Eduard Bohen wreck, Namibia

The Benguela Current, moves north from the Antarctic and follows the coast of Namibia, where beaches alternate with reefs and shallows. The current causes a strong tide, violent turbulence, and a thick fog that conceals the contours of the coast. Thus, it is a passage feared by navigators sailing by on the way to the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa. Since 1846 Portuguese seafarers have called the shores the sands of hell,» and the northern part of the coast was given the evocative name Skeleton Coast in 1933. The rusted wreckage of boats as well as airplanes and all-terrain vehicles, along with skeletal remains of cetaceans (aquatic mammals such as whales) and even humans, are strewn along this melancholy shoreline. The wreckage is sometimes mired in the sand hundreds of yards from the water, as seen here near the city of Lüderitz, testifying to the violence of shipwreck. Although advancing rescue technology allows more lives to be saved than fifty years ago, the cost paid on the seas around the globe has been heavy: at least 65 fishing boats disappear daily around the world, and each week two large vessels are shipwrecked.