the captain-major and worked throughout the night to help stall the sinking of the ship, their hard work was eventually rewarded, as land was sighted the next morning. To guarantee a speedy landfall the crew set all sails and began to throw everything on the forecastle, poop-deck, and under the steerage overboard, as two of the decks were completely flooded and the chain-wales became submerged at this time. Simultaneously, the captain-major ordered all matchlocks and munitions be gathered from the quarter-deck and tied together for future use. The ship was now nearing land and so the masts were cut away and the rudder was displaced at eight fathoms, and by eight and a half fathoms of depth, the ship touched ground (Boxer, 2001: 111-113).
The ship was completely aground by 10 in the morning on March 24th, approximately 400 paces (305 m) from the shore. The shrouds were then cut and as the masts fell overboard, many passengers promptly tried to escape onto them, but as the masts were still attached to parts of the rigging these passengers quickly found themselves beaten and drowned amongst the waves. The pounding of the waves quickly caused the masts to break the ship into two portions, severing the bottom decks from the top decks. The latter part of the ship holding the remaining passengers then drifted extremely close to shore. At this time the waves crashed violently between the masts and the poop to such a degree that men lashed themselves to the hull as to not be thrown overboard. Others attempted to swim for shore but quickly drowned due to the rocks, waves, and the debris that littered the sea. Upon nightfall, the poop deck broke off from the prow and drifted on to the beach. A soldier aboard the poop then swam to shore and attached a rope from the poop deck to a secure point on the beach allowing everyone to get ashore. At midnight, the forecastle drifted towards the poop deck and the survivors on the former deck were able to use this as a bridge to get ashore. By the time the tide began to rise the poop was hauled in by the line to shore and the rest of the survivors made it to the beach (Boxer, 2001: 113-114).
The official location of the wreck was recorded at a latitude of 32 ½° South, whose location was referred to by the Portuguese as Penedo das Fontes and by the locals as Tizombe. Upon reaching shore the survivors counted their numbers and it was recorded that 125 Portuguese and 160 slaves lived while 28 Portuguese and 34 slaves had perished. On March 26th, the day after landing the survivors scoured the beach for any supplies of which they could find. They were able to scavenge 12 matchlocks, three kegs of gun powder, swords and shields, three cauldrons, rice, a keg of vinegar, mats, carpets, and quilts. To protect themselves from the elements and potential attacks from the natives the Portuguese entrenched themselves and made tents from expensive carpets of Cambay and Odiaz, valuable quilts of ginghams and cachas, and mats from the Maldives. The next day when the tide was low some of the crew went to the wreck and recovered six matchlocks, 12 pikes, and three more bags of rice. On March 28th both the beach and the wreck were scavenged again and three muskets, four matchlocks, two bags of rice, four jars of bread, a hog’s head, olive oil, and a large number of preserves were rescued. Also, among the wreckage, a chest belonging to the captain-major was recovered containing 17 pieces of gold, 27 pieces of silver, writing boxes, and crystal rosaries. In total it is reported that the gold and silver were later sold in Mozambique for an estimated 16,000 cruzados (Boxer, 2001: 114-119, 125).
It was not long before the survivors made contact with a local tribe who had spotted them on the beach. The two groups met in a peaceful exchange where the locals offered the Portuguese two sheep and in return, they were welcomed with wine and sweetmeats. By the end of the gathering, the Portuguese left the natives with a parting gift consisting of a brass bowl full of iron nails and a writing box, as essential metals were believed to be a valuable commodity among the locals. In exchange for these gifts, the natives sent one of their own to show the Portuguese where to gather freshwater, as they were already feeling the effects of dehydration for their sources of water had become brackish (Boxer, 2001: 120-121). On March 29th, the captain-major selected officers to oversee the camp and arranged them into separate groups, the vanguard, the main-body, and the rearguard. The soldiers and sailors were also further divided into three groups, weapons were also divided out amongst the soldiers, totaling 27 matchlocks, 12 pikes, five muskets, and several swords and shields. On April 3rd the Portuguese left their spot on the beach to begin their march in the direction of the nearest Portuguese port of Lourenço Marques, about 800 Km to the north. It had been decided that they would attempt to avoid the tragedies witnessed by the survivors of the São Tomé and the São João by marching the long way through the inner hinterlands instead of by the coast (Boxer, 2001: 124-127) However, such a journey is not without hardships and three months later upon reaching the bay of Lourenço Marques only 117 Portuguese and 65 slaves survived their 300-league march. It was in this bay that the survivors were told by some hospitable natives (Inhaca) and their king that a Portuguese ivory trader visited about every two years. By the start of July, the aforementioned Portuguese merchant ship on the ivory trade reached the bay and gladly received the survivors of the Santo Alberto. The remaining survivors safely arrived in Mozambique on August 6th, 1593 (Boxer, 2001: 178-186).
Material Culture
In 1979, the deputy-director at the East London Museum, Graham Bell-Cross, investigated coastal sites in southern Africa where porcelain sherds had been found and compared them with survivors’ accounts of the wrecks. With the help of Caro Woodward, an expert in Eastern porcelain, who was able to stylistically date the sherds, Bell-Cross created a brief list of all the Portuguese wrecks on the coast of eastern-South Africa and their associated archaeological evidence (Bell-Cross, 1988). Unfortunately, not much material culture associated with the Santo Alberto has been recovered and or published, as is the case with many of the Portuguese India-route ships. Due to the lack of material remains among the Portuguese India-route, Bell-Cross’s texts are still considered to be the main resources for material culture analysis of many of these wrecks. For the location of the wreck of Santo Alberto, Bell-Cross asserted that the ship wrecked at the Sunrise-on-Sea site, in latitude 32 ° 02’ S (fig 29) (Bell-Cross, 1988: 58), which is nearly the latitude given by the survivor account at 32 ½ ° S. According to the survivor account the Santo Alberto wreck location was referred to by the Portuguese as Penedos das Fontes, which Bell-Cross has associated with the name of a prominent topological feature referred to as Cove Rock. This feature is visible from a vessel half a mile off the Sunrise-on-Sea site (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59). The survivor account also depicts the beach and a nearby hillside stream as containing small pools that the Sunrise-on-sea site possesses (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59).
Porcelain
Porcelain sherds found at sites between the Fish and Kei Rivers, such as the ones found near the Sunrise-on-Sea site, typically belong to the Late Ming stylistic period. This style was produced during the reign of Wan Li from 1573 – 1619, the last Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (Vernon, 1987). The characteristics of this type of porcelain are considered to be highly simplified, usually with a thin-fine body and white or greyish glaze. The color of these porcelain sherds is that of a silvery-blue with the motifs typically enclosed within panels (Vernon, 1987). Many sherds fitting this description were recovered from this site at were apply dated by Caro Woodard as late 16th century, most likely after 1580 (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59).
Cannons
Around 1950 the director of the East London Museum, Dr. Courtenay-Latimer recovered two muzzle-loading iron cannons from the Sunrise-on-Sea site. However, the cannons carried no identifying marks, and the bores were too corroded to be accurately measured (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59).
Carnelian Beads
Numerous carnelian beads were recovered from the site. Bell-Cross notes one large bead section in particular which seemed to form part of an ellipsoid-shaped bead; this section measures approximately 17 x 30mm which Bell-Cross notes as being the largest bead to have been recorded thus far (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59).
Pistol
A partial wooden pistol stock was found attached to a large concretion. Upon casting the cavity within the concretion, the reconstructed metal barrel was discovered to be partially round and hexagonal, as was typical of 16th and 17th century pistols (Bell-Cross, 1988: 59).
References