Ship Wreck

[Alexandre]

Sorry, bad translation coupled with a misspell... :)

[Alexandre]

From todays Republikein:

"Skatskip nou veilig op land (...) Geen verdere besonderhede is bekend nie. 'n Portugese geskiedkundige en mariene argeoloog, dr. Alexandre Monteiro, wat vroeër vanjaar verantwoordelik was vir die identifisering van die meer as 2 000 muntstukke uit die skeepswrak, het aan Republikein gesê sy aannames oor die identiteit van die skip is gegrond op geskiedkundige verwysings en kruisverwysings asook 'n "ingeligte raaiskoot" dat die wrak moontlik die Bom Jesus is.


I bet they are saying I am terrorist or that I am about to eat badly thawed chicken.....


(I guess one is never too old to learn Afrikaans)

[Michael Alexander]

I have started the translation, in between the real work I do now and again...

"SHipwreck nou safely on land

The Sao Joao(Bom Jesus) , an impressive triple deck Portuguese Trading ship, what went missing during 2533 on the west coast of africa, has been "lifted" from it's seagrave at Oranjemund. The recovery of the 16th century wreck reached a climax this week, when the remaining wooden frame was removed in the presence of a high ranking delegation.

In another exciting breakthrough, archeaologists on the site, discovered 16 century Arabian coins. "We are extremely happy, everything went well", said Sr.Shipoh, the head of the recovery and rescue operation at Oranjemund (told the Republikein)

Research in Germany and Portugal has meanwhile revealed that the treasue ship could possibly be the Bom Jesus of S.Jao , captained by Dom Franciso de Noronha. Portuguese historians have pointed out that the vessel was part of the 1533 Armada that sank of the Cape of Good Hope."

post more just now...

[Michael Alexander]

No further details are available, a Portuguese historian and underwater arceaologist, Dr Alexandre' Monteiro, who was earlier this year responsible for the identification of more than 2000 coins from the wreck, told the Republikien, that in his opinion about the identity of the ship, is based apon the historical refrences and cross refrences as well as an "intelligent guess" , that the wreck might possibly be the Bom Jesus.

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

Mike, don't lie to Alexandre  -  that Afrikaans report says that Alexandre is an old Portugese guy, who took a shot in the dark when under crossfire, that only Jesus knows if that wreck was bombed!

                                  202      

[Michael Alexander]

@Dalene.... you forgot the chicken part...   202

"In my informed opinion, is that the recovered artifacts from the wreck could be those of (ship's captain" Dom Francisco de Noronha, possibly the Nau Sao Joao Boaventura of the first fleet of 1522, under the command of Dom Joao Pereira. The previous Captains (of the Sao Joao Boaventura) were Lourenço de Paiva, Diogo Brandão, Dom Gonçalo Coutinho, Simão da Veiga en Nuno Furtado de Mendoça," the researcher informed us, via email from Germany


( sorry for the bad translation..this is my best ...I thought you were in Portugal?"

[Michael Alexander]

Dr.Monteiro had earlier identified the coins as cruzados which were minted from 1525 onwards. The discovery put paid to all suggestions that the ship belonged to the explorer , Bartolomeu Dias. Dr. Monteiro was also responsible for the identification of the large quantity(tons) of copper balls, due to the German Fugger trademark.

[Michael Alexander]

Dr.Shipoh, who recently returned to Oranjemund , where he was present for the lifting of the remaing wooden fram of the ship, said yesterday, that he has not yet been informed on the possible name of the ship. Dr.Shipoh was with the The Minister of Youth,National Service , Sport and Culture, Mr.Willem Konjore, the minister of Mines and Energy, Mr Erkkie Nghimtina and the minister of Information and Communications technology, Mr Joel Kaapanda , at Oranjemund

[Michael Alexander]

Dr. Shipoh also announced that the government had given permission that the recovery operation would continue for long as was neccessary and that no final(conclusion) date would apply to the ship and it's cargo. "The researchers would have concluded the removal of the last wooden pieces yesterday and then seenwhat lay under the wreck"

[Michael Alexander]

we have recovered more gold and silver coins and coins from Arabia. "This is no longer an emergency rescue anymore, but a total recovery. There is a general concensus that a recovery team always leaves something behind at a site...

In this case the site is seven metres under water level and there is no reason why any parts of the wreck or artifacts need to be left behind. The site will be thoroughly marked for future refrences and reports drawn up on everything that has been recovered, will be preserved in a museum, stated Mr Shipoh.

THE END

[Alexandre]

@Dalene.... you forgot the chicken part...   202

"In my informed opinion, is that the recovered artifacts from the wreck could be those of (ship's captain" Dom Francisco de Noronha, possibly the Nau Sao Joao Boaventura of the first fleet of 1522, under the command of Dom Joao Pereira. The previous Captains (of the Sao Joao Boaventura) were Lourenço de Paiva, Diogo Brandão, Dom Gonçalo Coutinho, Simão da Veiga en Nuno Furtado de Mendoça," the researcher informed us, via email from Germany


( sorry for the bad translation..this is my best ...I thought you were in Portugal?"

I thought so.... maybe I am wrong and I am about to ring Georg's doorbell...

[georgswa (Georg Ruf) (RIP)]

@ Alexandre, any time if you need translation, but in to english LOL

[Alexandre]

Many thanks, Michael. :)

Just to set the record straight:

- I am in Portugal;

- I only identified three of those coins (I haven't seen the rest of them);

- The other captains were captains of other ships of the same fleet not of the same ship;

- We still dont know if this was that ship. I am betting we will never will, for sure. And even if it was this ship, I pretty much doubt ith would be a triple decker...

[Michael Alexander]

This still makes interesting reading though...... what intrigues me though...is the survivors...what happened to them? Where did they go?

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

Huh....  are you telling me that   rooster    survived and went astray in the Namib?  Must be those huge birds you see on occasion  -  now calling themselves ostriches!   


I personally think if there were any survivors from the wreck, they might not have survived that barren strip of desert.  One will actually never truly know  -  but on the other hand, that part of the coast was already mapped then and for sure they would have been aware of the Orange river just south of where the were wrecked.  But none of the other ships in the fleet (if there were any others) could actually anchor close enough in a safe bay and send out search parties for survivors, so....