A talk by Peter Kingdon Booker

The Pepper Wreck. In 1606, Nossa Senhora dos Martíres, a three or four masted ship of about 1200 tons, on its way to Lisbon after a long voyage around the Cape of Good Hope, approached the bar of the River Tagus. The ship was loaded with peppercorns, porcelain and other products from Cochin in Southern India. A storm blew up as the ship negotiated the river channel, and it was blown onto the north shore of the river where it foundered. Within hours, the currents and storm had ripped the ship asunder and spread its precious cargo along the river banks and the shore of the estuary. This lecture examines the story of the archaeological excavation in the years 1997 - 2000, and the difficulties encountered by the divers in fast-flowing and cold water. It will cover how this type of ship was developed and a description of life aboard one of these floating cities, describing typical menus, onboard diseases and how the social classes mixed, or otherwise. This lecture is designed to be taken together with Arne Jakobse´s History of Salt.