Long-Lost Ship Found in the Desert Laden With Gold

The discovery of a ship filled with gold coins, missing for five centuries and uncovered in a southwest African desert, is one of the most thrilling archaeological finds of recent times.

The Bom Jesus (The Good Jesus) was a Portuguese vessel that set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday, March 7, 1533. Its fate was unknown until 2008, when its remains were discovered in the desert of Namibia during diamond mining operations near the coast of the African nation.

When it sank in a fierce storm, it was on its way to India laden with treasures like gold and copper ingots. Two thousand pure gold coins and tens of thousands of pounds of copper ingots were discovered on the Bom Jesus, almost all intact.

It is speculated that the Bom Jesus sank when it was pulled too close to shore in a storm off the coast of Namibia, causing the ship’s hull to collide with a rock and lean over, capsizing the vessel. As the coastline waters receded, the Bom Jesus reemerged in the desert.

The condition that the ship was found in suggests that the storm that caused the shipwreck was especially violent, although an absence of human remains (besides a few scattered bone fragments) at the site suggests that most of the crew on board either survived the wreck or perished at sea.

Ship discovered in desert had valuable cargo, including gold

Dr. Noli, the chief archeologist of the Southern Africa Institute of Maritime Archaeological Research, said recently that the coastline was notorious for storms, so finding a shipwreck was hardly surprising.

However, it was a week into the excavation that a treasure chest laden with gold was found, with the coins indicating it had come from a Portuguese ship that had disappeared in 1533.

“It adds new meaning to the concept of the ship having being loaded with gold,” Noli told News Com, Australia. Further investigation revealed the discovery of bronze bowls and long metal poles later found to be canons.

Noli’s team also found a musket, which he estimated to be at least five hundred years old, and bits of metal which revealed a shipwreck was buried in the sand. Compasses, swords, astronomical tools, canons, and even a time capsule were also found in addition to silver coins.

While little is known about the history of the Bom Jesus itself, it is speculated that the ship was part of a class of naval vessels that were larger and more efficient and durable than previous Portuguese and Spanish vessels in order to facilitate the longer-distance expeditions carried out by Portuguese fleets of the time.

Based on the contents of the shipwreck, Noli and other scholars believe the ship was on course for Western India from its home port in Lisbon, Portugal, around the southern tip of Africa, a common route for similar Portuguese vessels with such cargo at the time.

Today, the Bom Jesus is the oldest known and most valuable shipwreck ever discovered off the Western coast of Sub-Saharan Africa. The area where the ship was found was called Sperrgebiet, or “forbidden territory,” after the hundreds of German prospectors who ventured to the region in search of diamonds. Diamond company DeBeers and the Namibian government still run a joint operation in the area, according to CNN, and the area remains largely out of sight.

The remnants of the shipwreck remain protected by mining security, with limited numbers allowed onto the site. The possibility of a museum has been proposed, but it remains to be seen whether this will actually come to fruition.

Related: Top Ten Gold Treasure Discoveries of the Century