Cavoli, 1440s
Country: Italy
Place: Southern coast of the island of Cavoli, off Capo Carbonara, south-eastern Sardinia
Coordinates (approximate): 39.0833, 9.5333
Type: Merchant ship carrying ordnance and tiles
Identified: No
Dated: 1440s, from the tiles with the Beccadelli arms (before 1450), archival documents and the ceramics
Beam: Unknown.
Keel Length: Unknown.
Length Overall: Unknown.
Number of Masts: Unknown.
History of the wreck
In 1971, 42 divers of the British Royal Air Force in Germany surveyed the coast of Capo Carbonara, in south-eastern Sardinia. Between Capo Boi and Punta Molentis they found isolated finds and two amphora deposits of the second to fourth centuries AD, but the most significant find was a group of sixteenth- or seventeenth-century artefacts off the southern coast of the island of Cavoli (Martin-Bueno and Amare Tafalla 1992: 85-86). Over the next three years British military divers removed artefacts as souvenirs and exported them illegally; their whereabouts are unknown, although the preliminary report includes a photograph of much of the material (Fennel 1974: 331, fig. 1).
Italian divers relocated the site in 1986 and, with the Province of Cagliari and the Soprintendenza Archeologica of Cagliari and Oristano, recovered wrought-iron guns with their breech chambers, sherds, lead seals from Majorcan cotton bales and a cargo of coloured tiles (Martin-Bueno 1998: 31, 33-36). Many artefacts were not conserved until the 1990s. The Italian team concluded that the ship carried a cargo from the Spanish Mediterranean coast and was lost on an eastward voyage (Martin-Bueno 1993: 39-41).
In 1990-1991, in the context of the quincentenary of the Spanish voyages to the Americas, a team from the University of Zaragoza and the Soprintendenza of Cagliari returned to the site, with pre-disturbance survey, sediment sampling and conservation facilities (Martin-Bueno and Amare Tafalla 1992: 86-88). The ceramics linked two areas once thought to be separate wrecks, showing that there was only one (Martin-Bueno 1998: 32).
The tiles bear only the arms of the Beccadelli family, who served the Crown of Aragon in the fifteenth century and were later allowed to add their arms to the royal insignia, which gives a date before 1450 (Martin-Bueno 1993: 80-82). Documents on the hiring of a master tiler for the royal palaces in southern Italy and the other ceramics suggest a loss in the 1440s. The ship probably left Valencia with guns and tiles, loaded cotton in Majorca, and was wrecked in a storm on the rocks of Cavoli on its way to Sardinia (Martin-Bueno and Amare Tafalla 1992: 90-91).
Description of the site
The main deposit covers about 12 m² off the southern coast of Cavoli. Broken ceramics are scattered over the site and link two areas earlier thought to be separate wrecks (Martin-Bueno 1998: 32-33).
Figure 1. Hull remains of the Cavoli shipwreck (after Martin-Bueno 1993: 64).
Cargo
Coloured tiles with the arms of the Beccadelli family, wrought-iron guns (probably part of the cargo, see Guns), ceramics, and lead seals from cotton bales from Majorca (Martin-Bueno 1993: 80-82; Martin-Bueno 1998: 31-36).
Ballast
Not reported.
Anchors
Not reported.
Guns
Twenty wrought-iron guns with their breech chambers were found in all. There was much less ammunition than would be expected for so many guns, which suggests that the ordnance was part of the cargo (Martin-Bueno 1998: 32).
Iron concretions
Not reported.
Hull Remains
Only a small part of the bottom of the after section survives, within the 12 m² of the main deposit. It shows the overlap between floor timbers and futtocks, without clear evidence of how they were joined (Martin-Bueno 1998: 32-33).
Keel, keelson and mast step
Not reported.
Frames
Most frames have no scarfs; two possible floor timbers have dovetail scarfs, and the futtock of one of them is recessed to receive half of the scarf, while the other shows none (perhaps a replacement). The frames are rectangular in section, moulded more than sided, and the room-and-space is about the width of a floor timber (Martin-Bueno 1993: 63-64).
Planking
The planking is of average thickness (5 cm) and is fastened at each frame with one or two nails and one treenail. The nails were clenched inside the hull, and their heads outside were covered with molten lead (Martin-Bueno 1993: 63-64; Martin-Bueno 1998: 33).
Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales
Fragments of ceiling suggest longitudinal planks treenailed to the frames (Martin-Bueno 1993: 63-64).
Caulking
Not reported; the nail heads were covered with molten lead.
Size and scantlings
Planking 5 cm thick; room-and-space about the width of a floor timber.
Wood
Dendrochronology indicates that the timber came from a Spanish Mediterranean forest (Martin-Bueno 1998: 33).
Bibliography
Fennel, [initial not given]. 1974. [Full reference to be completed.]
Martin-Bueno, M. 1993. La nave de Cavoli. [Full reference to be completed.]
Martin-Bueno, M. 1998. [Full reference to be completed.]
Martin-Bueno, M., and Amare Tafalla, M. T. 1992. [Full reference to be completed.]
Bendig, C. 2021. [Full reference to be completed.]