A shipwreck off the coast of Kenya may be a ship from one of Vasco da Gama’s first voyages to the Indian Ocean 500 years ago, archaeologists say. The shipwreck, discovered near Malindi, Kenya, in 2013, is one of eight Portuguese shipwrecks known to date from this period in the region. Researchers believe it may be the San Jorge, which sank in 1524, although its identity is uncertain.

If it was the San Jorge shipwreck, it would be the oldest European shipwreck in the Indian Ocean, but “we don’t know for sure,” said lead author Filipe Castro, a marine archaeologist at the University of Coimbra in Portugal. The new study explains the latest study in an interview with LiveScience.

Castro and his colleagues now hope to confirm their identities, in part, by conducting an archaeological survey of coral reefs stretching from Malindi to Ras Ngomeni, Kenya, according to a study published Nov. 18 in the Journal of Maritime Archeology. approximately 15 miles (25 kilometers).

The wreckage is located about 1,640 feet (500 meters) from shore at a depth of about 20 feet (6 meters). There’s little to see among the coral on the seafloor, but Castro and other divers dug into two archaeological trenches in the wreckage, removing timber from the ship’s hull and frame.

Da Gama (lived about 1469-1524) opened the way from Europe to the Indian Ocean in 1497, when his ship first passed the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. The Portuguese explorer made three more voyages along this route before dying, probably of malaria, in India in 1524, and his discoveries became the foundation of Portugal’s Indian Ocean trading empire.

San Jorge was one of approximately 20 ships that joined da Gama on his final voyage in 1524, but it sank shortly before his death. New research shows it was one of two former Portuguese ships that sank off Malindi; the other was Nossa Senhora da Grasa, which sank in 1544.

If the shipwreck off Malindi is confirmed to be the San Jorge, it “will have significant historical and symbolic value as physical evidence of the presence of Vasco da Gama’s Third Fleet in Kenyan waters,” Castro said earlier this year.

“I think this is a unique shipwreck,” he told LiveScience. “This is a treasure.”

According to Castro, Kenyan officials are interested in the Malindi shipwreck and the site could be developed as an underwater museum. The shipwreck was discovered in 2013 by underwater archaeologist Caesar Bita of the National Museums of Kenya, and copper ingots and elephant tusks were found in the wreck. Bita helped coordinate the ongoing investigation, Castro said.

Sean Kingsley, a marine archaeologist and editor of Wreckwatch magazine who was not involved in the project, said the wreck would turn to “archaeological dust” if it turned out to be San Jorge.

“Kenya was a staging point for exploring the dazzling wonders of India,” he told Live Science in an email, so the early European shipwrecks found there have “hot value.”

However, further archaeological research is needed to determine whether this is one of da Gama’s ships. “This is one of those shipwrecks whose history demands preservation, respect and care before it is lost forever,” Kingsley said.