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The BBC Tells us:

A 500-year-old ship-wreck laden with treasure has been discovered off the coast of Namibia.

The country’s diamond company, Namdeb, says it found the wreck during operations on the sea bed.

The company said the find included three bronze cannons, thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, and several tonnes of elephant tusks.

There were also human remains and navigational instruments. Excavations in the area were halted immediately.

Archaeological experts have identified the cannons as coming from early 16 Century Spain.

Reuters news agency says company sources are speculating that the ship may be linked to Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who went missing in 1500 after becoming the first European seafarer to round the Cape of Good Hope. Continue Reading…

The New York Times tells us:

In a slap to Zimbabwe, its longtime ally Angola announced Saturday that a Chinese ship bearing arms for Zimbabwe would not be allowed to unload the weapons while it docked in Luanda, the Angolan capital.

The “ship of shame,” as the Chinese vessel An Yue Jiang has been nicknamed in African newspapers, has become a powerful organizing tool for trade unions, religious leaders and civic groups trying to stop state-sponsored brutality against Zimbabwe’s opposition. Any delivery of its weapons could well make that crackdown even more deadly.

Angola’s decision — it said it had allowed the ship to unload cargo meant for Angola, just not the weapons — brought the latest and the most surprising evidence of success in the international pressure campaign against the Zimbabwean government. Continue Reading…

BBC News tells us:

The French military are continuing to track a luxury yacht seized, with its crew, on Friday by Somali pirates.

There has been no contact with the Ponant since it was boarded. French officials said they wanted to avoid using force.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said: “Our priority is to protect the lives of the people on board.”

Somali coastal waters are among the world’s most hazardous, with more than 25 ships seized by pirates in 2007.

CNN tells us:

There were no passengers on board the 87-meter (288-foot), three-masted yacht when it was hijacked Friday, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

There were 30 crew members on board — about 20 of them French and the rest Ukrainian, the spokesman said.

France flew a helicopter over the yacht on Friday but has had no contact with anyone on board, the spokesman said.

The white yacht, named The Ponant, has 32 cabins and four decks. It has lounges, a bar, and a restaurant. The yacht sails on luxury cruises around the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Arabian Sea, according to its Web site.

Ship Specifics:

For more information view the full UN PDF , Live Piracy Map or a good video about piracy HERE.

UPDATE:

The La Ponant crew has been rescued, Lloyds List tells us:

SIX of the pirates who took over the French cruise ship Le Ponant have been arrested by French forces following the liberation of the vessel’s 30 crew members.

The head of the French army Général Jean-Louis Georgelin said that the pirates were arrested after having gone ashore about one hour after the freeing of the crew of the Le Ponant.

“We were able to track the pirates, which made it possible to intercept about half the commando through a helicopter action,” he said.

The operation was carried out with the authorisation of the Somali authorities, according to General Georgelin, who indicated that warning and interception shots were fired but said that there had been no direct firing on the pirates themselves.

The arrested pirates were being held off the Somali coast on the helicopter carrier, Jeanne d’Arc, according to a senior French navy spokesman. Continue Reading…

This post was written by John with Piracy map information provided by Richard of Bitterend. Did you know we accept article written by YOU?