In 1972–1974 the Naval Museum of Dubrovnik led the rescue excavation of a shipwreck situated near Mali reef at the entrance to the bay of Suđurađ. The short term rescue excavation was undertaken in 2000, although no site protection was formulated or put in place. The remains of the ship’s hull suggest that the vessel’s length of is about 25 m. Various objects belonging to the ship’s equipment and a limited amount of cargo in the form of raw materials were recorded on the seabed. Among the raised objects were two Spanish coins of Philip II (1556–1598) and one of Ferdinand V (1478–1516). Near the bow a small iron gun was found while two larger forged iron bombards were found in the area of the stern. In the 1960s two bronze guns were raised from the site and ended up in private collections. The Naval Museum managed to produce a copy of one of them, which was decorated with the emblem of the Ragusan family of Primoević (Primi). During the campaigns of the 1970s, two large anchors were recorded while the 2000 report mentions the remains of 5 different anchor pieces.
The identification of the ship as the nava S. Hieronimo, which sank in 1576, is demonstrated by archival documents as belonging to Jere Primoević, a famous merchant from Dubrovnik. The documents describe the salvage by divers in 1607 and 1608 of 11 different guns and a part of cargo. Conserved finds from the site can be seen in the Naval Museum of Dubrovnik.
Selected bibliography:
Kisić, A. 1979. Ostaci potonulog dubrovačkog broda iz XVI. stoljeća kod Šipana. Anali Zavoda za povijesne znanosti IC JAZU u Dubrovniku 17: 73-98.
———. 2006. La nave ragusea del XVI secolo sul fondale marino della baia di Suđurađ sull'isola di Šipan. I. Radić Rossi (Ed.), Archeologia subacquea in Croazia. Studi e ricerche Venezia: Marsilio: 127-145.
Radić Rossi, I. & M. Parica. 2009. Stručni očevid na podmorskim arheološkim nalazištima dubrovačkog podmorja. Obavijesti Hrvatskog arheološkog društva XL/3: 72-81.
Vekarić, S. 1987. Dva najstarija primjera spašavanja broda u XVII i XVIII stoljeću u Dubrovniku. Adrias - Zbornik Zavoda za znanstveni i umjetnički rad HAZU u Splitu 1: 65-71.
Vrsalović, Dasen. 1974. Istraživanje i zaštita podmorskih arheoloških spomenika u SR Hrvatskoj. Zagreb: Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture.
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