FLOR DE LA MAR
A.K.A. The Flower Of The Sea
Overview
The Flower of the Sea or more commonly known as Flor de la Mar was a 400 ton Portuguese carrack which sank off the coast of Sumatra in November 1511 carrying a large cargo of treasure for the Portuguese king after successfully participating for over nine years in decisive events in the Indian Ocean.
To this day the Flor de la Mar shipwreck has never been found and its hoard of treasure is still waiting to be recovered from the bottom of the sea.
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The Legend
Map showing the various outward and return legs of the Portuguese ‘Carreira da India’ (‘India Run’) in the 16th C.
Constructed in Lisbon for the purpose of the Portuguese Indian Armadas in 1502, the Flor de la Mar was one of the most impressive ships of its time, almost twice the size of any vessel that had previously travelled in the fleets between Portugal and India.
With 400 tons of pure ship, when she was loaded with cargo such as spices from India the Flor de la Mar became extremely difficult to manoeuvre in fast currents like those of the Mozambique Channel which caused leaks. On one occasion it was reported that the leaks had caused enough damage to the ship to warrant a two month stay on Mozambique Island during her first run between India and Portugal.
During her second voyage in 1506 she once again was found to be in need of repairs, more severe than the previous time in 1503. This time she remained docked for repairs on Mozambique Island for a year before being rescued by 8th India Armada commanded by Tristão da Cunha.
After being rescued by Tristão da Cunha the Flor de la Mar joined Cunha’s fleet captained by João da Nova from where she participated in Cunha’s conquest of Socotra, then in the Albuquerque-led conquests of Curaiti, Muscat, Khor Fakken Ormuz, Goa, and Malacca.
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The Treasure
In 1511 after four long years of The Flor de la Mar participating in Afonso de Albuquerque’s conquests she was given a new special responsibility. Given her large size and capacity Afonso decided that the Flor de la Mar would be the best suited ship to transport a vast treasure he had looted from the Sultan of Malacca back to Portugal.
The Flor de la Mar, while being one of the longest-lasting ships of the Portuguese India Armada, was a dangerously unseaworthy vessel when fully loaded. It is therefore no surprise that on the night of November 20th 1511 while loaded full of a vast treasure and faced with a strong storm while sailing along the coast of the north-east Sumatran state of Pasé, in the Strait of Malacca that she became wrecked, splitting in two amongst the shoals off Timia Point in the Kingdom of Aru, Sumatra.
Amongst the vast treasures of Malacca that Albuquerque has amassed was an impressive tribute from the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand) to the king of Portugal, Alfonso de Albuquerque’s own fortune. The treasure included 60 tons of gold, 200 gem chests filled with diamonds, rubies and emeralds making it the largest treasure ever amassed by the Portuguese Navy.
The vast treasure on board along with 400 men were lost to the sea on the night of November 20th 1511 and to this day the wreck and treasure of the Flor de la Mar remains undiscovered.
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The Clues
Portrait of Afonso de Albuquerque, Viceroy of Portuguese India currently on display at the National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon.
With Afonso de Albuquerque and several other survivors of the shipwreck the location and details of the events that occurred that night are well documented giving a great amount of insight into the likely location of the shipwreck and vastly reducing the search area for would be treasure hunters.
In 1992 after just 3 days of surveying a treasure hunter by the name of Robert Marx allegedly had located the wreck of the Flor de la Mar but having prematurely made the announcement of the find the operation had to be shut down.
According to Marx “…it’s the richest vessel ever lost at sea, with its hold loaded with 200 coffers of precious stones, diamonds from the small half-inch size to the size of a man’s fist.”
In 2020, Explorer Rick Langrehr found a silver Tanka coin at his search site around Diamond Point in Northern Sumatra. While this could be promising evidence that the Flor de la Mar shipwreck is close, the coin was deemed as an inconclusive piece of evidence in the search of the Flor de la Mar.
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Conclusion
According to some researchers, there exists a report made by Albuquerque which states that “The monies in gold, silver, copper and tin are coined in Malacca. Much of the tin money was lost in the Flor de la Mar” which possibly suggests that the treasure was mostly recovered from the shallows as the reports also claim that the ship was wrecked on the beach and not in the waters.
However, in 1884 Walter de Gray Birch translated a Portuguese Edition of The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India from 1774 in which he wrote “Nothing was saved except the crown and sword of gold and the ruby ring sent by the king of Siam to king D. Manuel. Among the losses, Afonso de Albuquerque grieved most of all a bracelet he had found in Naodabegea, which he found admirable and intended to show to the king, and some four (or six) bronze lions from the Malacca sultan that he intended for his own grave.”
Claims that the treasure had already been recovered shortly after the wreck hasn’t stopped many treasure hunters from seeking the Flor De La Mar fortunes which they believe still lay waiting to be discovered at the bottom of the seabed in the Strait of Malacca.
Treasure or no treasure, the remains of the Flor De La Mar are yet to be found and while many have claimed to have found the ships final resting place none of these claims have been confirmed beyond a doubt.
Information for this article has been provided by various sources and are referenced here:
Primary Source: Flor de la Mar – Wikipedia
REFERENCES:
- Perbadanan Muzium Melaka (18 September 2020). “Muzium Samudera (Flor de la Mar)”. Muzium & Galeri Melaka. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (September 1980). “The Southeast Asian Ship: An Historical Approach”. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. 11 (2): 266–276. doi:10.1017/S002246340000446X. JSTOR 20070359.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Nugroho, Irawan Djoko (2011). Majapahit Peradaban Maritim. Suluh Nuswantara Bakti. ISBN 978-602-9346-00-8.
- ^ Nugroho (2011). p. 290, quoting Hikayat Hang Tuah XXIV: 429. Maka kata Feringgi itu, “Kami sakalian ini hendak menyerang Melaka di-titahkan oleh Sultan Portugal dengan empat puloh buah ghali, dan pada sa-buah ghali itu orang-nya lima ratus dan lima puloh meriam-nya. (So said the Portuguese, “We all want to attack Melaka, ordered by the Sultan of Portugal with forty galleys, and in that galleys there were five hundred men and fifty cannons.)
- ^ Albuquerque, Barros, Correia, Couto.
- ^ João de Barros (1552–59) Décadas da Ásia, vol. 3, p.17-18
- ^ Barros, p.333
- ^ Diffie, Bailey W. and George D. Winius (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580, p.260
- ^ Pires, Tomé, Armando Cortesão, Francisco Rodrigues (1990), The Suma oriental of Tome Pires, 1512-1515, Laurier Books Ltd. p. 146. ISBN 81-206-0535-7
- ^ Mohd. Sherman Sauffi, Assistant Curator at Sarawak Museum, “Flor de la Mar: The Lost Ship 1511”
- ^ Kainic, Pascal. “Flor do Mar”. www.oceantreasures.org. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
- ^ “Nothing was saved except the crown and sword of gold and the ruby ring sent by the king of Siam to king D. Manuel. Among the losses, Afonso de Albuquerque grieved most of all a bracelet he had found in Naodabegea, which he found admirable and intended to show to the king, and some four (or six) bronze lions from the Malacca sultan that he intended for his own grave”. See The commentaries of the great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India, Volume 1. Afonso de Albuquerque, Walter de Gray Birch, p. 199-200
- ^ “Flor do Mar”. www.oceantreasures.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
- ^ McNearney, Allison. The $2.6 Billion Treasure Still Lost at The Bottom of the Sea, The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2017-01-07
- ^ Jump up to:a b “Rick Langrehr Expeditions – Project Page”.
- ^ Book page of The Law of the Sea at Amazon.com
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- Dieter Dellinger, Texto publicado na REVISTA DE MARINHA em Abril de 1989 [1]
- Sérgio Luís de Carvalho, A flor de la mar: 1510 – 1515 com Albuquerque na Índia, Texto Ed., 1993, ISBN 972-47-0422-X
- Diffie, Bailey W. and George D. Winius (1977). Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-0782-6.
- Albuquerque, Braz de (1774). Commentarios do grande Afonso Dalboquerque. Lisbon: Na Regia Officina Typografica. Available in English as The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India. Laurier Books Ltd. /AES 2000. ISBN 978-81-206-1514-4
OTHER SOURCES FOR INFORMATION:
Afonso de Albuquerque – Wikipedia
These 12 Real Life Treasures Yet to be Found Will Surprise You (historycollection.com)
Portuguese India Armadas – Wikipedia
Walter de Gray Birch – Wikipedia
The Lost Treasure of Flor de la Mar, Flower of the Sea | Ancient Origins (ancient-origins.net)
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Written By
ADAM L C
Director of Areas Grey
Adam is an avid treasure hunter, seeker of adventure and the creator of Areas Grey. After travelling for almost half his life and cataloguing over 100 treasure legends along the way. He decided this was simply far too much treasure for one person to chase! As a result he created Areas Grey so he could share his stories, connect with other treasure hunters and put a little more adventure in the lives of the treasure hunting community.
Adam is a Private Investigator and former Wilderness Guide with a passion for history and archaeology. With the skills, knowledge and gear, Adam is always eager to go on the next fortune seeking adventure and connect with fellow treasure hunters along the way.
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“Nothing was saved except the crown and sword of gold and the ruby ring sent by the king of Siam to king D. Manuel. Among the losses, Afonso de Albuquerque grieved most of all a bracelet he had found in Naodabegea, which he found admirable and intended to show to the king, and some four (or six) bronze lions from the Malacca sultan that he intended for his own grave.”
– Walter de Gray Birch, 1884