Ghost of a flea

The Dutch slave ship, Meermin, ran aground off the southern Cape coast 236 years ago after an on-board rebellion nearly succeeded - and now researchers are poised to uncover her secrets. "It is the beginning of a larger project to find different slave wrecks around the South African coastline," said Meermin project manager Jaco Boshoff, a maritime archaeologist attached to Iziko Museums.

The ship's last moments are a researcher's dream: bottled messages were surreptitiously slipped into the sea and the rebellion of 140 slaves-to-be quelled before the Meermin ran aground.