A 300-year-old pirate-damaged shipwreck who once held the “Iweta Treasure” discovered in Madagascar.

Archaeologists say that in one of the most infamous pirate attacks in history, he found a submerged wreck of a sailing ship captured in 1721 near Madagascar.

American researchers at the Historic Shipwreck Preservation Center have been investigating the wreck for 16 years and now consider it to be the ruins of Nossa Senhola de Cabo, a Portuguese ship carrying cargo from India, attacked and captured by the Pirates.

The wreck is currently located on the floor of a small harbor on Nosyborah Island, off the northeast coast of Madagascar. This was a hangout known as Il St. Marie during the “golden age of copyright infringement” of the early 18th century. New details of the research can be found in the latest issue of Wreckwatch Magazine.

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The identification of the wreck is “supported by multiple evidences,” director Brandon Clifford, co-founder of the Centre and one of the researchers, told Live Science via email. These include analysis of the ship’s structure from underwater artifacts, historical records found in the wreckage, and artifacts.

Among them are dedicated figurines and objects made from wood and ivory, including depictions of Mary, mother of Jesus. Part of the cross. And then there was an ivory plaque engraved with the words “Inri” written on it. (These letters were engraved by the Romans on Jesus crucified, and stood for the Latin “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of Jews.”)

Researchers believe that these artifacts were made in Gore. Goa was then the heart of the Portuguese colony on the west coast of India and was shipped to Lisbon, Portugal.

Related: The “pirate” wreck that sank off the coast of Costa Rica in 1710 is actually a remnant of a Danish slave ship

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The sonar image on the seabed indicates that the shipwreck of Nossa Senhora do Cabo was considered. Researchers believe there are at least four pirate writers in the main harbor of Nosyborah, off the coast of Madagascar.

Mosaic images of the harbor floor show overlapping piles of ballast stones from the ship’s hull. The Nossa Senhora do Cabo ballast pile is on the right.

Nosyborah Island, off the northeast coast of Madagascar, was a notorious hangout for European pirates, once known as Il St. Marie.

Pirate attack

Records show that Nossa Senhora de Cabo (the Portuguese of Our Lady of Our Lady) left Goa early in 1721 for Lisbon, with both Portuguese Viceroy and Archbishop Goa heading for ships.

However, the vessel was attacked and captured by a group of pirate ships near La Lenion Island (also known as Lenion Island) on the Indian Ocean on April 8, 1721.

The treasures it carried included pearl-filled gold and breast ingots, according to Denis Piat of his book Pirates & Privateers in Mauritius (Didier Millet, 2014).

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Artifacts recovered at the wreck site include Arabic writing and gold coins engraved with fine porcelain.

Researchers have recovered several religious figurines and other prayer objects, probably in Goa, made from wood and ivory.

Currently, over 3,300 artifacts have been recovered from the shipwreck, but many other artifacts are still covered in sand and silt.

Clifford, an archaeologist at Brown University, and his colleague Mark Agostini, said the Portuguese ship had already been severely damaged by the storm and was dumped to keep most of the cannons above the water. And it was hardly captured by resistance.

Viceroy was eventually fragmented, but we don’t know what happened to the Archbishop. Approximately 200 enslaved people from Mozambique under the deck have no record of what happened to them.

According to Clifford and Agostini, the entire haul was “an eyewitness treasure, even by pirate standards,” and the cargo alone could have cost over $138 million.

Sea Dog Base

The Pirates then split the loot into the trapped awards towards Madagascar, about 400 miles (650 km) west of La Renion.

Researchers write that St. Marie was chosen because the evacuated Anchorage was prone to a large shipping vehicle, and that he was chosen by European pirates. It is also known for its “absence of colonial rule,” making it an ideal pirate base.

Clifford added that at the time of copyright, between 7 and 10 shipwrecks were destroyed or abandoned near St. Mary in the Golden Age, with “at least four pirate wrecks or prizes being found in the port itself.”

Meanwhile, Agostini told Live Science in an email that over 3,300 artifacts have been recovered from the shipwreck at Nossa Senhora do Cabo, but the silt and sand above made recovery even more difficult.

He added that archaeologists had previously overlooked St. Marie and the scientific treasures that they contained. “Ideally, future fieldwork will lead to more analysis of the many shipwrecks out there,” Agostini said.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 2:32 PM ET, removing details about the intertwined cross between gold and ruby ​​on the ship at the time of its capture. This cross was mentioned in a book on shipwrecks, but since then, Live Science has learned that it may be a myth.