Madre de Deus

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Madre de Deus (disambiguation).
For the ship sometimes called the Madre de Deus that was sunk in 1610 in Japan, see Nossa Senhora da Graça incident.

Maritime Museum (Lisbon)
History
Portugal
NameMadre de Deus, Mãe de Deus and Madre de Dios
BuilderLisbon shipyards, Kingdom of Portugal
In service1589 (1589)
Out of service1592 (1593)
FateCaptured by the English
General characteristics
Class and typeCarrack
Displacement1600 tons
Tons burthen900 tons
Length30.48 m (100 ft) keel, 50.29 m (165 ft) (beakhead to stern)[2]
Beam14.27 metres (46 ft 10 in)
Draught9.45 m (31 ft)[α]
Sail planFull-rigged, main mast is 36.88 m (121 ft) high
Complement600–700 men
ArmamentAt least 32 guns

Madre de Deus (Mother of God; also called Mãe de Deus and Madre de Dios) was a

Anglo–Spanish War. Her subsequent capture stoked the English
appetite for trade with the Far East, then a Portuguese monopoly.

Description

Built in Lisbon in 1589, she was 50 metres (165 ft) in length, had a beam of 14 metres (47 ft), rated 1,600 tons, and could carry 900 tons of cargo.

orlop, three main decks, and a forecastle and a spar deck of two floors each. The length of the keel was 100 feet (30 m), the main-mast was 121 feet (37 m), and its circumference at the partners was just over 10 feet (3.0 m). The main-yard was 106 feet (32 m) long.[4] She was armed with thirty-two guns in addition to other arms, with 600 to 700 crew members, a gilded superstructure and a hold filled with treasure.[5]
: 294 

Capture

Main article: Battle of Flores (1592)

In 1592, by virtue of the

Anglo–Spanish War was still ongoing, Portuguese shipping was a fair target for the Royal Navy
.

On 3 August 1592,[6] (sources vary as to the date) a six-member English naval squadron fitted out by the Earl of Cumberland and Walter Raleigh set out to the Azores to intercept Spanish shipping from the New World when a Portuguese fleet came their way near Corvo Island.[β] The Roebuck under John Burgh finally took her after a fierce day-long battle near Flores Island.

Among these riches were chests filled with jewels and pearls, gold and silver coins,

benjamin (a highly aromatic balsamic resin used for perfumes and medicines), 25 tons of cochineal and 15 tons of ebony.[γ]

Battle between the Earl of Cumberland and the Madre de Dios

There was also a document, printed at Macau in 1590, containing valuable information on the China and Japan trade; Hakluyt observes that it was "enclosed in a case of sweet Cedar wood, and lapped up almost an hundredfold in fine Calicut-cloth, as though it had been some incomparable jewel".

Aftermath

The carrack whilst anchored at

Dartmouth was subject to theft by curious locals; it attracted all manner of traders, dealers, cutpurses, and thieves from miles around. By the time Walter Raleigh had restored order, a cargo estimated at half a million pounds (nearly half the size of England's treasury and perhaps the second-largest treasure ever after the Ransom of Atahualpa
) had been reduced to £140,000.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The draught as stated by Hakluyt is 9.45 m (31 ft) in loaded weight and 7.92 m (26 ft) after some of the cargo has been transferred, but this is manifestly absurd considering that it would be deeper or equal with 1st rate ships of the 18th–19th centuries. Jordan noted a supposed frigate named Madre de Deus with 5.12 m (16.8 ft) draught, he noted that this ship's depth is unusually deeper when compared with other frigates and might be an error in transcription.[1]
  2. ^ The Gulf Stream and the Westerlies converge near the Azores, where ships coming from both areas would pass.
  3. porcelain vessels of China, coco-nuts, hides, ebenwood as black as jet, bested of the same, cloth of the rind’s of trees very strange for the matter, and artificial in workmanship".[7]

References

  1. ^ Jordan, Brian (2001). "Wrecked ships and ruined empires: an interpretation of the Santo António de Tanna's hull remains using archaeological and historical data". International Symposium on Archaeology of Medieval and Modern Ships of Iberian-Atlantic Tradition: 301–316. Retrieved 2022-03-26 – via Academia.edu.
  2. ^ Hakluyt, Richard (1904). The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation Made by Sea or Over-land to the Remote and Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at Any Time within the Compasse of these 1600 Yeeres. Vol. 7. Glasgow: J. MacLehose and Sons. pp. 116–117 – via Internet Archive.
  3. The Newberry Library. Archived from the original
    on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  4. ^ Hakluyt, Richard (1598). The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation. p. 570.
  5. ^ Whymper, Frederick (1877). The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 and 2. London, Paris, & New York: Cassell Petter & Galpin.
  6. OCLC 42039468
    .
  7. ISSN 0954-6650
    . Retrieved 2022-04-09.

Further reading
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