Treasure trove found in 500-year-old shipwreck off Africa

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The ship was laden with tons of copper ingots, elephant tusks, gold coins — and cannons to fend off pirates. But it had nothing to protect it from the fierce weather off a particularly bleak stretch of inhospitable African coast, and it sank 500 years ago.

Now it has been found, stumbled upon by De Beers geologists prospecting for diamonds off Namibia.

"If you're mining on the coast, sooner or later you'll find a wreck," archaeologist Dieter Noli said in an interview Thursday.

By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer
More.

Have A Lover(ly) Weekend

Drink and be merry for on the morrow after the morrow, tis Monday t'ward doom
Me hearties
be merry
drink and h'party
fill yerselves with beauty
take all
leaving nothing

'tis this piracy
this lunacy
that stood us in stead
now t'ward the Monday world we sail
but I say
face the gail


so ye raise yer glasses
raise voices too
raise skirts and smiles
for around us
are whips
the whipping
the whirling of the world

tis not mad to be a drunk
in this whirling, whirling world
if anything
tis mad
not to be.

Probably inspired by a recent viewing of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End