São Bento (carrack)
Woodcut depicting the shipwreck of São Bento  | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| Fate | Wrecked 1554 | 
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage | 900 tons | 
São Bento (Saint Benedict), commanded by captain Fernão de Álvares Cabral, the son of Pedro Álvares Cabral, was a Portuguese carrack of 900 tons wrecked in April 1554 near the mouth of the Msikaba River, midway between Port Edward and Port St. Johns on the Transkei coast of South Africa. The ship had left Cochin on 1 February 1554 and was en route to Lisbon with a cargo of spices, coconuts, silks, porcelain, cornelian beads, cotton cloth and other luxury goods. There are no hull remains at the site.