The wreck of the Silo Goncalo
The wreck of the Silo Goncalo
Five vessels were commissioned by the crowns of Spain and Portugal to service the Companhia da Índia, which was created in 1628 to rival the Dutch East India Company.
In 1630 one of the ships, the Silo Goncalo was lost off the coast close to Plettenberg Bay. They were en-route back from India to Portugal in 1630 carrying a cargo of pepper. The ship lies on the sea bed and is well known to local fishermen..
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The crew had stopped in the bay to make some repairs to the ship, but while there when a huge storm hit the bay, the ship was wrecked and many crewmen died. About 100 survivors managed to swim ashore and made the Piesang Valley their home where they stayed for about 8 months They traded with the Khoisan. They built 2 boats from the remains of the São Gonçalo and the timber found in the local forest.
They also erected a stone marker (padrão) on the shore. This was the first ‘Plett beacon’
The padrão was re-discovered in 1980. It bore the inscription (in Portuguese) “Here was lost the ship São Gonçalo in the year 1630.”
