Posted on 04/30/2008 8:44:11 PM PDT by blam
500-year-old shipwreck found by diamond firm
Last Updated: 1:47AM BST 01/05/2008
A shipwreck, believed to be 500 years old, containing a treasure trove of coins and ivory has been discovered off the southern African coast.
The site yielded a wealth of objects including thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins
A Namibian diamond company, Namdeb, said on Wednesday that it found the wreck during mining operations in the Atlantic.
"The site yielded a wealth of objects including six bronze cannon, several tons of copper, more than 50 elephant tusks, pewter tableware, navigational instruments, weapons and thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, minted in the late 1400s and early 1500s," said Hilifa Mbako, a company spokesman.
Dieter Noli, an archaeologist, identified the cannon as Spanish, dating from about 1500.
Company sources said that human remains and ornaments linked to royalty suggested it could be the caravel of Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer, which went down off the Cape of Good Hope in 1500.
Dias, a nobleman from the Portuguese royal family, was the first European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488, opening the lucrative trading route with the Far East.
Dibs........
Very cool!
paging Dirk Pitt
Dirk would have found it in the Gobi desert.
Dear Blam,
Yes — I have been extremely fortunate and Allah has shown great favor to me in providing this priceless treasure into my hands.
However, due to the laws on “antiquities” I can not remove this vast fortune from my country...without outside assistance.
You have been referred to me as a honest man - so I wish to place my total trust in you...
If you will send me all the particulars about your bank account, name, address, mother’s maiden name, social security number and $50,000 in cash as proof of earnest intent - I will transfer all the gold coins, jewels and artifacts to your bank in your name...
If you will hold everything safe, until my exit from Nigeria — you may retain 40% of the total value for your appreciated assistance and I will ask you to return to me - only 60% of the treasure..
Of course at that time - I will also return your $50,000 cash earnest money.
Please respond promptly -— hiding this huge treasure is a problem...
It's unfortunate that I must inform you that I just invested the last of my resources on this $1M tree.
Curses!
May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the crotch of that damned three headed palm tree.
“minted in the late 1400s and early 1500s...”
“the caravel of Bartolomeu Dias, the Portuguese explorer, which went down off the Cape of Good Hope in 1500”
Either the coins are wrong or the hstory is wrong, and they arent Senhor Dias’ bones
Hey wait a minute... I found this while doublechecking before I posted it...
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/shipwreck/index
uh, old, barely related:
Portuguese may have ‘discovered’ Australia! (Not Captain Cook)
CNN | Tuesday, October 8, 2002 | SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters)
Posted on 10/09/2002 8:42:41 AM PDT by vannrox
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:01:24 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/765873/posts
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Thanks Blam. |
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Well I'm glad someone found it who could use the money...(rolls eyes)...
Dirk Pitt and NUMA can find anything in the world, and make excuses as to why it was found where it is.
I’d say more about it all, but I’m not getting paid, and the stuff on NUMA.net is far too spendy for me.
However, since I have multiple lines of heritage in the Carribean, I have bone dibs on whatever is picked up. After Dirk, of course.
LOL!
I read a really interesting (and very old) book (autobiography) by a prospector looking for diamonds in Africa. He went here and there in the rivers and creeks looking for diamonds. Then he hit upon the idea of going along the coastal beaches to look for the diamonds that at been washed all the way down. Instead of having to fight the jungle, snakes, cliffs, etc. - all he would have to do is walk along the beach and pick up the diamonds.
It was a very funny book as well in his descriptions and all the bad luck he had. Even in the end. Turns out he headed south from the mouth of some big river to explore those beaches. Never found anything. A few years later a huge diamond discovering was made. On the beaches to the north of that same river!
Namdeb is not "a Namibian" diamond company. The "Deb" is DeBeers in Namibian sheep's clothing, just to keep the books honest. Nothing against DeBeers and its international diamond cartel, but clarity begins with clear words.
Also indicated by not using an excessive number of honorifics to butter up the very wise, intelligent and astute reader; and not misspelling a few words along the way.
What did they use copper for back then and I wonder how the copper was found? Was it in ingots or bars? At $2.40 a pound, several tons of the stuff could start to add up fast.
Treasure trove found on shipwreck off Africa
"The ship was laden with tons of copper ingots, elephant tusks, gold coins — and cannons to fend off pirates.
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