Shipwrecks on the coast of Mauritania

04 noviembre 2006

(English version)

The Bay of Nouadhibou, seven miles south from the Mauritanian city, hides one the biggest ship cemeteries in the world. There are more than 300 wrecks around the harbour, resting for years and coming from all nations.

A brief walk through Google Maps will show you hundreds of skeletons piled here and there, at the biggest collection of rusty giant ships you could ever imagine.

Pincha para ver mejorHowever, there isn’t any magic or mystery in this squalid place. For years, Mauritanian harbour officers were so corrupt, that they let ships be discarded in the harbour in exchange of some cash. Discarding a ship is quite expensive for a company, so during the decades, lots of unwanted ships ended up in the Harbour of Nouadibou.

A few years ago, the situation was so out of control, that even Mauritanians started to worry. Nowadays there’s a project from the European Union to refloat all these junk and take them away, or destroy in situ (with explosions) the remaining wrecks.

The city of Nouadhibou is one of the poorest locations in the world. Right over these phantom beaches there are people living inside the huge merchant boats.

Exploring these African beaches is now possible thanks to the work of sites like virtualglobetrotting.com. A short visit will allow you to discover plenty of old shipwrecks all along the coast.

These are some examples (you can click on the maps to explore):


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See more: Abandoned places

6 Respuestas ( Deja un comentario )

  1. Anónimo dijo...
  2. this shows how disgusting the human race is. They should track the owners down and make them pay for these to be removed. As for blowing them up. Thats just as bad.

  3. pigatschmo dijo...
  4. But they are actually quite beautiful in a strange way...

  5. Anónimo dijo...
  6. ship wreck on this coast is same as on skeleton coast but skeleton coast has adverse weather.

  7. Anónimo dijo...
  8. all thise wreak,can be taken away,when the gowernment give open fore it. I can do it. larshop@yahoo.com

  9. Anónimo dijo...
  10. I would like too know if there is any objection from the locals. I would like too remove as many of these old ships to use as housing after the massive storm damage around houston texas. I,m working on a power unit that will operate these vessels without fossil fuel.A self regenerating electric system,by installing it into these old ships ,rebuilding the ship sould be only a matter of time.

  11. lasse dijo...
  12. Who is interesting fore taking all these wreak away?I am.If the government or Harbour office in Mauritania is interesting. Non cost.I only want 1,5-2 year fore doing the job.I dont pay fore it.Only clean up,and take the wreak fore the job. larshop@yahoo.com

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