Bom Jesus (ship)

Origin The Bom Jesus was a Portuguese trading vessel constructed in the early 1500s during a period of intensive expansion of the Portuguese Empire under Manuel I of Portugal. While little is known about the history of the Bom Jesus itself, it is speculated that the ship was part of a class of naval vessels that were larger, more efficient, and more durable than previous Portuguese and Spanish vessels in order to facilitate the longer-distance expeditions carried out by Portuguese fleets during this time. Based on the contents of the shipwreck, including an array of luxury items and currencies, archaeologist Dieter Noli and other scholars believe the ship was on course for western India from its home port in Lisbon, Portugal around the southern tip of Africa, a common route for similar Portuguese nau during this time that carried the same cargo. Shipwreck It is speculated that the Bom Jesus sank when it was pulled too closely to shore in a storm off the coast of Namibia, causing the ship's hull to collide with a rock and lean over, capsizing the vessel. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the coin chest from the captain's quarters was found at the bottom of the ocean off the coast, likely due to the chest falling out after the hull was breached by the initial collision. As the Bom Jesus moved towards shore, the superstructure and hull likely broke apart and scattered the ship and its contents along the coastline, and these were later accidentally scattered further during construction of large sand retaining walls around the site. The condition the ship was found in suggests that the storm that caused the shipwreck was especially violent, although an absence of human remains (besides a few scattered bone fragments) in the site suggest that most of the crew on board survived the wreck or died at sea. == Discovery ==

Initial discovery Until 2017 the mining town of Oranjemund on the Atlantic coast was run by Namdeb, a company jointly owned by the Namibian government and the diamond mining and trading company De Beers. On April 1, 2008, Kaapanda Shadika, an employee of De Beers, discovered a collection of copper ingots and remnants of elephant ivory while excavating an inshore area licensed to the company. Upon further inspection, archaeologist Dieter Noli, a contractor of the De Beers company, concluded that the shipwreck was of ancient origin and enlisted the help of maritime archaeologist Bruno Werz of the South African Institute of Maritime Archaeology (SAIMA). Initial conditions of the Bom Jesus Upon its initial discovery, the remains of the ship were scattered in three large sections running along the coast. According to archaeologist Francisco Alves, the contents of the shipwreck were all covered in a moist, one meter-thick layer of "orange-layered concretion" built up from chemical, biological, and sedimentary processes in the coastal soil, helping to preserve much of the hull and wooden structure of the ship in the seawater-rich ground. A majority of the cargo was initially found scattered loosely between the three large digging sites, including copper ingots, ivory, nautical tools, and cannons that were easily dug out of the sand. The remainder of the cargo discovered, such as iron ingots, weaponry, and fragments of the wooden hull, were found encased in lime and hard-packed sandy concretions. While these conditions helped to preserve and protect the contents of the ship, this concretion made their identification and recovery especially difficult for archaeologists on-site. Excavation efforts About a month after initial archaeological digging and surveying began, Bloomberg announced the discovery of the shipwreck on the internet, bringing international attention to the site and its significance, specifically the discovery of a rare Portuguese cruzado coin by on-site archaeologist Paulo Monterio. This international publicity put pressure on the Namibian government to seek out external sources of archaeological and scientific assistance given the urgency of the site's integrity, a result of the large sand retaining walls around the shipwreck that protected the site from ocean water, which were at risk of being eroded due to seasonal weather and damaging the ship's hull. As a result, a meeting was held between the Namibian government and other organizations interested in involvement with the excavation of the site, including delegates Filipe Castro and Donny Hamilton of the anthropology department of Texas A&M University, and representatives of the Portuguese and Spanish government who agreed to terms with the Namibian government to find out the true origin of the Bom Jesus, which at this time was unknown. After brief deliberation, an Oranjemund Statement was drafted, stating that the Namibian government would allow representatives of the Texas A&M archaeology department and the Portuguese government to collaborate in the excavation of the ship, while the Namibian government would subsidize the reconstruction of the surrounding retaining walls. == Identification and analysis of cargo ==

Catalog of cargo Among the over 40 tons of cargo retrieved from the excavation site, thousands of different artifacts were recovered and cataloged, including cannons, firearms, swords, lead, tin, textiles, and astronomical devices. by Luis Filipe F. R. Thomas == Preservation of the Bom Jesus ==

Currently, work is underway to preserve and display the remains of the ship and all of its cargo in a public museum in Lisbon, Portugal. However, a lack of funding and permission from Namibian authorities has kept the ship's remains on-site in Oranjemund, storing a majority of the cargo and hull of the Bom Jesus in saltwater tanks for preservation until they can be safely transported. ==See also==