The ship is covered in gold under the desert sand of Namibia

The mystery of the Portuguese ship carrying 2,000 missing gold 500 years ago is explained when scientists found coins and debris under the coastal desert sand of Namibia.

According to the International Business Times, The Bom Jesus is the oldest shipwreck found in sub-Saharan Africa. The first traces of the ship were discovered by sand miners in 2008.

Instead of diamonds, the miners encountered pieces of wood and metal, attracting the attention of Dieter Noli, a researcher at the South African Ocean Archeology Institute. Noli is definitely a proof of a wreck. Excavation work helped to find 2,000 gold coin coins dating from 1525 to 1538, contributing to determining the exact name of the ship discovered by the miners.

Archaeologist Dieter Noli holds the gold coins found from the wreck.(Photo: Dieter Noli).

Thanks to the date on the face and the perfect preservation of the coins, archaeologists believe that the ship set sail at the time of the coin's birth. This coincides with the schedule of The Bom Jesus, departing from India in 1533 before missing. The Memorias Das Armadas book written in the 16th century also lists the ship in the list of missing.

According to Noli, the coins are well preserved due to the nature of the shipwreck. The Bom Jesus is most likely to bump into reefs along Namibia's coast, before sinking to the seabed in a flipping position. A fragment from the side of the ship probably shielded the treasure chest when it reached the sea floor.

"We guess the ship crashed into the rock and tilted. The upper floor began to crumble. The coin chest then placed in the captain's cockpit was thrown and fell to the bottom of the sea intact. broken, part of the side of the ship fell on the chest and bent some coins, the impact force impacted on the chest very large, but it also helped protect the treasure, " Noli said.

Although the sea was rough and sandy, causing the ship to shatter into pieces, archaeologists still found more than 5,000 important artifacts, including bronze bowls, tinware, muskets, compasses. , swords, astronomical instruments. In addition, they also discovered 5 anchors, copper bars and more than 50 ivory.