Why a Long-Lost Treasure Ship Ended Up in the Desert

Bright Side

Imagine stumbling across a shipwreck… in the middle of a desert! Sounds impossible, right? But that’s exactly what happened with the long-lost Bom Jesus, a 500-year-old treasure ship that vanished off the coast of Africa and somehow ended up buried under sand in Namibia. Turns out, the ship got caught in a storm, sank, and over time, shifting sands swallowed it up, hiding its gold, ivory, and ancient artifacts for centuries. When diamond miners finally uncovered it, they found chests full of gold coins—basically a real-life pirate movie moment! Who knew the desert could hide a ship full of treasure?   Credit: Ocean Infinity / YouTube EVNautilus / YouTube Università degli Studi di Udine / YouTube wahyupradana / Reddit CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/: Brown Shipwreck: by Western Australian Museum, https://skfb.ly/pruwO Lost Pirate Treasure: by Arran_Brocklehurst, https://skfb.ly/oPTvT Sailing ship: by cyc3w, https://skfb.ly/prCNy Shipwreck: by alban, https://skfb.ly/oJxqP Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Telegram: https://t.me/bright_side_official   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00A ship filled with gold and other treasures worth over $13 million was found in the middle

00:06of the Namibian desert after almost 500 years.

00:11The worker who found it was actually looking for diamonds, but ended up with something

00:15way more valuable for history.

00:18There were some blocks of copper, some wood, pipes, and elephant tusks.

00:22The miners called for an archaeologist, who soon realized it wasn't a disturbed beach

00:27like they thought, but a shipwreck.

00:30All evidence showed that it was a Portuguese trading vessel, Bom Jesus, that went missing

00:35in the 16th century.

00:37Experts believe it was a special kind of ship that was bigger, stronger, and better than

00:42older ships from Portugal and Spain.

00:45These ships were built to take Portuguese explorers on long trips to distant places

00:50like India, China, and Japan, and come back with tons of cargo.

00:55The Bom Jesus was likely carrying treasures from Lisbon, Portugal, to western India.

01:01But it looks like on its way around the southern tip of Africa, near Namibia, a big storm pushed

01:07the ship too close to the shore.

01:09The ship hit a rock, tipped over, and broke apart, sinking into the ocean.

01:15Archaeologists found treasure from the captain's chest under the water, which probably fell

01:19out when the ship's wooden hull broke.

01:21They also found pieces of the ship scattered along the shore, likely from the violent storm

01:26and later by construction in the area.

01:29The storm must have been very fierce, but they didn't find many bones, which means

01:34most of the crew may have survived or were lost at sea.

01:40The ship was split into three sections and incredibly well-preserved, thanks to the thick

01:44layers of sand that covered it and prevented rot.

01:49Scientists who studied the wreck discovered over 40 tons of cargo.

01:53There were cannons, swords, blocks of metal like lead and tin, fabrics, and tools that

01:59sailors used to navigate the stars while traveling across the ocean.

02:03The most exciting discovery was 1,845 copper ingots, weighing as much as 16 to 17 tons

02:11altogether.

02:13Those copper ingots, or pieces of pure metal, are still in great condition because the hull

02:18of the ship and layers of sand protected them from ocean water.

02:22The scientists even managed to read the trademarks on them on sight, and learned they were made

02:28by a super-wealthy German trading company.

02:32There were also more than 2,000 shiny gold and silver coins from different countries,

02:38and 105 enormous elephant tusks, weighing about 2 tons.

02:43The tusks were likely supposed to become luxury items, like jewelry or carvings, at

02:48the destination.

02:50Archaeologists took some DNA samples from the tusks and found that they came from West

02:55African forests and savannah elephants.

02:59Researchers were lucky that the ship was found in a restricted diamond mining area.

03:04No scavengers were able to get their hands on the treasures.

03:07The Bom Jesus remains the oldest and most valuable shipwreck that was ever discovered

03:12off the western coast of Sub-Saharan Africa.

03:16Another shipwreck recently found by accident was buried under a 10-foot tall sand dune

03:21near the Caspian Sea.

03:24Some people call it the world's largest lake, and it has water levels that rise and

03:28fall over time because of the changes in weather patterns.

03:33These changes can move sand and uncover things like this shipwreck and other treasures along

03:38the coast.

03:39As the dune slowly disappeared, the ship started to show.

03:44Before digging it out, scientists worried that waves from the sea might damage the wreck.

03:49To protect it, they built a wall using thousands of sandbags to keep the waves away.

03:54When the ship was uncovered, they discovered it was a three-masted, 92-foot long merchant

04:00ship with a strong double hull.

04:03Wood samples showed the ship was built in the 18th to 19th century using trees like

04:08Scots pine, spruce, and larch from the Volga River area or the Caucasus.

04:13They even found buckwheat and plants from the same region, which were probably traded

04:18or used to feed the sailors.

04:20It proves that the ship was part of a group of merchant ships that once sailed the Caspian

04:25Sea.

04:27An amateur fisherman who was 20 feet under the sea off the coast of Turkey noticed some

04:32huge metal remains.

04:35He had an underwater camera, so he made footage of the discovery and took it to scientists.

04:40They immediately started an investigation and learned that it must be a shipwreck from

04:45the first decades of the 20th century.

04:48It could be one of the Ottoman Empire ships that had an important mission to deliver supplies

04:53but disappeared without a trace.

04:56Scientists got permission to study this Black Sea wreck in detail to learn more about its

05:01mysteries.

05:02They're hoping to find its shipyard documents to find some answers as the ship itself is

05:07in terrible condition and is tricky to work with.

05:11Robot submersibles that belonged to an oil and gas company noticed hundreds of intact

05:16ancient storage jars sitting on the seabed in the eastern Mediterranean.

05:21Experts think those jars are 3,300 years old.

05:26This makes the find the oldest shipwreck from the deep sea.

05:30The jugs were probably used to store oil or other agricultural products like fruit.

05:36This proves that the people who made them organized maritime trade and had incredible

05:40navigational skills.

05:42It looks like the ancient mariners managed to traverse the Mediterranean Sea without

05:47a line of sight to any coast.

05:50All they could see was the horizon, so they must have used the sun and other stars to

05:54find their way.

05:58Off the coast of Sicily, under 20 feet of sand and rock, archaeologists found a shipwreck

06:03so old that they aren't even sure what materials were used to build it.

06:08They think the ship is from the 5th or 6th century BCE, which means it's over 2,500 years

06:15old.

06:16This ancient ship wasn't alone.

06:19Researchers also found two iron anchors shaped like an upside-down T from around the 7th

06:26century of the Common Era and four stone anchors from prehistoric times nearby.

06:32One of the stone anchors was broken and may have had wooden pieces attached to help it

06:37hold on to the seafloor.

06:39They figured out that the ship itself was built using the on-shell technique.

06:44The wooden planks of the ship were connected so tightly that they could support the ship

06:49on their own, with extra beams added just to make it stronger.

06:53Sadly, the ship's wooden hull is very fragile now because tiny sea creatures that eat wood

06:58have damaged it over the years.

07:01Scientists are being extra careful as they study it to make sure it doesn't fall apart.

07:06This discovery is such a big deal because it was built during a time when Sicily was

07:11super important for trade.

07:13Back then, the Greeks and Punics were trying to take control of the seas long before Rome

07:19became the ruler of the Mediterranean.

07:21By studying this ship, scientists hope to learn more about how people travelled and

07:26traded in those ancient times.

07:31One more shipwreck, this time off the coast of Kenya, could be from Vasco da Gama's final

07:36voyage.

07:37This Portuguese explorer was the first European to reach India by sea around the Cape of Good

07:43Hope.

07:45Local fishermen discovered the shipwreck in question in 2013 when an underwater archaeologist

07:50came to check it out.

07:52He found some treasures at the spot, elephant tusks and valuable copper ingots.

07:57If this find really has to do with Vasco da Gama, then it must be from the 16th century.

08:04It was the year of his third and final voyage to India.

08:08Da Gama led a huge fleet of 20 ships, one of which was the Sao Jorge.

08:14Most of the ship is hidden under layers of coral and a whole team of scientists are carefully

08:18digging trenches to find parts of the ship's wooden frame and hull.

Category

Transcript

Recommended