Ship Wreck

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

And my jaw keeps falling open about how good some of the items and actually the wood also was 'preserved' (can I call it that?) after all these 100's of years buried beneath the sand!   Amazing....

[Michael Alexander]

From today's Namibian

[Alexandre]

Hi all, long time no talk, uh? :)

Been the last couple of days with the National Geographic man in Lisbon, it seems that the main feature on the NGM will appear on March or April next year. I also have more news on that one of a kind piece of mast as well as a 1616 drawing of one of it's kind: interested, anyone? :)

[Michael Alexander]

Yep! Yep!... I know Andrew will be interested! 

[Bertie Horak]

Yes, please Alexandre!

[Clive Symes]

Marine Wrecks, always interested.

[Alexandre]

Yes, please Alexandre!

The first two drawings are from a 1616 shipwright Portuguese book: the "Livro de Traças de Carpintaria". You can check, on the actual photos of the actual top tip of the mast, that they are identical. As far as I know, this is the first surviving example, worldwide, of such a mast assembly.

[Clive Symes]

Always fantastic when you can verify things like this.
From the photos I was amazed at the preservation of the timber after so many years.

Years ago I obtained a copy of a map from the Bredarsdorp museum that indicates how many ships went down off the Cape Coast, its a pity that realy so little has survived or been recovered.

[Bertie Horak]

Wow, Thank You Alexandre.  That definitely looks the same as the picture.  And it looks like it's been cut from a single piece of wood, you can see the circular tree rings clearly.  It's really amazing, and touches something deep inside - to know that it was people working hard to fabricate those parts with their hands, without machines, and it served a purpose that we can see so long after they lived.  Somehow it does feel like we are being connected to the past and civilizations from years gone by.   

[Michael Alexander]

What type of tree is that wood from? It held up pretty well all these years in the Damp namib!

[Alexandre]

What type of tree is that wood from? It held up pretty well all these years in the Damp namib!

Well, that's for the archaeologists over there to find out. But I am guessing it might be some kind of northern european oak or something similar. By the way, here's a drawing of my "suspect" for that wreck of yours and a more detailed view of the wreck as imagined by the artist, c. 60 years after the event.

[Alexandre]

More pics, here: http://static.publico.clix.pt/docs/cultura/tesouroescondido/

[Bertie Horak]

Wow!  Great good quality pictures.  Thank you, Alexandre.  Amazing stuff!

[Florrie van Zyl (Muir)]

More pics, here: http://static.publico.clix.pt/docs/cultura/tesouroescondido/

For those of you that are under the impression this link is for more pictures like the above ones, it isn't. This is like a movie of the wreck site and what was found there, unfortunately the commentary is in portuguese but the pictures are beautiful and clear. Definitely worth looking at. Thanks Alexandre.

[Alexandre]

More pics, here: http://static.publico.clix.pt/docs/cultura/tesouroescondido/

For those of you that are under the impression this link is for more pictures like the above ones, it isn't. This is like a movie of the wreck site and what was found there, unfortunately the commentary is in portuguese but the pictures are beautiful and clear. Definitely worth looking at. Thanks Alexandre.

Indeed, Florrie, this is from the Portuguese leading newspaper site. The voice over is from our underwater heritage manager, Dr. Francisco Alves, who was in OJ and is commentings the photos. :)