ENGLAND AND WALES, January 29, 2007 — It looks like a modern-day parable: while quantities of wine, shoes, beauty products, car parts and BMW motorbikes have been eagerly gathered up and taken away from the beach at Branscombe, Devon, following the grounding of the cargo ship Napoli last week, a much more precious part of the washed-up cargo has gone relatively unnoticed.
The stricken ship was also carrying 36,000 Bibles in the Xhosa language bound for South Africa. They were on their way from the Netherlands-based Bible printer Jongbloed, to the Bible Society of South Africa (BSSA) and were due to arrive in Table Bay Harbour, Cape Town, on February 5. Reports received by the BSSA say that while one container, holding half the Bibles, has come off the ship, the other is – for the time being – still on board. News of the disaster was greeted in South Africa with dismay.
Mims Turley, Head of Communication at the BSSA, said an order for 80,000 hard-cover ‘standard edition’ Bibles had been placed to help meet the urgent need for Xhosa Bibles in South Africa.
“The Bibles were insured but the BSSA will have to cope with limited stocks of Xhosa Bibles until more can be printed,” she said.
The BSSA estimates cost of the loss at US $95,376.
Xhosa is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages and is the first language of almost eight million people.
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