Maritime Archaeology of Baleal
The Baleal Peninsula is a rocky outcrop approximately 800 m long and 120 m wide, oriented South-North and connected to the coast by a sandbar. Baleal Peninsula is continued by two small islands with the same orientation, forming a promontory of about 1800 m that interrupts the coastline, oriented ENE-WSW.
The rocky outcrops of Baleal and Peniche form natural obstacles to the currents, and constitute a notable point of articulation of the coast, delimiting the NE-SW oriented coastal strip that begins in Nazaré and ends in Peniche, and constituting a dangerous zone for navigation.
Baleal is connected to the coast by a narrow and recent sandbar, probably formed after the Middle Ages (Dias, Bastos and Bastos 2017). The beach south of Baleal is narrow and forms a semicircular bay with little maritime activity, and the beach to the north is squeezed between a cliff of clay and volcanic materials.
Figure 1. Baleal and Peniche today (Dias, Bastos and Bastos 2017).
This area suffered pronounced erosion at the end of the 20th century (Henriques 1996), which justified the construction of a pier with a road connecting Baleal Island to the mainland (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Baleal without its sandy beach, in 1982.
The underwater beach has a gentle slope and is predominantly rocky, not presenting good characteristics for the preservation of submerged heritage (Henriques 1996).
Figure 3. Baleal without the sandy beach, in 1982, showing the thinness of the sediment layer.
The occupation of the area dates back to the Paleolithic (Zbyszewski 1970), with one location mentioned near the beach on the north side, 150 m from the old Chafariz do Redondo (CNS 4721). A Neolithic shell midden was recently excavated next to the Baleal fort (Rendeiro 2018) and there are reports of Roman ceramics being found in the fort area. Oral references to the excavation of a skeleton at Ilha das Pombas in the beginning of the 20th century, by “archaeologists from Lisbon,” cannot be confirmed, because there seems to be no reference to this in the National Museum of Archaeology. Another skeleton was found at Baleal perhaps in the 1960s, on the South side of the island, but was eventually thrown away.
The so-called Osberno map (1989) refers to Peniche as an island 800 paces from the mainland, and it is natural that Baleal, Ilha das Pombas and Ilhéu de Fora were also islands, permanently inhabited or not. Baleal Island has a small cove, Praia dos Barcos (Boat Beach), where it is possible to beach small boats year-round, sheltered from the elements (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4. Baleal. Aerial view of the island (N right) showing Praia dos Barcos, the small cove on the east side (below) of the island (Google Earth).
Figure 5. Praia dos Barcos. No date.
There is no information about the occupation of the area in the period prior to the Middle Ages, although there are reports of a Roman pot being found in the fort area in the 1960s. During the Late Middle Ages, the bay where the Ferrel and S. Domingos rivers converged was subjected to a pronounced silting process, which hampered port activity in the town of Atouguia da Baleia. This village had been donated by king Afonso Henriques (k. 1143-1185) in 1158 to a crusader named Guillaume Descornes, who had participated in the capture of Lisbon in 1147 (Barros, 1896, p. 146).
The location of the original houses is unknown. The oldest known image of Baleal is an engraving published in 1863 in the magazine Pitoresco, by an illustrator named Pedroso (Figures 6 and 7).
Figure 6. Engraving of Baleal in 1863 (https://www.facebook.com/cosmosretreatbaleal/, accessed in December 2025).
Until the excavation of the shell midden mentioned above, there is no record of any archaeological work on Baleal Island.
Figure 7. Photograph of Baleal in 1918, showing remains of ancient walls, now demolished.
Old photographs document the erosion process of the clays covering the limestone massif that forms the island (Figure 8).
Figure 8. Photograph of Baleal dated 1913 shows the area where erosion recently exposed a Neolithic shell midden (Rendeiro 2018).
Atouguia da Baleia received its charter in 1167, renewed in 1218 (Reis 2007), and paid port duties to the crown, particularly related to whaling. Documents suggest that whaling activity was centered on Baleal Island, since houses were built there to shelter the fishermen who dedicated themselves to whaling (Marques et al., 1944/45, Doc.17, p. 12). The value of these houses and their rent were high (Dias, Bastos and Bastos 2017). At the end of the 13th century, the income from the houses made by the king on Baleal, where the whalers live, were said to be worth 50 libras, as mentioned in the inventory of the treasurer of king Afonso III: Item a Renda das casas da morada que el Rey mandou fazer en o baleal en que moram os baleeyros que dizem que ualem L libras (Barros, 1896, p. 233).
Peniche and Baleal were two islands near Atouguia and sources of income for the town, related to trade, fishing and whaling. In 1370, King D. Fernando I (r. 1367-1383) granted Aires Gomes da Silva the royal rights to the town of Atouguia, but retained for himself those relating to whaling (Barros, 1922, p. 148).
Population growth and increased agricultural activity must have had a significant impact on deforestation and clearing of the region, and the consequent soil erosion and silting of rivers and estuaries (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Probable configuration of the coastline before the formation of sedimentary accumulations, indicating the dominant sedimentary transport (Dias, Bastos and Bastos 2017).
The port of Atouguia went into decline in the 15th century, and a letter from king Duarte (r. 1391-1438), dated June 11, 1438, mentions that before the silting, ships came to the port of Atouguia to load wine, salt, and other products. king John I (r. 1385-1433) had already ordered dredging work at the harbor entrance, and king Duarte continued this effort, prolonging the importance of the port of Atouguia for several more decades. The silting caused larger ships to run aground, and king Duarte decreed that there should be a permanent pilot at the harbor entrance, based in Porto Pim, a now-vanished port in Peniche, or in Atouguia da Baleia, to prevent the loss of more ships (Chancellery of king Duarte, book 1, folios 157 and 157v):
“(…) ouuemos nos tempos pasados ao porto d atouguja seendo aberto vijnham mujtos naujos e carregauam hi de vínhos e sal e outras mercadorias e auja mujtas barcas de pescar de que se aa terra seguja grande proveito. E despois que se çarrou d area nam ousarom hi de vïjr os dictos naujos e barcas E esta durou grande tempo ataa que el rrey meu senhor e padre cuja alma / deus aia ho começou d abrir e fez hüa grande parte delle. E Nos essa medes despois de sua morte o mandamos mais abrir e repayrar e correger em tal guisa que com a mercee de deus mujtas barcas de pescar e outros naujos mais grosos quando ham tormeenta se colhem ao dicto porto. E por os mareantes strangeiros nom auerem boom conhicimento da entrada do dicto porto. E nom podem a elles bem vïjr sem piloto que lho mostre. se perderam hi despois desta alguüs naujos e ao diante se podem em elle perder mais. E ora veendo Nos e consirando quanto he serujço de deus e bem da nossa terra e saluamento daquelles que no mar andam padecendo fortunas. E por os mercadores e mareantes nossos subditos e naturaães e estrangeiros que trautam suas mercadorias e víuem per o trabalho do mar quando ao sobredicto porto vierem por seerem fora do dicto perijgo. Determjnamos e hordenamos por serujço de deus e por bem cumunal de priujligiarmos e coutarmos e releuarmos de todollos encargos e serujdoões nossos e do concelho assy do mar como da terra hua barca de pescar alta e huü arraez della e outro homem que elle nomear. Com tanto que elles ambos ou ao menos huü delles conthinuadamente viuam sobre o dieta porto ou em pínjchi ou em porto pím pera seerem pilotos dos naujos que hi vierem E que se forem a pescar que huü delles fique hi sempre pera ella ou leixe tal que pera ella perteença E que a dicta barca e homens nom seiam tomados pera armadas nem serujços nossos nem dos concelhos nem doutros nemhuüs senhores posto que mandemos apurar gentes pera ella e tomar naujos e aparelhos deles. E Porem mandamos a todollos nossos corregedores Jujzes e Justiças e apuradores de gentes assy d armadas como da terra E a outros quaeesquer que esta ouuerem de ueer a que esta carta formostrada que a II compram e guardem e façam comprir e guardar como em ella he conteúdo E os Jujzes da dieta ujlla façam na Registrar no liuro da uereaçom e seia lançada na arca do concelho E se o dieta arraez que se pera esta obrigar qujser o trellado della que lho dem em pubrica forma sob sinal do tabaliam.”
Apart from the discovery of a dugout canoe in 1880, which was lost (Veiga 1889), there is no record of any remains of vessels being found in the Peniche floodplain, although there are stories relating to the appearance of whale bones in trenches dug for the construction of foundations in Ferrel in the 1970s.
The decline of maritime trade and fishing in Atouguia da Baleia must have been slow, however, because in 1522 king John III (r. 1521-1557) promised emperor Charles V to arm four ships that would always be within sight of land off the coast of Atouguia to prevent pirate attacks (Faria, 1655, p. 94). During the 16th century, a chapel dedicated to Santo Estevão was built in Baleal (Figure 10). It was improved in subsequent decades with 17th-century tiles and an image of Our Lady of Mercy on the main altar, associated with a legend that claims it belonged to a ship, and that after having been captured by Moors, it was redeemed by a native of Peniche who paid for it by its weight in silver.
Figure 10. Chapel of Saint Stephen, Baleal, undated.
Figure 11. Plan of the Baleal Fort (https://caldeiradapenicheira.blogspot.com/2013/11/pequeno-guia-do-patrimonio-esquecido-e.html, accessed December 2025).
The history of Baleal is practically unknown until the 20th century. In the 19th century, a fort was built there during the Peninsular Wars, but there are no images of it, and the remains were demolished. It is unknown whether there were other structures there before the construction of the fort, but the dimensions of the tower's foundations suggest that it predates the fort's construction.
Of this small fort, nothing remains but the foundations of two structures: a circular tower and a small rectangular building, in addition to a low wall still visible at the fort's entrance (Figures 11 to 13).
Figure 12. Image of the fort (Google Earth).
Figure 13. Image of the fort. Close-up showing the remains of the walls still visible (Google Earth).
At the beginning of the 20th century, tourism developed, and in 1917 a hotel was built next to the chapel of Santo Estevão, which still exists (Figure 14).
Figure 14. Hotel at an uncertain date (postcard).
In 1923, the writer Raul Brandão refers to Baleal in his book Os Pescadores as a peninsula, a rock "attached to the land by a thread of sand that disappears during the highest tides."
In 1983, the erosion of the underwater beach exposed the remains of a sunken ship (Baleal 1), with some traces of the wooden hull with copper alloy bolts, rigging, cannons and muskets, and considerable amount of pottery (Castro 2004). The site was looted without the National Museum of Archaeology taking any protective measures. Large pieces were removed from the site with a tractor, but their whereabouts are unknown. The Peniche harbor master's office carried out recovery work and some artifacts were deposited in the Peniche Museum and others in the National Museum of Archaeology, but the site was never studied, suggesting it may encompass more than one shipwreck.