A Late 17th‐Century Trade Cargo from Ponta do Leme Velho, Sal Island, Cape Verde

Abstract

In 1973, while recovering copper cargo from a 20th-century ship wrecked off the Ponta do Leme Velho on the south-east side of Sal Island, Cape Verde, explosives revealed an earlier ship cargo with dozens of Portuguese faience plates and bowls, glass beads and metal objects, including buckles, ammunition and copper manillas. The assemblage, including the ceramics and a marked silver tastevin, provide a site date between 1680 and 1700. The research presented here is a result of collaboration between CPAS and the authors in 2008 to analyse this assemblage in the context of late 17th-century maritime trade.

Material Culture from the Al Hallaniyah Island Early 16th‐Century Portuguese Indiaman Wreck‐site

“…Cooking and eating on board 16th‐century ships was usually not done in ceramic vessels but rather metal and wooden vessels. Iron caldrons or kettles have been found in Portuguese wrecks (Gomes et al ., : 9) and pewter plates and cups have been recovered from many of the underwater sites mentioned, although most of the tablewares would likely have been made of wood (Pernambucano de Mello, ; Intino, ). Pottery was highly breakable and was used to store water and food, especially for the conservation of sugar and vinegar and for conserving food on long maritime voyages (Matos, ).…”

“…It is difficult to know their function on board, though they could have served at the captain's table or as receptacles for medicines. Glass is frequent in Portuguese wrecks of this period and, although rarely properly published, it was found at least on the Bom Jesus , and in the cargo of the wreck found in Sal Island, Cape Verde (Gomes et al ., : 8).…”

“…Copper, brass, or iron objects, like those found at Al Hallaniyah used in daily activities also have been frequently found in Portuguese wrecks, such as the cooking pots in the Bom Jesus (Knabe and Noli, : 181) or the iron caldrons in Cape Verde (Gomes et al ., : 10).…”

“…Buckles do not change shape significantly over time and objects have been identified in 15th and 16th‐century contexts with similar shapes (Whitehead, : 13). Buckles have regularly been found in Portuguese wrecks, with similar finds in the Bom Jesus excavations (Knabe and Noli, : 191), in the late 17th‐century Cape Verde Sal Island wreck (Gomes et al ., : 169), and in the Santo António de Tanná (Teixeira and Gil, : 675).…”

“…A fairly large number of sites have been associated with Portuguese 16th‐ or 17th‐century shipwrecks, but, with a few exceptions, the cargoes have not been fully published as monographic studies and, when studied, importance has mostly been given to eastern commodities. The Aveiro A wreck dated to the mid 15th–mid 16th‐century (Alves et al ., ; Carvalho and Bettencourt, ); the possible Bom Jesus (1533) wrecked off the coast of Namibia (Knabe and Noli, ; Werz, ); the São João (1552) and the São Bento (1554), both off the coast of South Africa (Auret and Maggs, ; Maggs, ); the Seychelles (Boudeuse Cay) Portuguese shipwreck, probably the Santo António of 1589 (Blake and Green, ); the Nossa Senhora dos Mártires in the Tagus River (1606) (Afonso, ; Castro, ); the Nossa Senhora da Luz (Monteiro, ), and the Angra wrecks in the Azores (Bettencourt, ; Monteiro, ); the Santíssimo Sacramento wrecked off Bahia (Brazil) (1668) (Pernambucano de Mello, ; Bandeira and Gomes, ); the Santo António de Tanná in Kenya (1698) (Sassoon, ); and the cargo of the late 17th‐century Sal Island wreck in Cape Verde (Gomes et al ., ), are all Portuguese wrecks where pottery has been found.…”