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Shipwreck · Found

The Esmeralda

Sank 1503, off Al Hallaniyah, Oman
RECOVERED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

The Esmeralda: still unexplained.

The oldest Age of Discovery wreck

The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
The oldest Age of Discovery wreck
The account

A ship of Vasco da Gama's fleet wrecked off Oman in 1503 and was found in our own time, the earliest ship of the European Age of Discovery ever recovered.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • A ship of Vasco da Gama's 1502 fleet, wrecked off Al Hallaniyah, Oman, and excavated from 2013 to 2016, the earliest ship of the European Age of Discovery ever found.
  • It is a permitted archaeological site; finds like a rare silver coin and a ship's bell confirmed the identification.
  • The lead for the region is that other ships of da Gama's fleet may lie in the same Omani waters.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • A ship of Vasco da Gama's 1502 fleet, wrecked off Al Hallaniyah, Oman, and excavated from 2013 to 2016, the earliest ship of the European Age of Discovery ever found.
  • It is a permitted archaeological site; finds like a rare silver coin and a ship's bell confirmed the identification.
  • The lead for the region is that other ships of da Gama's fleet may lie in the same Omani waters.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 17.030°, 55.200° View on the Map