Original scientific paper
The Remains of a 16th Century Dubrovnik Ship Sunk near the Island of Šipan
Anica Kisić
Abstract
The article deals with the discovery of a sunk ship found in the Šipan bay of Suđurađ. The object was being explored by the Maritime Museum of the JAZU Research Centre of Dubrovnik and the Republic Institute for Preservation Cultural Monuments in Zagreb between 1972 and 1974. Here are given the course and the results of undersea exploration, scientific elaboration of found objects which gives a cultural and historic image and the results of the archives work to establish the origin of the ship and her historic identity. The Coat of Arms of the Dubrovnik family Primović positively shows that the ship belonged to Dubrovnik. The coins of Philip II put her in the second half of the 16th century.
The found objects represent the first and the oldest remains of a Dubrovnik ship coming from the period when the Dubrovnik Republic was at her highest. They are: numerous ceramics, tin vessels, leaden and stone balls of different sizes, copper fasteners of wooden pulley-blocks, an instrument for charging guns, parts of a steelyard and a copper seal with initials VGK. Two pairs of nautical compasses, an old gun of wrought iron and inflammable earthen shells for igniting enemy's sails (something like Greek fire) can be considered as the oldest examples of a ship armament and navigation of modern times discovered not only in Dubrovnik but also on the whole of the Yugoslav coast.
A comparison of the objects found on this ship with the results of the research work abroad shows that the outfit of a Dubrovnik 16th century ship did not differ from that used on merchant ships of the other maritime countries.
Keywords
shipwreck; Šipan; 16th century
Hrčak ID:
244670
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1979.
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