Plans to establish Kenya’s first underwater museum in a 500-year old Portuguese shipwreck located in the Ngomeni area of Malindi are at an advanced stage.
The vessel , measuring approximately 20 metres wide and 40 metres long, is believed to have been used by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama during one of his final voyages to the Kenyan coast.
Dating back to 1544, the ship has been the focus of excavation efforts over the past two weeks, with foreign experts collaborating with Kenya’s underwater archaeologists.
The team discovered artefacts used by the sailors, including pottery, elephant tusks and other items during the excavation.
National Museum of Kenya underwater archaeologist Caesar Bita, who has been leading the excavation exercise, said the discoveries prove that the Kenyan coast had been an important trade route for thousands of years.
“The ivory business dates back to the 14th century, therefore, we will take these pieces of the elephants’ tusks and the pottery to the laboratory to establish their exact age,” Bita said.
The ship could have been built in the 16th century, the archaeologist said, adding a museum of the shipwreck will be set up offshore at Ras Ngomeni.
They will also establish the first underwater museum.
“Vasco da Gama is believed to have used this vessel during his many trade missions in the East African coastline. The objective of this excavation is to establish a museum that will showcase the history of the East African coast as a trade route for the Romans, Chinese, Portuguese and Arabs,” he said.
“We will build a replica of the vessel and allow the people to come and learn the history.”
Also in the team is Susan Mtakai from the Kenya Coast Guard Service, who is the only woman working with the archaeologists in the excavation.
The exercise has been sponsored by US archaeologist Garry Philbrick.
Philbrick, 77, said he is proud to be part of and contribute to the worthy cause of trying to understand the history of the Kenyan coast at the beautiful site of Ngomeni.
“Well, the experience has been emotional, but I’m so happy for the people of Ngomeni for what’s coming in the future, for their lives and their careers. I hope, wish and pray that it will be here for a very long time for many long behind me to come and view,” he said.
"The shipwreck is a significantly large structure because of the size of the timber frames and planks on the bottom," Philbrick said.
Prof Filipe Castro, a Portuguese underwater archaeologist, said they have assessed the site of the shipwreck to understand the structure of the ship.
“We also want to know the situation then, or how many artefacts are still there and how much it will take to fully excavate it. The site is amazing,” he said.
The Professor said the Portuguese lost eight ships on the coast of Kenya, which they believe are at Ngomeni.
These could be São Jorge, of the third fleet of Vasco da Gama and Nossa Senhora da Graça, (Our Lady of the Grace) of 1544.
“We still don’t know which one it is, but they are both really interesting because we know these ships were amazing machines, but we do not know how they were built, how big they were, how they were put together and how they were designed,” he said.
They were interested in knowing the occupants of the vessels and their activities at the coast.
“We know they had friends here at Malindi and the Portuguese came here for water and food. But still, there is so much to know and we can learn so much from the artefacts that we are going to find on the site,” he said.
“This is going to be a project that
will continue giving news and
information.”
