A 300-year-old shipwreck off Madagascar has been confirmed as the Portuguese warship Nossa Senhora do Cabo, captured by pirates in 1721 during the height of Indian Ocean piracy. Researchers say the discovery turns centuries-old legend into documented history.
The ship, which sailed from Goa to Lisbon, was carrying diplomatic cargo, religious artifacts, and elite goods, with its haul valued at roughly $138 million in today’s money. Historical accounts indicate that the vessel was captured near Réunion in April 1721 after storms compromised its defenses. Pirates towed the prize about 400 miles (645 kilometers) west before stripping its cargo and abandoning it in a sheltered harbor at Nosy Boraha, an island off Madagascar’s eastern coast formerly known as Île Sainte-Marie.
Led by Brandon A. Clifford of the Center for Historic Shipwreck Preservation, the multi-year investigation combined archival research, hull measurements, and artifact analysis to confirm the wreck’s identity. Clifford’s team has cataloged more than 3,300 artifacts, including gold coins with Arabic inscriptions, Chinese export porcelain, and Catholic devotional objects, such as an ivory plaque inscribed with INRI, linking the cargo directly to church leaders.
The ship’s timber layout, hull fittings, and cargo distribution matched records of a Portuguese East Indiaman, built in Asia and reinforced for long ocean voyages. Clifford noted that at least four other pirate shipwrecks or their prizes lie within the same harbor, but careful analysis confirmed this site as the Cabo.
Today, silt and sand overlay much of the wreck, limiting further recovery, but the discovery provides a rare glimpse into 17th- and 18th-century Indo-Atlantic trade and piracy, bridging legend and historical record.