Message #105700

[Bianca]

"The copper ingots are all marked with a trident indent, which was used by Germany's famous Fugger family of traders and bankers in Augsburg who delivered to the Portuguese five centuries ago," South African archaeologist Bruno Werz said.

The team includes experts from the United States and Zimbabwe. The salvation efforts were made possible by the **** of sea walls to keep back the fierce Atlantic surf.

Namibia's Culture Ministry and Namdeb, the state diamond mining company, had shared the expense, said Peingeondjabi Shipoh, the ministry expert in charge of the recovery project.

But that was coming to an end, even though "I believe there is still more to be found", he told reporters.

"From October 10, the walls will not be maintained any more and the ship's remnants left to the elements again."

At one point it was thought the wreck was the ship of legendary Portuguese explorer Bartolomeo Diaz, the first known European to sail around the southern tip of Africa in 1488.

In line with the custom of Portuguese explorers of the time, Diaz that year left a huge stone cross to the glory of his country's king, called a "padrao", at what is today's harbour town of Luderitz, which Diaz baptised Angra Pequena, or "small cove", 750 kilometres south-west of the capital, Windhoek.

Around 1500, he and his sailing vessel went missing and were never found.

But hope that the Oranjemund find might resolve the mystery ended when it was established that the coins on the shipwreck were put into circulation 25 years after Diaz's disappearance.

Under international maritime laws, a wreck and its treasures belong to the country where they were found, and all the coins are now locked in the vaults of the Bank of Namibia in Windhoek.

The Government said it planned to mount an exhibition of the findings and later build a museum in Oranjemund to house the incredible collection.

AFP