Esmeralda (carrack)

{{Short description|1503 shipwreck in Europe's Age of Discovery}}

File:Esmeralda (nau).jpg

Esmeralda was a Portuguese carrack ({{Langx|pt|nau}}) that sank in May 1503 off the coast of Oman as part of Vasco da Gama's 1502 Armada to India while commanded by da Gama's maternal uncle Vicente Sodré. First relocated in 1998 and excavated by David Mearns in 2013–15, is the earliest ship found, {{as of|2016|lc=y}}, from Europe's Age of Discovery.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/mar/15/marine-archaeologists-discover-rare-artefacts-at-1503-shipwreck-site|title=Marine archaeologists discover rare artefacts at 1503 shipwreck site|first=Esther|last=Addley|work=The Guardian|location=London|date=2016-03-15|accessdate=2017-10-24}}{{cite journal|last1=Mearns|first1=David L.|first2=David|last2=Parham|first3=Bruno|last3=Frohlich|title=A Portuguese East Indiaman from the 1502–1503 Fleet of Vasco da Gama off Al Hallaniyah Island, Oman: an interim report|journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology|date=2016-03-14|volume=46|issue=2|pages=331–350|doi=10.1111/1095-9270.12175|url=http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23370/13/Mearns_et_al-2016-International_Journal_of_Nautical_Archaeology-1.pdf|doi-access=free|bibcode=2016IJNAr..45..331M }}{{cite web|url=http://esmeraldashipwreck.com/history/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319151403/http://esmeraldashipwreck.com/history/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 19, 2016|website=esmeraldashipwreck.com|title=History, Vasco da Gama's 1502-1503 Armada to India: Discovery of Esmeralda Shipwreck in Oman |accessdate=2017-10-24}}

File:Sodre Astrolabe 1503.jpg, 2016 photo]]

Items recovered from the wreck site include the earliest known mariner's astrolabe believed to have been made between 1496 and 1501 and a ship's bell dated 1498.{{cite news|first=Rebecca|last=Morelle|author-link=Rebecca Morelle|title=Astrolabe: Shipwreck find 'earliest navigation tool'|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41724022|work=BBC News|date=2017-10-24|accessdate=2017-10-24}}{{cite journal|last1=Mearns|first1=David L.|first2=Jason M.|last2=Warnett|first3=Mark A.|last3=Williams|title=An Early Portuguese Mariner's Astrolabe from the Sodré Wreck-Site, Al Hallaniyah, Oman|journal=International Journal of Nautical Archaeology|volume=48|issue=2|pages=495–506|date=2019-03-16|doi=10.1111/1095-9270.12353|doi-access=free|bibcode=2019IJNAr..48..495M }}