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Thursday, June 9, 2016, 4:01 PM – Diamond miners who recently drained a man-made lagoon have unveiled a 500-year-old shipwreck loaded with $13,000,000 in gold coins, among other treasures, off Namibia’s coast.
While shipwrecks are commonly found in the area, which is referred to as Africa’s Skeleton Coast, archaeologists say this is one of the most significant discoveries ever.
Diamond mining company De Beers first caught wind of the ship in April 2008, but retrieving it was a process.
“The mining site concerned was actually located in the surf zone, where the violent action of the waves theoretically made mining impossible,” archaeologist Dr. Dieter Noli told FoxNews.com.
“So what the chaps do is push up a huge sea-wall with bulldozers parallel to the beach, with the ends running back to the beach. The result is a large man-made lagoon, with the surf pounding on the outside. Then they pump the sea-water out of the lagoon.”
The ship was apparently concealed under the ocean floor, helping it remain undetected for centuries.
A day after finding the ship, on-site geologists found ‘strange’ pieces of metal, wood and copper or bronze pipes. They sent photographs of the pipes to Dr. Noli, who identified them as a piece of 16th century artillery, circa 1535.
This makes the find even more significant: Most of the shipwrecks found in the area went down over the last 120 years. Until the recent discovery, the oldest ship found in the area was the Vlissingen, which dates back to 1747.
“As luck would have it, we found the treasure chest on day six,” Dr. Noli told Fox News.
“Academic arguments are all very well, but once you have literally filled your hat with an 25.5 lb mixture of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins (there were indeed swords as well), the value of the site is no longer in doubt.”
It was identified as the Bom Jesus, or the Good Jesus — a Portuguese ship that went down some 500 years ago while travelling to India. At the time of the wreck, it was loaded with gold, tin and ivory.
There was also 44,000 pounds of copper blocks aboard, and experts say that’s what helped preserve the ship.
