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