The King of Portugal

Introduction

One of the most colourful episodes in Cornwall's post-medieval history occurred nearly 500 years ago. Henry VIII and King John of Portugal became protagonists in a political wrangle initiated by several of Cornwall's prominent gentry.

On an exceptionally violent and stormy night, the "St Anthony", bound for Lisbon with a valuable cargo, was blown off course and foundered near Gunwalloe, at the southern end of the stretch of sands known as Loe Bar. Yet another victim of the treacherous Cornish coast.

She foundered on 19th January 1527 on passage from Antwerp, striking rocks beneath the cliffs at Porth o' Lingey, now known as Halzephron, or Fishing Cove. Of the crew of 86, more than 40 died. Of the cargo, valued at the time at £18,880, most vanished for ever, but many items were recovered immediately after the wreck and a few in the following centuries.

The St Anthony was more than just an average cargo vessel; quite possibly she was the flagship of King John of Portugal's fleet, with a particularly interesting cargo. Contemporary English Star Chamber papers catalogue the goods known to have been recovered from the wreck and there is good evidence that it was worth an estimated 4,000 times a man's annual wage. Aboard the vessel may have been nothing less than the dowry of Princess Katherine, sister of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, recently married to King John.

But the Cornish had no knowledge of the importance of this vessel. Just another offering of the wild Atlantic, to be treated as any other wreck. What became of much of this cargo is a story of looting, robbery and intrigue, which developed into severe political tension between Henry VIII and the Portuguese King.

Reports suggested that the wreck was plundered in the early hours of Sunday morning, as the storm abated and the tide fell, leaving the shattered vessel in a fathom (6 feet or 1.8 metres) of water. Local Cornish people began taking goods from the ship and the surviving crew members later complained to three magistrates, who appeared only at midday when much of the salvaged goods had already gone missing. According to the Portuguese evidence, the magistrates or their men raided the lodgings of the survivors, forcing them at sword point to give up most of the salvaged items. Next day, they obliged the Portuguese to sell the remainder of the cargo for a derisory sum.

The actions of these opportunist local landowners nearly developed into war between England and Portugal over the return of King John's property, which he considered pillaged. There are differing accounts of the events after the disaster, as the cargo disappeared, but three prominent local landowners became defendants in a law suit, as King John sought the return of his property allegedly in the hands of William Godolphin, J.P; the Captain of St.Michael's Mount, and many local stalwarts of law enforcement.

Also involved was John Milliton, adding yet another chapter to the history of Pengersick Castle.

When the surviving Portuguese returned home, King John of Portugal began the process of recovering his goods, aggravating the relationship between England and Portugal, already in decline. King Henry VIII was seeking a divorce from King John's aunt, Catherine of Aragon and his ships were beginning to usurp King John's monopoly of the spice routes.

Despite several court cases, the affair dragged on for at least a year. Unfortunately, documents for some years have not survived, having been lost, but later documents suggest that to avoid worsening relations, King Henry ordered the return of what cargo remained, but much was missing - either taken by sea or smuggled into Cornish homes, some almost certainly to Pengersick Castle.

In a terrible tragedy which unfolded in 1755, most of the Portuguese manuscripts which may have shed more light on these events were probably lost. A violent earthquake and tsunami shook much of Portugal, originating in the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the Portuguese National Archive was housed in a building on a bridge spanning the river Tagus running through Lisbon, which collapsed, spilling thousands of ancient documents, to be lost forever.

The English records fortunately were much more intact and in 1967, author John Chynoweth published a long article in the Royal Institute of Cornwall's journal. He had spent years locating, researching, transcribing and translating many original documents he unearthed in the various United Kingdom Archives concerning this momentous event. He must be credited with putting the 'meat on the bones' of an event which had passed into folklore centuries earlier, now totally forgotten, except for brief references in such as the Victoria County history, etc.

Ten years after the publication of this article, a local shellfish diver from St. Keverne found a heavy metal object in shallow water off Halzephron and took it home. Not knowing what it was, he used it as a doorstop for some years. But prominent local diver Michael Hall recognised it for what it was - a copper ingot, nearly 500 years old, from the St. Anthony. He enlisted the help of Richard Larn, well-known maritime historian, author and diving archaeologist. In Ken Simpsons fishing boat, they re-discovered the remains of the cargo of the wreck of the St. Anthony, unknown for so many centuries and source of the copper ingot doorstop. A number of artefacts were on display at the Charlestown Shipwreck Centre.

The site became protected under the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act, with Richard Larn as Licencee. When Richard moved to the Scillies, Anthony Randall took over this responsibility and many more artefacts were recovered in subsequent years.

Most of the recoveries are on loan to Pengersick castle, because of its link with the St. Anthony, via John Milliton.

A grant was obtained by Castle owner Angela Evans from "Awards for All" to set up the display. Added to this was a scale model of the Carrack, together with a selection of maps and documentary evidence to link the contemporary account with an ever growing background history of international events concerning Cornwall and beyond.

The British Museum obtained several items which are now on display there, including a silver ingot and two of copper. Other finds which figure prominently in the artefact collection displayed at Pengersick, such as the 'lion' candlestick supporters, are immensely scarce. Only one similar example is to be seen in the Victoria & Albert museum. The ship's mortar, with what appears to be a pestle, was dated by an antique expert from Mexico as probably late 14th. to early 15th. C. and of Arabic origin.

Some of the Finds

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