New Delhi: A new study has claimed that a shipwreck discovered years ago off the coast Oman was part of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama's fleet.
According to the researchers, the wreckage was the remains of the Esmeralda, a ship from the famous explorer’s second voyage to India (1502-1503) that is believed to have been destroyed in a storm.
Watch the BBC footage below that shows divers picking up the wreckage in deep waters. It has been uploaded on YouTube by a user.
Video credit: Sagar Hasan/YouTube
An interim report published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology says that although the wreckage was first discovered in 1998 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah Island in the Arabian Sea, an archaeological excavation to reveal more about the sunken ship has taken place over the last three years.
The Esmeralda sank during a violent storm near al-Hallaniyah Island in the Indian Ocean in May 1503, killing commander Vicente Sodre and all those aboard.
The artifacts found at the wreck site include an incredibly rare silver coin called an Indio, of which only one other is known to exist today, said David Mearns, the director of Blue Water Recoveries.
