A mining firm uncovered an epic lost shipwreck in the middle of an African desert, containing a multi-million-pound treasure haul. The vessel, a Portuguese ship called The Bom Jesus, dates back to the 16th century, before disaster struck. Experts believe the vessel may have sunk while on its way from Lisbon to India after being pulled too close to shore by a violent storm. It’s then thought to have collided with a rock and capsized.
As the waters of the coastline receded over hundreds of years the ship came to be inland. It was discovered in 2008 – 500 years after it vanished – by diamond miners, operating near the Namibian coast, as per Arkeo News.
Treasures believed to be worth around £10million were found within, including thousands of rare and valuable gold coins, as well as nearly 2,000 copper ingots.
More than 100 elephant ivory tusks were also discovered among the wreckage.
They were well preserved, enabling researchers to conclude using DNA analysis that the elephants they were removed from were likely from West African forests and the Savannah.
It’s thought to be most valuable shipwreck ever found in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Dieter Noli, chief archeologist of the Southern Africa Institute of Maritime Archaeological Research, previously said he expected the remains of doomed vessels to emerge in the area before the find.
Speaking to Fox News back in 2016, he said: “I had been preaching to them for a dozen years that one day they would find a shipwreck, and to let me know when they do.”
“When asked what exactly I was really expecting to find, I said ‘a Spanish sword and a bag of gold’.”
But it was far more than a bag, with an entire chest of gold found during the excavation.
Astronomical and navigational instruments were also discovered, as well as various weapons.
These included multiple swords as well as cannons and muskets. Discoveries of this kind often prompt disputes from competing parties, and even countries, about ownership, but Dr Noli said at the time that the process was amicable.
The Namibian government “got every single coin”, the academic explained, something which is “normal procedure when a ship is found on a beach”.
He continued: “The only exception is when it is a ship of state – then the country under whose flag the ship was sailing gets it and all its contents.
“And in this case the ship belonged to the King of Portugal, making it a ship of state – with the ship and its entire contents belonging to Portugal. The Portuguese government, however, very generously waived that right, allowing Namibia to keep the lot.”
