For those of you not familiar about the Flor do Mar, here is a brief history including what was on board the ship when it sank:
On April 20, 1511, he set sail with eighteen ships, eight hundred Portuguese and two hundred Malabar auxiliaries, but contrary winds prevented him from reaching Malacca until the first of July. Sending an emissary ashore to meet with the Sultan, Albuquerque demanded the immediate release of his countrymen and restoration of their property as well as payment for the loss of their ship. The Sultan refused unless Albuquerque first signed a treaty of peace. The Portuguese Captain General refused this offer. A few days later, Albuquerque burned several merchant ships in the harbor and threatened to burn many more if his men were not released. He vowed all the Portuguese would immediately leave Malacca once Sequeira and his men were freed. The Sultan took him at his word and sent the Portuguese prisoners to Albuquerque - a move he was to bitterly regret.
The prospect of Portuguese attack seemed remote since there were over one hundred thousand inhabitants in Malacca, thirty thousand of them capable of bearing arms, whereas the Portuguese had a mere thousand fighting men. Albuquerque, heedless of such overwhelming odds and the protestations of most of his officers, decided to attack Malacca. On July twenty-fourth the Portuguese laid siege to the city. For twelve days a bloody battle raged on and thousands of Malays were slaughtered, even after they surrendered. The Sultan, his court, and most of the inhabitants fled into the hills, eventually taking refuge on the other side of the peninsula in Johor. Because of its strategic importance Albuquerque established Malacca as a Portuguese possession and it remained so until it was captured by the Dutch in 1641. During that period over 100 treasure-laden ships were lost during pirate attacks and storms. Today they remain lost forever as they were covered over by landfill and modern buildings.
Albuquerque gave his soldiers three days to plunder the deserted city. The spoils the Portuguese took from Malacca stagger the imagination; more than sixty tons of gold booty in the form of animals, birds, gilded furniture, the Sultan?s throne, ingots and coinage of precious metals valued at 15,370,265 crowns came from the Sultan?s palace alone. An equal amount of gold was robbed from the homes and warehouses of Malacca?s rich merchants. The Portuguese filled more than two hundred large chests containing diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and other precious stones, valued at over thirty million crowns. Another two and a half million crowns value was obtained from the covering clothes for elephants and horses embroidered with gold, silver, precious stones and pearls.
The spoils also included two thousand bronze cannon and one thousand iron cannon - which had failed to protect the city. For himself, or so he claimed, Albuquerque only took some gilded furniture from the Sultan?s palace andsix bronze lion statues from a sultan?s grave, which he wanted to eventually adorn his own tomb. Never has a conqueror amassed such fabulous booty.
Interestingly, Albuquerque?s greed was responsible for the first minting of tin coins in the world. Because he was adamant that all the gold and silver treasures be sent to the Portuguese King in Lisbon, there were no precious metals for the Portuguese colonists in Malacca to mint for commerce. By late December Albuquerque was satisfied that the fledgling colony was on its feet. So he had all of the booty loaded on four ships - the Trinidad, Enxobregas, an unnamed Chinese junk, and his Flor do Mar, which carried the lion?s share of the treasure.
"Sixty tons of gold." "Over 200 chests of diamonds, rubys, emeralds and precious stones."
It boggles the mind!
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