My friend told me about a “Treasure Beach” here in South Africa, where a 16th-century Portuguese ship sank with it’s cargo of carnelian beads and Ming Dynasty porcelain. Hundreds of years later, beach combers are still picking up it’s precious cargo on the shores of the bay.
My friend’s neighbor initially told her the story, which she didn’t believe. The following day the neighbor phoned and said she must look in her mailbox. In the mailbox was a small bag of carnelian beads. After I heard the story (and saw the bag of beads), I was still a little dubious, so it took me about a second to jump onto Google to research the “facts”.
Well! I’m glad to say, turns out it’s true!
Morgan Bay is a quiet little town on the Southern Wild Coast. It’s even fairly quiet during tourist season. There are miles of unspoiled coastline with a wealth of bird life.
Morgan Bay inherited it’s name from A.F. Morgan, Master of the Royal Naval ship Barracouta, which was used to survey the coast of South East Africa in 1822.
Going down to the beach, you’ll find a couple of local women who comb the beach for these washed up treasures. They fill small bags with beads and sell them to tourists to make a living.
Carnelian beads and shards of Ming Dynasty porcelain lying among sand and seashells.
This place is, definitely, on our bucket list for this year.
We all dream of traveling to foreign countries all the time but forget to explore our own backyard for hidden gems.
