(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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