''Flor do Mar'' or ''Flor de la Mar'' (Flower of the Sea), spelled ''Frol de la Mar'' in all Portuguese chronicles of the 16th century, was a Portuguese ''nau'' (

carrack A carrack (; ; ; ) is a three- or four- masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal. Evolved from the single-masted cog, the carrack was first used for European trade fr ...

) of 400 tons, which over nine years participated in decisive events in the Indian Ocean until her sinking in November 1511. Nobleman Afonso de Albuquerque was returning from the conquest of Malacca, bringing with him a large treasure trove for the Portuguese king, when the ship was lost off the coast of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

. A replica of ''Flor do Mar'' is housed in the Maritime Museum in

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

, Malaysia.

History

Career

''Flor do Mar'' was built in Lisbon in 1502, being one of the finest vessels of the time. She was built for the Portuguese India run. At 400 tons, she was the largest carrack yet built, nearly twice the size of the largest ships that had gone on previous runs. She took her maiden trip from Portugal to India in 1502, under the command of Estevão da Gama, a cousin of

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

. However, her return trip in 1503 met some complications—once loaded with spices, her large size and weight made her hard to manoeuver, particularly in the fast currents of the Mozambique Channel (notably, around

Cape Correntes Cape Correntes (sometimes also called "Cape Corrientes" in English) ( Port.: "Cabo das Correntes") is a cape or headland in the Inhambane Province in Mozambique. It sits at the southern entry of the Mozambique Channel.• Cape Correntes was hi ...

). Eyewitness Thomé Lopes reports her springing leaks and being forced to stop for repairs on Mozambique Island for nearly two months. She finally arrived in Portugal in late 1503. ''Flor do Mar'' went out again on another India run in March 1505 under the command of João da Nova, as part of the 7th Portuguese India fleet of 22 ships, carrying D. Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy of

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

. On the return trip in 1506, she once again ran into difficulties in the Mozambique Channel. Springing leaks, she was forced to dock once again in Mozambique island for lengthy repairs. This time, she would stay stuck in the channel for some ten months. Nova attempted to take her out repeatedly, but the heavy-laden ship kept running into problems, forcing him to return to the island, repair and try again. The ship and her frustrated captain were still stuck in Mozambique when they were found in February 1507—almost exactly one year after ''Flor do Mar'' left India—by the outgoing 8th India armada under the command of Tristão da Cunha. Cunha ordered his crews to help repair the ship back to seaworthy shape, unload the ship's spice cargo onto another Portugal-bound transport (under the command of António de Saldanha) and then annexed the empty ''Flor do Mar'' and her captain into his own India-bound armada. She was never to return to Portugal. ''Flor do Mar'' and her captain João da Nova participated in Cunha's conquest of Socotra. In the aftermath, to Nova's surprise, Cunha ordered her to remain in the western Arabian Sea, integrated into the patrol squadron of Afonso de Albuquerque. Nova and the ship participated in the Albuquerque-led conquest of the cities of Curiati (Kuryat), Muscat in July 1507, Khor Fakkan, (accepting also the submission of the cities of Kalhat and

Sohar Sohar ( ar, صُحَار, also Romanized as Suḥār) is the capital and largest city of the Al Batinah North Governorate in Oman. An ancient capital of the country that once served as an important Islamic port town, Suhar has also been credited ...

) and Ormuz in the same year. Two years later in India, she was commandeered to serve as the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

of D. Francisco de Almeida in the 1509 battle of Diu. João da Nova died that same year in Cochin, and Almeida (ending his term as vice-roy) planned to bring ''Flor do Mar'' back to Portugal himself, taking special care to repair her into shape. But his successor, Afonso de Albuquerque, forbade it and retained the ship in India, giving Almeida another ship to take home instead. Under Afonso de Albuquerque's orders, ''Flor do Mar'' supported the conquest of Goa in 1510 as well as the conquest of Malacca in 1511.

Capacity

''Flor do Mar'''s longevity was remarkable. At a time when India ships were built for only three or four years of useful service, ''Flor do Mar'' was one of the longest-lasting ships of the India run. However, her service as a cargo ship left a lot to be desired. Dangerously unseaworthy when fully loaded, she only completed one full India run, and not without difficulties. Nonetheless, much was learned from the ship's experience. Although several larger ships—600t, 900t, 1500t—would be occasionally built, the average India nau would hover around 400–450t. As such, ''Flor do Mar'' can be considered the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

of what would become the typical 16th-century India nau. The ship's experience also led to the institutionalisation of the "outer route", i.e. captains of heavy-laden large ships were ordered to avoid returning via the fast Mozambique Channel, but rather sail a longer but calmer course east of Madagascar.

Shipwreck

Despite already being deemed unsafe, ''Flor do Mar'' served to support the conquest of Malacca, then the largest commercial center of the East Indies. Given her large capacity, Afonso de Albuquerque decided to use the ship to transport the vast treasure looted from the Sultan of Malacca's palace back to Portugal. When ''Flor do Mar'' came out of Malacca in late 1511 and sailed along the north-east Sumatran state of Pasé, in the Strait of Malacca, she was caught in a storm and wrecked on some shoals, causing numerous casualties. The ship did not survive the storm and sank during the night of 20 November 1511, off Timia Point in the Kingdom of Aru, Sumatra. Afonso de Albuquerque was saved in the most difficult conditions, using an improvised raft, but the cargo was irretrievably lost. Also lost were more than 400 men on board. ''Flor de la Mar'' still lies undiscovered in the seabed. Attempts to locate and salvage the shipwreck have been the cause of controversy. Portugal, Indonesia, and Malaysia all claim salvage rights.McNearney, Allison
''The $2.6 Billion Treasure Still Lost at The Bottom of the Sea''
The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2017-01-07 A replica of ''Flor do Mar'' is housed in Maritime Museum of

. The lost treasure of the ''Flor de la Mar'' plays a significant role in the 2022 BBC

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

episode '' Legend of the Sea Devils''.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Dieter Dellinger, Texto publicado na REVISTA DE MARINHA em Abril de 198

* Sérgio Luís de Carvalho, A flor de la mar: 1510 - 1515 com Albuquerque na Índia, Texto Ed., 1993, * Diffie, Bailey W. and George D. Winius (1977). ''Foundations of the Portuguese Empire, 1415–1580''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. . * Albuquerque, Braz de (1774). ''Commentarios do grande Afonso Dalboquerque''. Lisbon: Na Regia Officina Typografica. Available in English as ''The Commentaries of the Great Afonso Dalboquerque, Second Viceroy of India''. Laurier Books Ltd. /AES 2000.

External links

Virtual Museum Malacca
Malacca's Sea Maritime Museum. {{DEFAULTSORT:Frol De La Mar Museums in Malacca Maritime history of Portugal History of Malacca Naval ships of Portugal 16th-century ships 1511 in Portuguese Malacca 1500s in Portuguese Malacca Museum ships Museum ships in Malaysia