Once again, the media is reporting a story of the discovery of a shipwreck which sounds very familiar. Recently, the Independent reported: “The wreckage of a 500-year-old Portuguese ship filled with gold coins has been unearthed by miners in a Namibian desert. The haul was discovered by diggers from diamond company De Beers and is believed to be worth upwards of £9m.” The ship was quickly identified as the Portuguese trader Bom Jesus, which vanished in 1533.

Bom Jesus? That name sounds very familiar. In fact, the Bom Jesus was discovered at that location in 2008.  We wrote about it in 2009 in “Gold and Ivory Shipwreck on a Beach of Diamonds.”  We wrote:

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 strictly off-limits De Beers diamond mining lease near the mouth of the Orange River on Namibia’s southern coast.

The coins found recently were by no means the first treasure found in the wreck. From a National Geographic article, Diamond Shipwreck, from 2009:

Archaeologists would later find a staggering 22 tons of these [copper] ingots beneath the sand, as well as cannon and swords, ivory and astrolabes, muskets and chain mail—thousands of artifacts in all. And gold, of course, fistfuls of gold: more than 2,000 beautiful, heavy coins—mainly Spanish excelentes bearing the likenesses of Ferdinand and Isabella, but also a smattering of Venetian, Moorish, French, and other coinage, as well as exquisite portuguese with the coat of arms of King João III.

In addition to the gold, silver and copper hundreds of elephant tusks were also uncovered at the wreck.

The wreck is well enough known to be ranked #5 in the 10 Greatest Shipwreck Treasures Ever Found.

So, it appears that the miners discovered new treasure associated with the wreck of the Bom Jesus, which had not been uncovered in previous excavations. Nevertheless, it is all a bit garbled. The Independent reports:  “The wreck was first discovered by geologists in April 2008 and experts are only now realizing its hidden treasures.”  The first half of that sentence is correct while the latter portion is clearly less so.

The Independent also notes: Dr. Dieter Noli from the Southern Africa Institute of Maritime Archaeological Research was called in to examine the site and quickly realized the Bom Jesus wreck was unique.  While that may be an accurate statement, Dr. Noli came to this realization some time ago as he has been involved in the excavation since the ship was discovered in 2008.

Thanks to Alaric Bond and Phil Leon for contributing to the post.