In 1240s, three trading ships vanished in a Menorca cove, archaeologists have now found their wrecks and a possible clue: a sudden meteotsunami

In the 1240s, three trading ships disappeared beneath the waters of a secluded cove on the Spanish island of Menorca. For more than 750 years, their fate remained unknown. Now, underwater archaeologists have uncovered the overlapping remains of all three vessels at Cala en Busquets, an ancient harbor near Ciutadella, and the position of the wrecks suggests they may have gone down during the same disaster.

The leading explanation is not an earthquake or a conventional storm. Researchers believe a sudden meteotsunami, locally known as a rissaga, may have sent a powerful surge through the harbor and overwhelmed the medieval ships. The phenomenon is still capable of sinking boats in Menorca today, making the medieval wrecks an unusually vivid reminder that a little-known natural hazard has been shaping the island's maritime history for centuries.

The three wrecks, provisionally named Busquets I, Busquets II and Busquets III, are among the earliest medieval shipwrecks discovered in Menorca and are providing archaeologists with a rare look at maritime trade in the western Mediterranean during the 13th century.

Three ships were found lying on top of one another

The discovery began with underwater surveys at Cala en Busquets, a small cove on Menorca's western side.

Xavier Aguelo Mas, a Catalan archaeologist working with the Menorca Shipwreck Project, had been surveying the site since 2009. Excavations began in 2023 as part of a collaboration between the Explorers Club, local archaeologists, museum specialists and cultural heritage experts.


At first, researchers did not realize they were looking at three medieval vessels.

The wrecks overlap in places, with their remains resting close together on the seabed. That unusual arrangement is one reason archaeologists believe the vessels may have sunk at roughly the same time rather than representing unrelated shipwrecks separated by decades or centuries.

Wood analysis carried out in 2025 revealed another surprise: the vessels were far older than initially believed. They were originally thought to be 18th-century wrecks, but dating of the surviving timbers placed them in the 13th century. Local reporting on the excavation places the vessels in the middle of that century, with other reporting pointing to the 1240s.

The ships disappeared during a turbulent period

The wrecks date to a particularly complicated period in Mediterranean history.

In the 13th century, Menorca was part of a wider world where Muslim and Christian communities traded, competed and interacted. The island remained under Muslim rule until the conquest by Alfonso III of Aragon in 1287.

That makes the three ships valuable historical evidence. Their cargoes suggest that commerce continued across cultural boundaries even during a period of political and religious conflict.

Among the objects recovered from the wrecks are Islamic ceramics as well as Christian material. The Menorca Shipwreck Project says the site is helping researchers investigate the maritime connections linking communities around the western Mediterranean.

One particularly remarkable discovery was a small Christian encolpium, a type of reliquary traditionally worn by high-ranking members of the clergy.

According to Smithsonian reporting, the object is now undergoing professional desalination at the Museum of Menorca. Researchers have not yet opened it, so they do not know whether anything remains inside. Possibilities include a small bone fragment, parchment or another devotional object.

The mystery: what sank three ships together?

Archaeologists have considered several explanations.

A major storm could have overwhelmed vessels in the harbor. An accident is another possibility. Local archaeologists previously described a severe rissaga as one of the hypotheses under consideration.

But the meteotsunami theory has gained particular attention because Menorca is unusually vulnerable to these events.

A meteotsunami is a tsunami-like wave generated by atmospheric disturbances rather than an earthquake. Changes in atmospheric pressure can produce waves in the sea, which can then become dramatically amplified when they enter certain harbors or coastal formations.

Scientific research has identified Ciutadella harbor as a hotspot for this phenomenon. A 2011 study published in Geophysical Research Letters found that atmospheric pressure oscillations can generate large sea-level movements in the area. The study noted that ordinary rissaga events can produce oscillations of around 0.5 to 1 meter, while extreme events can reach 2 meters or even 5 meters.

A later study published in Ocean Modelling similarly described damaging meteotsunamis in Ciutadella, with extreme events capable of producing waves roughly 1.5 to 4 meters high.

Menorca's deadly wave is still a threat today

The most remarkable part of the theory is that the phenomenon blamed for the medieval disaster has not disappeared.

Menorca still experiences rissagas. In June 2006, for example, a major event caused water levels in Ciutadella harbor to oscillate by about 4 meters. Researchers reported that more than 35 boats sank and roughly 100 others were severely damaged.

That modern evidence gives archaeologists a way to understand how a similar event might have affected medieval vessels.

A sudden rise and fall in sea level can be particularly destructive in a confined harbor. Boats that appear safe in sheltered water can suddenly be thrown against one another, dragged toward shore or left stranded as the water rapidly retreats.

For three trading ships to end up overlapping on the seabed, a powerful and abrupt event is therefore plausible — although archaeologists have not yet proved that a meteotsunami caused the wrecks.

Why the wrecks survived for 750 years

The cove itself played a major role in preserving the evidence.

Cala en Busquets remained relatively undisturbed by the large-scale harbor development that affected other parts of the Mediterranean. Modern development concentrated elsewhere on Menorca, leaving the western cove with an unusually intact archaeological record, according to marine geoarchaeologist Beverly Goodman-Tchernov, who spoke to Smithsonian about the discovery.

The Menorca Shipwreck Project describes the area as an underwater archaeological site containing wrecks spanning centuries, effectively creating a layered record of the island's maritime past.

That preservation is especially valuable because medieval shipwrecks from this part of the Mediterranean are relatively rare.

The discovery may change what scientists know about medieval trade

The three ships are more than underwater casualties of a possible natural disaster. Their cargoes can reveal what medieval merchants transported, where goods came from and how Christian and Muslim communities interacted through trade.

The encolpium and Islamic ceramics found among the wreckage offer particularly striking evidence of that interconnected world. Archaeologist Marcel Pujol Hamelink told Smithsonian that the discoveries challenge the idea that Christian and Muslim communities in the medieval Iberian world existed as completely separate societies. And there may be more wrecks waiting nearby.

Researchers have already suggested that the cove could contain additional vessels. The Menorca Shipwreck Project describes the investigation as an ongoing effort to document the area's underwater heritage, while the excavation team expects further research and publication as work continues.

For now, the three ships remain frozen in the place where they met their fate nearly eight centuries ago.

Their overlapping remains tell archaeologists that something dramatic happened in the cove. The cargo tells a story of a connected medieval Mediterranean. And the island's modern history provides an intriguing possible explanation: a sudden wave born not from an earthquake, but from the atmosphere itself. The mystery is not completely solved. But after more than 750 years, the three lost ships are finally beginning to tell their story.

FAQs

Where were the three medieval shipwrecks discovered?

The three vessels were found at Cala en Busquets, a small cove and ancient harbor near Ciutadella on the Spanish island of Menorca. The site is part of an ongoing underwater archaeology project.

Did a meteotsunami definitely sink the three ships?

Not yet. Archaeologists consider a major rissaga one possible explanation because the three wrecks overlap and appear to have sunk during the same period. However, researchers have also considered a severe storm or accident, so the meteotsunami theory remains a hypothesis rather than a confirmed conclusion.