The October 2009 National Geographic magazine has a fascinating story of a 16th century shipwreck on a beach in southern Namibia. In 1533 a Portuguese trading ship carrying a fortune in gold and ivory, bound for the famed spice ports of India, was swept ashore and wrecked by a winter storm. It lay undisturbed until it was discovered only last year. Ironically, the treasure laden ship, believed to be the nau Bom Jesus, wrecked on a beach rich with diamonds. The wreck was discovered in the Sperrgebiet, the Forbidden Zone, the fabulously rich and strictlyoff -limits De Beers diamond-mining lease near the mouth of the Orange River on Namibia’s southern coast.
Read the article: Diamond Shipwreck – Shipwreck in the Forbidden Zone
Photo Gallery of the wreck site
