World's oldest ship's bell and astrolabe discovered in 516-year-old Portuguese wreck

[xaos]

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The world’s oldest ship’s bell has been discovered by a British team of scientists following recovery from the 516-year-old wreck of a Portuguese vessel found off Oman.

Guinness World Records have verified the artifact, along with a rare type of early navigation device, as the oldest of its type after marine archaeologists and historians identified the stricken ship as one involved in the pioneering days of East Indies exploration. (1498)

A small bell (height - 19.5 cm; external diameter at the mouth - 22 cm) discovered beneath a boulder on only the second dive of the 2013 expedition is believed to be a ship’s bell
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Commanded by the uncle of the famous explorer Vasco da Gama, the heavily armed Esmeralda was supposed to protect Portuguese trading posts during the nation’s fourth Armada to India, which set off from Lisbon in 1502.

Instead, captain Vicente Sodre sailed his vessel to the Gulf of Aden in order to loot and burn Arab shipping.

His ship, along with one other in the squadron, was sunk when a sudden storm tore them from their moorings and dashed them against the rocks in 1503.

The wreck was surveyed by a UK-based team in 2013 and the fractured bell subsequently found nearby under a boulder.
Tests revealed the bell bore an inscription including the date of 1498.

It was found alongside a rare example of an astrolabe, an early navigation device, which has also been certified as the oldest of its type in the world, dated 1496.

The thin 175 mm diameter disk weighing 344 grams was analysed by a team from the University of Warwick who traveled to Muscat in November 2016 to collect laser scans of a selection of the most important artefacts recovered from the wreck site.

Astrolabes are considered to be the rarest and most prized of artefacts to be found on ancient shipwrecks, with only 104 known examples in the world.

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Prof Mark Williams said: “Using 3D scanning technology has enabled us to confirm the identity of the earliest known astrolabe, from this historians and scientists can determine more about history and how ships navigated.

“Using technology normally applied within engineering projects to help shed insight into such a valuable artefact was a real privilege.”

The artifacts were discovered by David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, the oceanographer who in 2001 located the wreck of the Second World War Royal Navy battleship HMS Hood, and Bismark, the German ship which sunk it.

Videos of CT scan of bell and coins.

Esmeralda Shipwreck

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[A2coins]

That is freakin awesome thats a dream job searching and finding stuff like that gives me goose bumps Great post

 

[xaos]

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Among the details gleaned from the scan were 18 scale marks, uniformly spaced along the disk, at 5 degree intervals. Mariners would have used the instrument to measure the height of the sun above the horizon at noon to pinpoint their location at sea. The astrolabe was made sometime between 1496 and 1501. According to the Warwick team, that makes this instrument a transitional design, linking an earlier type of astrolabe with one using an open-wheel design that mariners began using before 1517.

"Without the laser scanning work performed by [the Warwick team] we would never have known that the scale marks, which were invisible to the naked eye, existed," said Mearns. "Their analysis proved beyond doubt that the disk was a mariner's astrolabe. This has allowed us to confidently place the Sodré astrolabe in its correct chronological position and propose it to be an important transitional instrument."

 

[BillA]

another tool, great artifact

Bill

 

[xaos]

For reference on xray capabilities, the portable units used by veterinarians are the best for artefacts. Since animals are typically large, and the xray exposure is not really a consideration (nor regulated like humans) these units are far more powerful than human rated ones. With the reduction in liability, vets seem far more acceptable to these odd requests!

Another benefit is that the units are portable, which allows for field use, and use with odd sized artefacts (not to mention far, far less expensive).

More power means greater depth, even on thick metallic artefacts, I have found success even on cannon in some cases, determination if loaded or not...

Enjoy!