Reclamation kills Flor De La Mar?

The enclosed article below has raised important concerns about the lack of initiative on the part of the authorities to locate the great treasures supposedly on board the ill fated ship. In Malacca or Melaka, looking under the seabeds of the historic city shores is only getting tougher now that more rampant reclamation projects are in the pipeline. Think of the hugely unpopular Talam led Pulau Melaka project and the reality of the devastation unfolds before your eyes. Massive siltation of Malacca seashores i.e adjacent to Century Mahkota and Malacca Rivermouth. The entire area is slowly turning into swamps and now a favorite with migrating egrets.

A quick glance at ancient Malacca maps would reveal the shore lines were the entire stretch from present day Hotel Equatorial to Santiago Gate and right to Malacca River mouth where the Tourism Malaysia office is now situated. Therefore it would not be too hard to imagine that great sail boats and probably Flor De la Mar would have made its port calls where Hilton Hotel or Mahkota Parade stand today.

Malaysia's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had urged a thorough magnomatic survey of the various potential sites when the idea for the massive reclamation project was mooted by the state in the late 90s. Unfortunately the technology prescribed concluded nothing significant, and the Chief Minister was adamant that the project proceed. Yet for sometime, local dailies had articles highlighting fishermen and those who fish for leisure would often show up with pieces of broken china, old coins and the musket balls during their outings at the same areas.

As a teenager, I too have my share of adventures at the edge of the reclaimed land before developers changed the landscape forever with the likes of Mahkota Parade and Melaka Raya. As a matter of fact I own a few of the musket bullets and broken china wares digged out from the muddy soil myself.

Unfortunately, the state prefer to ignore the urgent need to find and identify the sunken treasures. Instead it has adopted a negligent attitude to concerned calls urging restrain in its reclamation project.

End of the story? Not yet.

The same authority however has remarkable enthusiasm to spend millions for large scale projects supposedly to draw more tourist traffic (The Eye of Malaysia in Kota Laksamana - The same Eye from KL by the way, The Taming Sari Revolving Tower and Malacca Skytrain etc) but fail to appreciate the exquisite value of heritage and conservation Malacca has to offer to its people and the world.

April 2008

RELATED READING

Fevereiro 07, 2006

Flor De La Mar : An Early Epilogue of the Lost Ship 1511 (Portuguese Documents On Malacca)
Article By: Mohd. Sherman b. Sauffi (Maritime Archaeology Museum)The legend of the lost ship on the Portuguese fleet called Flor De La Mar (Flower Of The Seas) had been an agenda of story telling, speculations and assumptions for many years since her lost in December 1511. Lots of theories and speculations about her, that make her “A billion dollar baby”, some said that she lost or vanished on the unfaithful event, some said that she have been taken over and all the treasures are stolen, some says that she had been destroyed by rivals ships and most provocative some says that the ship was not lost and know whereabouts the ship but somehow until now, well 500 years later, it can never be found elsewhere and remains a mysteries.Enjoy the silence? We are actually got away from our leagues ladies and gentlemen.

Before we jump into conclusions about anything, there’s a good start we look at the early document of “Portuguese Document On Malacca 1509 until 1511”, collected, translated and annotated by the late M.J Pintado with National Archives of Malaysia in 1993. It is a “Long Term Project” which was started the ideas since 1974. Credits goes to all the personnel who work on the project especially Dato’ Zakiah Hanum Nor, Ex-Director General National Archive Malaysia.The written historiography collections with importance which had information about Malacca, “Letters from Alfonso de Albuquerque” in 7 volumes and the six Chroniclers - Joao de Barros, Diogo do Couto, Fernao Lopes de Castanheda, Gaspar Correia, Damiao de Goes and Manuel de Faria e Sousa. The document itself had information about what really happen to the ship Flor de La Mar.On the Document 2 (1511), Portuguese Republic Ministry of Colonies Asia Joao de Barros, Chapter II, “What Alfonso went through along the route that he took fom Cochin to the island of Sumatra, where he was visited by the King of Pedir and Pasai and what else he did up to the time he arrived in Malacca”, Document no. 13 noted “ …together with other jewellery taken as spoils from Malacca and put on aboard the galleon Flor de La Mar, as we shall further on”.

The unfortunate event that bring Flor de La Mar to bottom of the sea stated on the Book Seven Of The Second Decade of Asia by Joao de Barros, “The Achievements of the Potuguese in the exploration and conquests in the lands and seas of the east, after Alfonso de Albuquerque’s departure from Malacca to his entry into the red sea” Document no. 224, “ Above all they had to brave the fury of the storms at sea and the danger of the sandbanks near the coasts….”, Document no.225, “The truth of this we are going to see in the notable example of Alfonso de Albuquerque, who left Malacca with his galleons filled with trophies. Sailed as far as the Kingdom of Aru at the end of the region called Timia Point in Sumatra. There at night his galleon was dashed against a hidden reef and broke up into two parts with the poop in one section and the prow in the other, because the ship was old and the seas heavy”.Alfonso indeed inside the ship and his men unable to get aid from other ships that sails along with them. By the following morning, Pero de Alpoem, a captain from another ship called “Trindade”, gave aid for the shipwrecked men in a ship’s boat and save them from tragic fate.

During the period of danger, Alfonso had many precious things in his ship but the only “precious things” he saved was a little girl, the daughter of one of his slaves, while standing on a raft he held the child in his arms – the only things that he saved from among the rich spoils he had obtain from Malacca which were in his galleon. The great loss of Alfonso which is refers to his honor on the ship were the two lions hollowed iron, fine piece of craftsmanship and artistry, which the emperor of China had sent as gift to the Sultan of Malacca.Another interesting note on the event was the mutiny by the Javanese workers, on a Junk in the company of Jorges Nunes de Leao, the junk did not steer along the right course and entered the port of Aru, where the Javanese and the natives robbed it. Alfonso did go the wreck site with seeking help of Captain Jorge Bothello by using a ship Carravel type and enquire the natives who dived for pearls to dive the wreck site. However, the natives near the coastal area of Pasai might have robbed most of the cargo.

There were more than 10 ships responsible on the Malacca invasion campaign by the Portuguese in 1511, to name few, Flor de La Mar, Trindade, Anunciada, Santo Antonio, Santa Cruz, Bretao, Taforeia, Enxobregas, Cambaia, Santa Caterina, Joia, Santiago and Sao Joao. The Portuguese were the first pioneering Europeans to established empire in Southeast Asia by the invasion of Malacca , August 1511 througout 130 years before the Dutch did. Alfonso de Alburquerque died in 1515, where he left behind the legacy of navigations and established Portuguese maritime control from the Persian Gulf to Malacca, to the great enrichment of the monarchy. However, some questionable speculations about The Flor de La Mar cargoes: where did it really go? Where all the treasures of Malacca Sultanate that had been robbed? If the ship were broke into two parts, why nowadays people claim that they knew and found the wreck?If we calculate for 500 years including the changing of tides, currents and based on the unstable geographical of Sumatera, does the ship still there? Just for comparison, the Fort Santiago at Malacca A’ Famosa fortress if we look at the picture closely we sees that the sea is near the fort but 500 years later then compare the picture with the new land of Malacca, it is about 5 kilometers out from the cultural sites. Now look at the Sumatera coastal area and think again.

More research need to be taken and document to be analyzed, considerations for regions political issues, economics and diplomacy. We need to take a deeper look to this point so that the cultural heritage of Malaysia, Indonesia and Portuguese will be preserved with proper research and a little bit of sincerity in doing it.Phil-Sherman William @ Mohd. Sherman bin SauffiMaritime Archaeological MuseumDepartment Of Museums and AntiquitiesJalan Damansara50566 Kuala LumpurMALAYSIATel: 603 2282 6255 ext 228Fax: 603 2284 9103H/p: 6013 895 0198