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Shipwreck believed to be part of Vasco da Gama's fleet



(CNN)A shipwreck discovered years ago off the coast Oman is believed to be part of the fleet of 16th century Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, according to a recent study. The wreckage was first discovered in 1998 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah Island in the Arabian Sea, but an archaeological excavation to reveal more about the sunken ship has taken place over the last three years, an interim report published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology says. Researchers think that what they found is the remains of the Esmeralda, a ship from the famous explorer's second voyage to India that is believed to have been destroyed in a storm. March 15 http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/15/middleeast/oman-vasco-da-gama-shipwreck/index.html








Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer. He was the first European to reach India by sea, linking Europe and Asia for the first time by ocean route, as well as linking the Atlantic and the Indian oceans entirely and definitively, and in this way, the West and the Orient. This was accomplished on his first voyage to India (1497–1499). In March of 2016 archaeologists working off the coast of Oman identified a shipwreck believed to be that of the Esmeralda from da Gama's 1502-1503 fleet. The wreck was initially discovered in 1998. Later underwater excavations took place between 2013 and 2015 through a partnership between the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture and Bluewater Recoveries Ltd., a shipwreck recovery company.

The news of the shipwreck linked to Vasco da  Gama comes just after the solar eclipse of March 9. A chart for the eclipse at Muscat, Oman has the eclipse T-square straddling the meridian. Here Saturn at the apex is conjunct the MC and the star Ras Algethi of Hercules. This sky figure was originally  a Euphratean  Sun-god adopted by Phoenicians and turned into sea-god Melqarth whom Greeks associated with Herakles (Phonecian Harekhal, “Traveler”).

Also here are stars of Ara, the Altar. Aratus  wrote that Ara was “a mighty sign of storm at sea”.  Diana Rosenberg adds that this area is linked to shipwrecks.


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