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{{short description|Cargo ship wrecked in 1606 at the mouth of the River Tagus, near Lisbon, Portugal}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox ship
|display_title=ital
|section1={{Infobox ship/career
|hide_header=
|country= Portugal
|flag={{shipboxflag|Portugal|1578}}
|name=''Nossa Senhora dos Mártires''
|namesake=
|owner= [[Casa da Índia]]
|operator=
|registry= Lisbon, [[Kingdom of Portugal]]
|route=
|ordered=
|builder=Ribeira das Naus
|original_cost=
|yard_number=
|way_number=
|laid_down=
|launched=
|completed=
|christened=
|acquired=
|maiden_voyage=
|in_service=1605
|out_of_service=1606
|identification=
|fate=Sank after hitting a rock
|notes=
}}

|section2={{Infobox ship/characteristics
|hide_header=
|header_caption=
|class=
|type=[[Carrack]]
|tonnage=
|length=
|beam=
|height=
|draught=
|draft=
|depth=
|armament=
|decks=
|deck_clearance=
|ramps=
|ice_class=
|sail_plan=
|power=
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|speed=
|capacity=
|crew=
|notes=
}}
}}
[[File:Peppercorns p1160010.jpg|thumb|Peppercorns of ''Piper nigrum'', the major cargo of the ''Nossa Senhora dos Mártires'' at its demise.]]
The '''''Nossa Senhora dos Mártires''''' was a cargo ship that wrecked in 1606 at the mouth of the [[River Tagus]], near Lisbon, Portugal, and subsequently excavated between 1996 and 2001. The ship had been seeking safer anchorage in the Tagus during strong winds, but she struck a submerged rock and went down close to shore with no loss of life. Also known as The Pepper Wreck, it is so called because its major cargo at the time was peppercorns of black pepper, ''[[Piper nigrum]]'', which carpeted the river and were harvested along with the fittings and other cargo by the population.

The [[Museu Nacional de Arqueologia]] identified the debris on the bottom in 1993 and designated the site as São Julião da Barra 2 (SJB2).<ref>Castro (2005) page 4.</ref> The ship was of a type called the "[[Nau (ship)|''nau'']]", a cargo vessel, used as an [[Indiaman]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Indiaman|encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition|year=2000|url=https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Indiaman|accessdate=2023-12-31}}</ref> Constructed in 1605 in the Ribeira das Naus, the royal shipyard in Lisbon, it set sail under captain Manuel Barreto in that year as part of an [[Naval fleet|armada]], or convoy, consisting of ten ships: four [[galleon]]s and six naus, sent out by the Casa da Índia, a government trade organization,<ref>Castro (2005) page 13.</ref> to [[Goa]], then under Dutch blockade. After loading a cargo of pepper, classified by the government along with all [[spice]]s as ''drogas'' ("drugs", literally meaning "dry goods") it completed the return voyage and anchored off the mouth of the Tagus. A strong wind caused some other ships to pull anchor, inspiring their captains to move further into the river. Seeking to follow their example, the ''Nossa Senhora dos Mártires'' struck a rock and went down suddenly on 14 September 1606. Although scanty, the hull remains have preserved carpenters marks that allowed a tentative reconstruction of the ship's hull.

Until the 2008 discovery of the ''[[Bom Jesus (ship)|Bom Jesus]]'' shipwreck near [[Oranjemund]] in Namibia, this [[shipwreck]] was the only known Portuguese Indiaman from the 16th and early 17th centuries not destroyed by treasure hunters.

==Notes==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=The Pepper Wreck: A Portuguese Indiaman at the Mouth of the Tagus River|first=Filipe Vieira de|last=Castro|publisher=Texas A&M University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-1-58544-390-1}}

==External links==
* {{cite web|url=http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/Index-virtualnau.htm|title=Virtual Nau: A Project by Audrey Wells|first=Filipe|last=Castro|year=2007|publisher=Texas A&M Department of Anthropology|accessdate=30 November 2008}}

{{coord missing|Portugal}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nossa Senhora dos Martires}}
[[Category:Age of Sail ships of Portugal]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Portugal]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1606]]
[[Category:17th century in Portugal]]
[[Category:17th-century ships]]

{{Merchantship-stub}}

Nossa Senhora dos Mártires - Revision history

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