historycarvedondightonrock

The Heart of Boston
On the front, we see the Boston Symphony Hall, the Massachusetts Agricultural Building, then the Christian Science Monitor Church with the dome, the lake and to the right of it, is the tall building of the newspaper and other communications and administration.

The skyscraper at the center is the Prudential Insurance.

“The Christian Science Monitor” newspaper was started in 1908, (It will be one century next year), by Mary Baker Eddy the Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, MA. U. S. A. This newspaper was considered for many years one of the best in the world.

The following article was published 23 days before I made my presentation at the First International Congress of the History of the Discoveries in the University of Lisbon, Portugal, on September 8, 1960.

It was based on this article that Mr. Roswell Bosworth Jr., Editor of the “Bristol Phoenix” published an article about Dighton Rock three years BEFORE I came to practice medicine in Bristol, Rhode Island. I believe it was also this article that opened the doors for me at “The New York Times” and “The Boston Globe”.

Even today I consider this article very well written. I would like to contact Mr. Kenneth Hufford to thank him and also to invite him to visit with me the Dighton Rock Museum for him to verify that what I told him then turned out to be true.

Here is his excellent article. Enjoy it even after 47 years it was published by “The Christian Science Monitor” which continues to be a great newspaper!

The mysterious Dighton Rock inscriptions continue to intrigue historians, scholars, and antiquarians, as they have for centuries. Dr. Manuel Luciano Da Silva, who has puzzled over the famous markings for years, asserts that they prove Portuguese explorers discovered the North American continent before 1492, and established colonies before the British.

He has made numerous trips to Dighton Rock, on the left bank of the Taunton River, near Dighton, Mass., and has spent many hours studying the faded markings on its surface in his attempt to unravel this perplexing puzzle.

Marks on which lie bases his argument can be seen in the earliest known drawings of Dr. John Danforth in 1680, those of Cotton Mather in 1712, and others in following years. But they were not at first correctly interpreted, Dr. Da Silva maintains.

Findings of the Miguel Corte-Real Memorial Society, Inc., of which Dr. Da Silva is a founder, definitely prove that the Portuguese explorer Miguel Corte-Real placed four important inscriptions on the rock in 1511, Dr. Da Silva says.

The captain's name, Miguel Corte-Real, the Portuguese royal coat of arms, both "U" and "V" shaped; the cross of the Order of Christ; and the date 1511 have all been identified by Dr. Da Silva and the memorial society from among the maze of confusing markings on the surface of the rock.

They correspond with those which Portuguese explorers were instructed to place on new land discoveries, and bear resemblance to Portuguese symbols and inscriptions found on other rocks, Dr. Da Silva says.

According to the Dictionary of American History, Dighton Rock "has been the subject of more weird speculation than any other subject of antiquity in America. Its intricate and not easily decipherable inscriptions have been attributed to Phoenicians, Norsemen, and some thirty other improvable sources.

''It is now certain that most of Its designs were relatively meaningless scribblings by Indians in colonial times. But there are fairly conclusive indications, based upon improved photographs, that, before them, the first inscription may have been made by the lost Portuguese explorer, Miguel Corte-Real 1511”.

As Indicated in the Dictionary of American History, there were many interpretations of the Dighton Rock markings, but it was Prof. Edmund B. Delabarre who first discovered the date, the captain's name, and "V" , shaped Portuguese coat of arms ' in the early 1920's. Professor Delabarre, then head of the archaeological and philosophical departments of Brown University, made a thorough study of Dighton Rock and various publications concerning it, and wrote a book about its markings.

His findings brought small bits of information together like pieces in a jig-saw puzzle, to build a fairly substantial and impressive body of evidence in support of the theory of Portuguese discovery and settlement of the area.

It wasn't until 1951, however, that Prof. Joseph D. Fragoso, president and co-founder of the Miguel Corte-Real Memorial Society, discovered what he interprets as the cross: - fourth of the markings used by Portuguese discoverers - and the ''U" shaped coat of arms.

The society now believes it has an undeniable, case for their Portuguese forebears, and Dr. Da Silva expects to present its findings at the International Congress for Discoveries and Explorations to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, from Sept. 4 through 9. More than 1,500 historians, professors, geographers, archaeologists, and explorers are expected to attend the conference.

The 1680 drawing by Dr. Danforth shows only the upper middle half of the inscriptions on the rock. It is in this area that Dr. Silva found portions of two of the crosses.

A drawing made 103 years later by James Winthrop also contains these markings. Dr. Da Silva says. And in drawings made by the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1830 the shields and portions of the name appear. Why didn't scholars discover these symbols earlier if they always have been there?

Dr. Silva points out that many different individuals have inscribed their initials, dates, and other drawings over the original inscriptions, making them increasingly difficult to decipher.He also says scholars did not interpret the inscriptions correctly because they were not aware of, or had an incomplete knowledge of the Portuguese national symbols.

A look into Portuguese history discloses that Miguel Corte-Real sailed for Newfoundland in 1502 ; in search of his brother Gaspar, who had been lost there the year before. Although Miguel reached Newfoundland safely, he never , was heard from again.

The theory is that Miguel journeyed up the Taunton River, where he had a fight with the Indians, in the course of which his boat was burned. It is conjectured he then established himself as head of a colony at that point and placed the markings on Dighton Rock.

Dr. Silva supports the theory of a Portuguese colony among the Indians by listing a number of Indian words and names having Portuguese words as their base.

One of the major difficulties encountered in studying the Dighton Rock inscriptions is the fact that it is covered by the tidal waters of the Taunton River for about 20 hours a day. Only for an hour or two at low tide are the inscriptions entirely above water.

Various proposals have been made to protect Dighton Rock, and even remove it to dry land. The Miguel Corte-Real Memorial Society does not want it moved, but is trying to get a cofferdam built around it and a monument built over it to pre serve it before further damages occur.

Other projects the memorial society envisions in the Dighton Rock area include: (1) an avenue honoring all navigators and explorers of the New World; (2) a museum containing items pertaining to navigations and explorations of the New World and (3) a Pan-American park.