Posted on 06/07/2016 3:47:41 PM PDT by Kaslin
Diamond miners recently discovered a ship that went down 500 years ago after draining a man-made lagoon on Namibia’s coast. While shipwrecks are often found along Africa’s Skeleton Coast, this one just so happened to be loaded with $13,000,000 worth of gold coins.
It also answers a centuries–old mystery and is what some archaeologists are calling one of the most significant shipwrecks ever found.
The wreck was first discovered along the coast near Oranjemund by geologists from the mining company De Beers in April 2008. One reason it took centuries to find is because it was underneath the ocean floor.
“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.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Wow! Wilber Smith books. I started reading his books as a young sat diver in the North Sea in the 70’s. Those were the golden days of deep sea commercial diving and Wilber Smith books were part of it.
bing
He’s still writing, pretty good stuff.
They must have been moving really fast...
You’re right about that. I’ve been to the Skeleton Coast and it is about as inhospitable place as you’re find. Shipwrecks and bones.
What are the best 5 Wilbur Smith books?
Basically, thick, black clay/mud.
The decrease in depth was so small over distance, that nobody even knew they ran aground until men on the stern saw the screws churning up mud, and the condenser temperatures soared when the inlets got clogged with the goo. People walking didn't even so much as brush a bulkhead.
I am a Navy guy, but this story just has the best of everything, even a scar at the end for the ship. If there was ever a time where a Captain should be held to account for grounding a ship due to rank arrogance and stupidity, Captain Brown is that man. A textbook on how not to be a Captain.
LOL, sorry, didn’t mean to hijack your thread. This is very cool I love stories of things being uncovered by shifting sand (though this is mining, and not shifting sand)
Up here in New England, off Cape Cod there were glimpses of HMS Somerset, sunk off the Cape, pieces becoming visible and disappearing just as quickly with the shifting of the sand.
Writing on that coin does not appear to be in Ebonics. Just one more exploitation by The Man.
Fascinating.
For desert, read ‘seashore.’
Thanks fieldmarshaldj. I gotta tell ya, *that* was a confusing headline. :')
Wow, smooth move, and a well made ship.
https://mpora.com/travel/these-haunting-shipwreck-photos-are-like-a-window-into-the-past/7
http://www.andybiggs.com/photo/skeleton-coast-of-namibia/
http://www.andybiggs.com/images/large/AndyBiggs_COA02_SkeletonCoast.jpg
http://www.travelnewsnamibia.com/featured-stories/early-explorers-into-the-unknown/
http://www.travelnewsnamibia.com/featured-stories/crater-with-a-difference-messum-crater/
http://www.google.com/search?q=!nara+seeds
http://blog.cookingchanneltv.com/2014/10/03/five-secret-cooking-oils-of-sub-saharan-africa/
Read ‘em all and one of the best IMHO—The Sunbird— is about an expedition of Phoenicians/Carthagenians that flees the destruction of their city and goes south around the western shores of Africa to try to start a colony in the interior.
He also has a whole series on Ancient Egypt which are great historical reads.
As an aside,I have a good friend who wasn’t much of a reader and he asked me for a good book to read. I got him started on Wilbur Smith and he now reads a lot in different genres/
So THAT’S where the Bermuda Triangle ships go! :)
Will try Sunbird. Read one of the Egyptian ones, and liked it.
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