Around the World in 128 Days - Sea Day 2 of 4 Off West African Coast

 

 Travel Day 112 - April 24, 2024 - 5,814 Steps

Today we are passing through the waters off the coast of Angola.

Slightly rocking has become the norm lately.

This morning's presentation dealt with the diamonds found in Namibia and those trying smuggle the diamonds out of the diamond "mines" and the efforts of the "mine" owners to prevent the smuggling from happening. The photo shows how easy it was at first to find diamonds as we learned during our visit to the abandoned mining town a few days ago.

There was always traffic of one type or another in and put of the restricted zone.

The owners at first searched the miners. Later they began X-raying them. Since they had to X-ray everyday they had to develop less dangerous X-ray methods to prevent radiation poisoning the workers. Even going so far as developing the first portable x-ray units. The miners turned to other methods of smuggling, one to secret the diamonds on artificial limbs.

One enterprising group of smugglers even built an airplane to help them move the smuggled diamonds away from the restricted zone. Unfortunately it broke down and captured by the owners. In the end the owners never did completely stop the smuggling from taken place, but by forming the De Beers Combine they took control of all aspects of the diamond  business from mining to finished cut diamonds.

The Crusades had helped create the demand in Europe for spices and it was this demand that led to the Age of Exploration initially by Spain and Portugal and later by other European nations, but what it really did was to make Venice the center of all things Renaissance and the wealthiest city in the world at the time as it became the distribution point for spices headed towards Europe.

The evening meal was okay, but neither the lobster nor the French fries were as good as they had been before.

At least the sky was going all out to look awesome even if the meal wasn't.

Linda really enjoyed this book, giving me daily updates as to what was happening as she read it. She's now reading the second book in the series by this author and gives it a must read endorsement. I may have to have her pick out books for me to read given my track record for selecting as many losers as winners when it comes to the ship's library.