DetectingWales.com

As I don't do much detecting, and therefore cannot post may finds on here, I thought I would show everyone some wreck finds I found (eyes only) while living in South Africa. These finds I made many years ago when I was much younger and we went for a summers holiday down the south eastern coast to a place called Morgans Bay. This is not too far from a major river that flows to the sea called the Kei River, and on either side used to be the former Republic of Transkei and Ciskei which now no longer exist. The whole of the South African coastline is littered with ship wrecks but more so along the Cape of Good Hope and the Eastern Coast where the weather can be unforgiving and the coastline very rocky. Well this wreck we did not know about till we were on holiday and we managed to read about a beach in a brochure, which was about half an hours walk from where were staying, and this was referred to as "Bead Beach". This was given its name due to the fact that Carnelian Beads (Carnelian is very similar to agate but is orange in colour) tend to wash up from time to time along the beach which come from a Portuguese East Indiamen wreck called The Santo Espirito in 1608. The beads originate from India. The only reference to the Santo Espirito in Portuguese literature is that it ran aground on "the coast of Natal, and the survivors escaped by boat to Mozambique". Apart from beads, Chinese Ming Porcelain can also be found washed up at the site and the porcelain is thought to have been made towards the end of the 16th Century. There are several wrecks in that area, a lot of them Portuguese East Indiamen, there is one called the São João which also carried, like so many others, cargo from China and India destined for Portugal and Europe. The beads and shards I found could have come from either wreck or even from others. I can't tell you how much fun I had looking for it, and we only had a day to do that in so I was very fortunate to find what I did in the time I had. That day too was one not to forget as we had to cross a lagoon (it had broken its banks going which was going out to sea) in order to get to Bead Beach, and that was very fast flowing and difficult to cross. Apart from that the depth of it, it meant that there was the posibilty of small sharks in that area as they find that a good place to feed but it was well worth the cross. As you can see I came away with four beads and quite a few pieces of Ming shards and also some Cowries too, these are shells that were also carried on these ships. "The cowrie shell is one of the most remarkable primitive currencies ever used before the advent of gold and silver coinage. This shell extended its range further than any form of money before or since, spreading from China and India to the Pacific Islands, travelling across and encircling Africa and then penetrating the New World. In Africa, the cowrie shell is not only a symbolic allusion to wealth and prosperity. For thousands of years it was used as the main medium of exchange. Although not used anymore as money, the shells are still believed to have occult or supernatural powers, so they are used in divination, traditional medicine, fertility, ancestor worship and other rituals. Cowries formed the common currency throughout this vast expanse of the trading world and Africa." If I could go back and metal detect that beach I definitley would since you can also come across other items on the beach such as this gold bell which was found by a local resident. Enjoy the pictures.

Great story john - I enjoyed reading that over breakfast.

Wouldn't life be simpler if we were reverted back to the cowrie as a currency?

I wonder how many a new detector would cost? :)

Cheers
Neil

Very interesting read.

A great read, as i collect pottery from shipwrecks i have some from
various chinese wrecks with a pic of that bird around that period.
would love to dive one of the wrecks

I remember using small cowrie shells as counters in the infant class in primary school many years ago, how times have changed. Nice read thank you.

great read jon thanks  :)

Enjoyed the read John....I do like to see whats being found around the world .....PaulB. 8)

Very interesting read, I'll offer to detect that beach with you if you decide to return lol ;D

Nice story John, thanks for sharing with D/W  ;)