The most famous treasure ships. Famous treasures and treasures that have not yet been found Found pirate ships

The remains of about three million sunken ships are scattered throughout the bottom of the world's oceans. And along with these fragments, real treasures are hidden in the depths of the sea, which are periodically found by researchers or ordinary fishermen - gold coins, bronze statues, jewelry and much more.

Wreck near Salcombe Bay

Perhaps this is one of the most ancient shipwrecks in the world. A merchant ship transported copper ingots and tin as early as 900 BC. The cargo found is evidence that commerce was already developed in ancient times.

Wreck from Belitung

The Arabian ship sank back in 820, and it was found by a fisherman off the coast of India in 1998. Numerous gold and silver objects from the Tang Dynasty, as well as ceramic items made in a single copy, were discovered on the ship. In total, treasures were estimated at $80 million.

Ship SS Central America

The American steamship sank in 1857. 153 people, mostly women and children, were able to escape, the remaining 400 people on board the ship died. About 15 tons of gold mined during the California Gold Rush sank with them. The lost treasure is estimated to be worth about $100-150 million.

Sunken Treasures of Antikythera

The sunken ancient Roman ship was discovered in 1901 in the Aegean Sea near the island of Antikythera. Sponge divers managed to recover a bronze statue of a young man and many other artifacts. Also found on the ship was the Antikythera mechanism, which was used to calculate the movement of celestial bodies. The value of the discovered treasures is estimated at $120-160 million.

Vessel S.S. Republic

A marine treasure worth $120-180 million was found off the coast of Georgia. Thousands of gold twenty-dollar coins were discovered in the holds of the sunken steamship, allocated for the restoration of the southern states after the Civil War of 1861-1865.

Vessel Bom Jesus

When geologists from De Beers, an international corporation engaged in the extraction, sale and processing of natural diamonds, found a ship literally dug into the beach off the coast of Africa, they were very surprised. An incredible amount of gold coins, cannons, swords and elephant tusks were discovered on the ship.

Ship SS Gairsoppa

A British ship carrying tons of silver, iron and tea was attacked by the German submarine U-37. The value of the treasure is estimated at $200 million.

Vaida's flagship

This ship is notable for being the only pirate ship ever found. Many valuable pirate weapons, coins and other artifacts worth a total of $400 million were discovered on the ship.

Nuestra Señora de Atocha

A Spanish galleon sank off the coast of Florida as a result of a storm. The ship carried exclusively valuables, so among its remains a lot of gold and silver bars, silver coins, jewelry, copper, and weapons were found for a total of $450 million.

Nuestra Senbora de las Mercedes

A Spanish frigate sank near the Strait of Gibraltar. The cargo, which amounted to tons of gold and silver in Spanish coins, was valued at $500 million. This treasure is considered the most valuable ever found on the seabed.

About 48 tons of silver were recovered from the British military transport ship SS Gairsoppa, which sank in 1941 300 nautical miles from the city of Galway in Ireland, the Irish newspaper Journal.ie wrote on July 19, 2012.

In September 2011, it became known that the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME) had 200 tons of silver on board.

In February 1941, the SS Gairsoppa, which was carrying silver, was torpedoed by a German submarine. The ship sank 300 nautical miles from the port of Galway in Ireland. There were 85 crew members on board the ship. Only the second mate, Richard Ayres, managed to escape. Since then, the lost ship lay at a depth of about 4.7 thousand meters.

Many years later, the British Ministry of Transport entered into a contract with the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration to lift silver to the surface.

On July 19, 2012, it became known that about 48 tons of silver - 1203 bars - were recovered from the ship. According to Odyssey Marine Exploration staff, this is only 20% of the precious metal lying in the holds of the SS Gairsoppa. According to the terms of the contract, the company receives 80% of the found treasure. The raised silver was placed in a secure vault in London.

The largest sea treasury. At the beginning of the 16th century, the conquerors of America carried treasures along it to Europe. Heavily laden Spanish galleons were waylaid by pirates of the Caribbean. But not so much treasure fell into their hands compared to what went to the bottom in ships broken during boarding battles and severe storms. In the Atlantic Ocean, according to rough estimates, more than 100 thousand ships sank over several centuries. Their cargo is worth trillions of dollars.

In the 20th century, the largest treasures were found by Americans Mel Fisher, Barry Clifford, Burt Webber and Jim Haskins.

Mel Fisher is the most famous and successful American treasure hunter. It was he who discovered the treasures of the legendary Spanish galleon in July 1985 "Atocha" sank during a hurricane in 1622 in the coastal waters of Florida. More than 200 gold and more than 1,100 silver bars (weighing from 15 to 37 kilograms each), as well as jewelry - gold rings, chains, pendants, emerald brooches and an amazingly beautiful cross decorated with emeralds - were recovered from the seabed. In addition, an entire arsenal of weapons from the 17th century was discovered. The total value of the treasures found is estimated at more than 400 million US dollars.

Even before the discovery of the treasure, an agreement was reached with the authorities of Florida that the state would own 20% of everything that Fisher and his team would find.

The name of Barry Clifford is associated with the successful search for a pirate galley "Whydah", which ran aground and sank in shallow waters just a few hundred meters off Florida's Cape Cod Beach at Marconi Beach in 1717. The riches of Whydah were legendary. According to historical chronicles, before crashing on the reefs, the pirates managed to rob about fifty ships. Studying their ship's documents allowed Barry to solve a simple addition problem and estimate the pirate treasure to be worth approximately $400 million. According to the most conservative estimates, the galley contained at least 4.5 tons of golden sand alone. The remains of the Whydah galley were discovered by Clifford in 1984. The total amount of treasure that Clifford's scuba divers recovered from the bottom reached approximately $15 million.

The other largest "catch" of the 20th century went to two Americans - Bert Webber and Jim Haskins. In 1977 they found the remains of a Spanish galleon" Nuestra senora de la Concepcion", which sank in 1641 off the coast of Haiti. A total of 32 tons of silver bars and coins, gold jewelry, and antique porcelain dishes were recovered from the seabed. The total value of the treasures was $14 million.

In 2007, what experts say was the largest treasure in history was discovered. On May 18, 2007, Odyssey Marine Exploration, which specializes in searching for marine treasures, announced the discovery of about 500 thousand gold and silver coins, but categorically refused to say who owned the sunken ship on which the treasure was located, and where it was found. The company's statement was made public when the treasures raised to the surface had already been transported to the United States. In 2006, the company received a license from Spain to search for the English ship Sussex, which sank in 1694 in the Strait of Gibraltar, with about 9 tons of gold on board. However, Americans were prohibited from searching for treasure from other ships at the bottom of the strait, where hundreds of Spanish galleons sank over several centuries, starting in the 16th century.

The Spanish side expressed suspicion that American treasure hunters illegally retrieved treasures from the seabed in the country's territorial waters.

As a result of the investigation, it was possible to establish that the treasures were discovered at the site of the sinking of a Spanish warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which was attacked by English ships in October 1804 on its way to Spain from Peru and sank off the coast of Portugal.

Odyssey appealed the court's decision. On February 1, 2012, it became known that the Atlanta Court of Appeals in the state of Georgia did the same.

In January 2009, the online publication "Maritime Bulletin - Sovfracht" reported that a ship with gold, platinum and diamonds, sunk by a German submarine during the Second World War, (a state in the northeast of South America).

According to the report, the transport with valuable cargo left one of the European ports, the destination being the USA. The valuables were intended for delivery to New York and further to the US treasury as payment for Lend-Lease. First, the ship called at the port of one of the South American countries and from there proceeded to New York, but somewhere at a distance of 40 miles from the coast of Guyana it was sunk by the German submarine U-87 in June 1942.

The discovery of the remains of a British cargo transport was reported by the American company Sub Sea Research, which specializes in underwater surveys and the recovery of valuables left after shipwrecks from the water.

The company did not disclose the name of the vessel or where it was found. The vessel was conventionally named Blue Baron.

In July 2009, the German newspaper Bild reported that 1.5 tons of silver coins, gold jewelry, firearms, gems and Ming Dynasty porcelain were on board a pirate ship Forbes, which sank in 1806 off the coast of Kalimantan. Moreover, the cost of silver coins alone reaches ten million dollars.

To realize their dream, German treasure hunters spent more than three million euros and also founded the company NRA (Nautic Recovery Asia).

In April 2011, it became known that professional treasure hunters from the American organization Deep Blue Marine, which is engaged in extracting valuable historical artifacts from the seabed, were in the Caribbean Sea near the coast of the Dominican Republic. Divers found 700 silver coins that could be worth millions of dollars, ancient figurines, and a mirror stone that may have been used in shamanic rituals.

Work to find the treasure was carried out at the site of the shipwreck, details of which the organization did not disclose.

Deep Blue Marine reported the discovery to the authorities of the Dominican Republic, in whose waters the sunken ship was found. Proceeds from the treasure will be divided equally between the republic and the organization of treasure hunters.

In October 2011, Odyssey Marine Exploration (OME) announced the discovery of a British ship at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, which was carrying 17 tons of silver.

In 1981, the largest deep-sea operation to recover gold from a sunken ship was carried out in the Barents Sea. English cruiser Edinburgh.

At the end of April 1942, the English cruiser Edinburgh, at the head of a convoy of ships, left Murmansk for England. On board the cruiser there were about 5.5 tons (465 pieces) of gold bars, which in monetary terms was then over 20 million dollars. For greater safety, the precious cargo was placed in an artillery cellar. The gold was intended to pay for military supplies to our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. On April 30, 1942, the cruiser Edinburgh was attacked by a German submarine. Having received serious damage, the ship, however, continued to remain afloat. Two days later, on May 2, Edinburgh was attacked by German destroyers. The cruiser remained afloat, but its further towing to the nearest base lost all meaning, since a fire was burning inside the ship. To prevent the Edinburgh and its gold cargo from falling to the enemy, the cruiser, on the orders of the convoy commander, English Rear Admiral Bonham-Carter, was sunk by three torpedo shots. After the war, the British, the Germans, and our specialists repeatedly tried to find the Edinburgh's golden cargo. But their efforts were unsuccessful. In 1980, the English company Risdon-Bizen, using a specially equipped vessel Dronsford, discovered the exact location of Edinburgh. In the same year, an agreement was concluded between the USSR and Great Britain on the recovery of Soviet gold from a sunken English cruiser (in new prices it was no longer worth 20, but 81 million dollars). In September 1981, 431 of an estimated 465 gold bars weighing 11-13 kilograms each were recovered from the bottom of the Barents Sea. Gold was divided between the USSR and Great Britain in a ratio of three to one. During the second operation in 1986, 29 gold bars were discovered and recovered. The remaining five, located in the bow of the artillery magazine, blown apart by a shell during the battle, disappeared without a trace among the twisted metal. The gold extracted during the second operation was divided between the Soviet Union and Great Britain in an agreed proportion: ten bars went to England, nineteen to the Soviet Union. In addition, both parties had to deduct 45% of their share in favor of the company that raised the precious cargo from the bottom of the sea. Currently, one of the gold bars from the sunken cruiser Edinburgh is kept in the Diamond Fund of the Moscow Kremlin.

In 1987, a Finnish amateur diver discovered Mulansky ship, sank in 1617 near the island of Mulan in the Gulf of Finland. The ship was transporting loot looted by Swedish troops during the occupation of Veliky Novgorod in 1611-1617. From the seabed, the Finns raised two Russian church bells, one of which had the inscription: “This bell was cast on the second day of July in the summer of the year 7106 in honor of the birth of Christ in the Derevyanitsky Monastery during the reign of His Majesty the Grand Duke Boris Fedorovich - the Tsar of All Rus'”; a cargo of silver coins, including rare “rope” money of Ivan the Terrible from 1534, rare and very valuable money from Vasily Shuisky from 1606-1609 and Dutch silver galleys from 1611 that sailed in the Muscovite Kingdom; a large number of weapons: muskets, pistols, cuirasses, powder flasks. Despite the obvious ownership of the rarities and their historical value, the Russian Federation did not make any claims to ownership, and all the recovered finds were placed at the disposal of Finnish government agencies.

In the summer of 1999, during a special search expedition of Finnish amateur divers, the hull of the ship was discovered "Frau Maria". The ship sank in 1771 in the Baltic Sea in Swedish territorial waters, which now belong to Finland. On board the ship was a cargo of art treasures for the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, purchased on the personal instructions of Empress Catherine II.

Scientists suggest that at the bottom of the Baltic Sea lie 27 paintings by outstanding Dutch artists of the 16th-17th centuries, in particular Rembrandt, as well as collections of porcelain, earthenware smoking pipes, gold and silver figurines and several barrels of coins. Museum experts estimate the unique cargo of the Frau Maria to be worth no less than 500 million euros.

Thanks to the cold and slightly salty water of the Gulf of Finland, the sailboat was preserved without visible external damage.

Based on archival data, experts suggest that the paintings were packed not in boxes, but in lead flasks and filled with wax, which allows us to hope for significant preservation of the paintings.

Finland has developed a phased plan to raise the vessel: it is expected that the Frau Maria will be on land by 2017. On the Russian side, the “Cruiser “Varyag”” and “Saving National-Cultural Values” foundations are involved in the development of the project, and specialists from the Hermitage have expressed their readiness to take part in the restoration work.

The question of who will get the valuables from the Frau Maria if they are actually discovered remains open.

Currently, there are no agreed upon international documents regarding treasures raised from the bottom. According to generally accepted norms, if a sunken ship lies within the 24-mile coastal zone of a state, then that state decides the fate of the recovered treasure. Often it takes half or a quarter of them for itself. At the same time, in some countries it is believed that for the first hundred years from the moment of sinking, the ship belongs to a specific owner - a private individual or company. In the absence of heirs or after a hundred years, the ship is recognized as the property of the state in whose waters it sank. There are also countries where the rights of owners of sunken objects to property are recognized regardless of the period of death of the ship. That is, disputes arise in every new case.

If the wreck of the ship is in international waters, then the Brussels Convention of 1910 comes into force: whoever finds the “ownerless” ship belongs to him. But in this case, disputes arise about which ship is considered “ownerless”. Often, relatives or descendants of passengers and crew members who sank on the ship sue gold miners. Lawsuits last for years.

In order to ensure and strengthen the protection of underwater cultural heritage, the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted on November 2, 2001. The Convention is an international treaty that is the international community's response to the increasing looting and destruction of underwater cultural heritage.

"Underwater cultural heritage" means all traces of human existence, of a cultural, historical or archaeological nature, which have been partially or wholly, periodically or continuously, underwater for a period of at least 100 years.

The document prohibits the commercial exploitation of such cultural heritage.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Treasures of sunken ships

I present to your attention a short overview of the most famous finds.

Wreck near Salcombe Bay

Perhaps this is one of the most ancient shipwrecks in the world. A merchant ship transported copper ingots and tin as early as 900 BC. The found cargo is evidence that commerce was already developed in ancient times.

Wreck from Belitung The Arabian ship sank back in 820, and it was found by a fisherman off the coast of India in 1998. Numerous gold and silver objects from the Tang Dynasty, as well as ceramic items made in a single copy, were discovered on the ship. In total, treasures were estimated at $80 million.

SS ship

Central America The American steamship sank in 1857. 153 people, mostly women and children, were able to escape, the remaining 400 people on board the ship died. About 15 tons of gold mined during the California Gold Rush sank with them. The lost treasure is estimated to be worth about $100-150 million.

Sunken Treasures of Antikythera

Vessel S.S. Republic

Vessel Bom Jesus

Vaida's flagship

This ship is notable for being the only pirate ship ever found. A lot of valuable pirate weapons, coins and other artifacts worth a total of $400 million were discovered on the ship.

By the end of the 16th century, Spanish captains discovered and marked on maps the Philippine, Mariana, Caroline and Marquesas Islands, the island of New Guinea, the Santa Cruz and Solomon Islands, Hawaii, the Wake Islands and Guam, Iwo Shima, the New Hebrides and the island of Guadalcanal, the Gilbert Islands and Marshall, Galapagos, Juan Fernandez, Flores and Bikini, Torres Strait.

The Spanish era in the Pacific lasted as much as 250 years and was marked, among other things, by the creation of the first regular sea communication in history, connecting the shores of the greatest ocean, which was provided by the famous “Manila galleons”.

Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

Between 1565 and 1569, Spanish explorer Miguel de Legazpi conquered the vast Pacific archipelago, naming it the Philippines after the Spanish monarch Philip II. The islands became Spain's main possession in the Pacific Ocean. This archipelago belonged to Spain for more than three centuries - until 1898.

For almost two and a half centuries, galleons sailed in both directions with enviable regularity. Galleons came to Manila to fill their holds with goods that delighted Europeans: gold, pearls, sapphires from Siam, ivory, lacquerware, Chinese silk and porcelain, amber, sandalwood, camphor and jade, musk, cinnamon, cloves, pepper and curry.

Spanish galleons

Frequent voyages of galleons were not without losses. According to the staff of the National Museum of the Philippines, many ships found their end in the treacherous straits of the central part of the archipelago and more than 40 near other islands. For example, in 1750, the galleon Pilar sank off the coast of the Philippines with two million pesos on board. In 1802, the Ferrolene galleon with a cargo of gold and silver was lost...

Galleon "Nuestra Señora de la Concepción"

The first search and research group to begin searching for the places where the galleons were lost was the Pacific Marine Resources company. The start of work at sea was preceded by two years of preliminary work in the archives of Spain, Italy, Mexico, the USA and the Philippines. Thousands of pages of reports, reports, notes and memoirs, and ship declarations were reviewed. Thus, from ancient documents, the story of the death of the galleon Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, at that time the largest Spanish ship with a cargo of four million pesos, came to light...

The galleon was wrecked on September 20, 1638, while en route from Manila to Acapulco with a cargo of silk, porcelain, ivory and jewelry, including a dish and a set of pure gold jugs presented by the Spanish king to the Japanese emperor. The tragedy occurred a month after sailing from Manila, off the southern coast of Saipan Island, the second largest among the Mariana Islands.

Part of the cargo was recovered from the coastal waters by the islanders. In 1684, a Spanish search expedition discovered and recovered 35 of the 36 cannons and 7 of the 8 anchors. The remaining parts of the galleon and cargo were scattered along the foot of the reefs or carried to great depths...

The search ship Tengar approached Saipan in March 1987 and dropped anchor a hundred meters from its southwestern coast. For two years, work was carried out at the site of the death of the galleon, during which the entire southern and southwestern coastal bottom of the island of Saipan was examined at a depth of one to one hundred and twenty meters.

The research team consisted of 30 people of seven nationalities - Chinese, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Filipinos, Austrians, British and Americans. During the search for the remains of the galleon, the team made more than 10 thousand dives - without a single serious failure

To examine the bottom at depths inaccessible to scuba divers, the Tengar had a two-seater diving bell. A robot with a video camera controlled from a search ship was also used. And where they could not lower the bell, they used a manned underwater vehicle that could accommodate two pilots and an observer. Data from deep-sea research confirmed that the wreckage was thrown from the reef to a depth of 80 meters.

The first three weeks of diving brought the researchers only shards and clusters of ballast stones scattered in different places at a great distance from each other, and even those in small quantities. For about 350 years, typhoons destroyed the remains of the sunken ship, but scuba divers, with patience, guessed with almost a sixth sense where the objects transported by the galleon were buried. The threat of typhoons prevented work from July to December, but within the first six months almost everything that remained of the galleon was discovered.

The first gold finds began to be found by divers at the beginning of the second season of work. First, a fragment of a handmade golden dish was found. It showed a woman in a flowing dress holding a vase of flowers. In her left hand she held a bouquet of roses. A small dog was jumping at her feet. Floral patterns decorated the edges of the product.

Subsequently, other fragments of this dish were found. According to documents from the Seville Archives of Indian Affairs, the galleon carried on board a plate of pure gold and a set of jugs - a gift from the King of Spain to the Japanese Emperor. During the official investigation into the loss of the galleon, Spanish authorities accused Manila Governor Corcuera of misappropriating the items and returning them to Spain as the governor's personal cargo.

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The golden plate with the woman was an important find, but there were others that were much more impressive. Thus, diver Ant Navin found a small golden slipper encrusted with diamonds and diamonds. The shoe could contain perfume or other perfumes. Michael Flacker was also lucky, he picked up 32 gold chains, each one and a half meters long.

All the chains lay together and were twisted with gold wire. They were buried under two meters of sediment under a narrow ledge so that his hands could hardly reach them. In total, scuba divers recovered more than 1,300 gold jewelry from the bottom of the sea: chains, crosses, rosaries, buckles, filigree buttons, rings and brooches with precious stones. Some of the less valuable finds from the galleon were also very interesting, such as 156 food storage jars found at depths of 45 to 60 meters.

Restorers carefully examined the contents of the jugs. Two of them contained frozen aromatic resin, the others contained small bones. The jars were engraved with the names of the owners or Spanish and Chinese symbols indicating their contents: salt, vinegar, saltpeter, wine. But most of the jugs contained drinking water, since the Manila galleons did not stop on their way for five to eight months.

Over many centuries of being on the seabed, many objects have become overgrown with corals. For example, one piece of coral actually contained 564 items - glass beads of Chinese origin, ceramic shards, fragments of gold leaf, two silver sword handles and bronze Chinese scales, probably used for weighing precious stones. Some items were highly personal. Thus, on the surface of a small golden comb one could make out the inscription “year 1618” and the name “Doña Catalina de Guzman”. Archival searches revealed that this woman was a widow in 1634 living in Manila.

Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes"

And here is the story of another galleon that sank in the depths of the sea
After lengthy legal proceedings in the United States, treasures recovered from the bottom of the sea, which were preserved on a ship that had once been wrecked in 1804, were returned to Spain and partially put on public display.

On November 30, 2012, the Ministry of Culture in Madrid announced that almost 600 thousand ancient coins made of gold and silver will be shown at the Museum of Underwater Archeology in the southern Spanish city of Cartagena, then in the second half of 2013 some of the treasures will be shown at exhibitions and other Spanish cities.

The Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, among the remains of which the treasures were found, transported silver and gold coins that were minted in Latin America in the 19th century. The galleon was sunk in 1804 by British warships off the Portuguese coast near Gibraltar. There were 200 people on board the ship at the time.

According to estimates, the recovered treasure is valued at more than 350 million euros.

The galleon was found by the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration (48 tons of silver recovered by the same company from a sunken military transport ship), which is engaged in marine research, in 2007; the found treasure was lifted and brought to Florida. Then there were almost five years of litigation and ultimately the US Court of Appeal ruled in January 2012 that the company must return the treasure to the National Foundation in Spain. The treasure consists of more than 594,000 coins and other artifacts. The Spanish Ministry of Culture views the coins as part of the national heritage, which can be sold to pay off the state's debts.

Buen Jesus y Nuestra Senora del Rosario

Treasures that once belonged to the Spanish crown have been discovered off the coast of Florida. The treasure was found just 150 meters from the coast, near the city of Fort Pierce.

The discovery was made by members of the Schmitt family and a diver they knew, reports the Daily Mail. Gold chains with a total weight of three pounds, five coins and a ring are estimated by experts at $300 thousand. “The whole bottom was covered in gold,” says the head of the family, Rick Schmitt, 65. “It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.”

The sinking of the Buen Jesus y Nuestra Senora del Rosario and seven other ships destroyed the Bank of Madrid and even contributed to the collapse of the Spanish Empire.

A team of deep-sea divers believes they have found this famous ship at a depth of 400 meters. More than 17,000 items were discovered on board the sunken ship, after examining which divers came to the conclusion that the ship was carrying gold, pearls and even parrots.

The gold ended up on the ocean floor, presumably after a hurricane in 1715, in which 12 Spanish ships were damaged. According to the historical chronicle, a thousand people died during the storm, 11 ships sank with all the treasures.

According to treasure hunters, they were able to discover the gold thanks to a recent storm, which brought to the surface only a small part of the cargo of the Spanish ships. The Schmitts are confident that plenty of treasure can still be found along the coast of Fort Pierce.

During the search, 39 gold bars and about 1,200 silver pesos were also found. In addition, more than 6,600 pearls were recovered from the bottom and exported to Europe from Venezuela.

These rare pearls come from a rare type of oyster native to South America, but were brought to the brink of extinction in the early 17th century due to overexploitation by colonial traders. It's not just wildlife that is affected by pearl mining. It is believed that 60,000 Caribbean natives died while diving for oysters.

In addition to precious metals and gemstones, the bones of two birds, believed to be blue-headed parrots, were found on the ship. Parrots have become popular pets because of their colorful plumage and ability to imitate human speech, but this is the first time bird remains have been found at a shipwreck site.

The treasures on board the ships lay at the bottom for almost four centuries. Gold and precious stones from the South American colonies were the basis of the Spanish economy and the disaster contributed to the collapse of the all-powerful colonial empire.

Research at the wreck site has been ongoing for more than twenty years using deep-sea technology developed by British engineers. Items recovered from the Rosario are being assembled on display at Odyssey Marine Exploration's headquarters in Florida.

Gold from the cruiser Edinburgh

In 1981, the largest deep-sea operation to recover gold from the sunken English cruiser Edinburgh was carried out in the Barents Sea. At the end of April 1942, the cruiser left Murmansk for England with 5.5 tons of gold on board, but, having received damage from German warships, was scuttled by order of the captain. Only in 1980 did British experts determine the exact location of the ship, and in September 1981, most of the gold bars were raised to the surface. Several ingots were never found.

Treasures of the Galleon Atocha, 1985.

In 1985, after 15 years of searching, the legendary treasures of the Spanish galleon Atocha, which was wrecked in 1622 due to a storm off the coast of Florida, were found. The wealth raised was estimated at more than $400 million, including 200 gold and about a thousand silver bars, jewelry, gold chains and an entire arsenal of weapons from the 17th century.

Pirate's treasure on a Florida beach, 1984.

The treasure was found by one of the most famous treasure hunters, Barry Clifford, just a few hundred meters from Cape Cod Beach on the Florida coast. He discovered the wreck of the pirate galley Whydah, from which he recovered about five tons of various valuables.

The total price of what was found exceeded $15 million: before crashing on the coastal reefs, the pirates robbed more than fifty ships.

"SS Gairsoppa"

48 tons of silver from a sunken ship off the coast of Ireland, July 2012.

This year turned out to be very successful in the recovery and discovery of very large treasures, and here is another one in addition - about 48 tons of silver were recovered from a British military transport ship, which sank in 1941 after it was torpedoed by a German submarine.

The ship was named after a waterfall off the west coast of India. In December 1940, she sailed from Calcutta to Great Britain with tea, iron and tons of silver on board. Strong winds and waves forced the ship to slow down, causing it to become separated from the military convoy and come under attack by German submarines in February 1941. One torpedo tore apart the ship's hull and it crashed 300 miles southwest of Ireland.

The ship sank at a very great depth - 4.7 km. In total there were 85 people on board the ship. Only one survived - the second mate, who spent 13 days in the lifeboat.

The British Ministry of Transport has signed a contract with the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration, which specializes in raising ship wrecks from the seabed, to lift silver to the surface. About 1 thousand 203 silver bars were recovered from the ship, but Odyssey Marine Exploration employees claim that this is only 20% of the precious metal lying in the holds of the SS Gairsoppa. According to the terms of the contract, the company receives 80% of the found treasure.

In total, the ship was carrying 240 tons of silver, which by today's standards is worth $190 million. Work on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean will continue.

Gold, platinum and diamonds on the “ship without a name”, 2009.

The remains of a British cargo ship sunk by the Nazis during World War II have been discovered off the northeast coast of South America. The value of the find was that the ship was carrying a large cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds intended to replenish the US treasury. The name of the vessel was not disclosed; it was conventionally called Blue Baron. The ship was wrecked in June 1942.

Half a million gold and silver coins, 2007.

In May 2007, Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company specializing in the search for marine treasures, announced the discovery of a sunken ship with 500,000 gold and silver coins on board. The treasure was recovered and transported to the United States, but the company never said who owned the sunken ship or where exactly it was found.

Coins and magic stone in the Caribbean, 2011.

Last year, the American treasure hunting organization Deep Blue Marine discovered treasure in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of the Dominican Republic. In the 16th century there was a shipwreck at this place. Divers found 700 ancient coins, the value of which could reach millions of dollars, ancient figurines and an unusual mirror stone that could be used in shamanic rituals.

Soviet platinum on a British ship, 2012.

In February 2012, the famous US treasure hunter Greg Brooks discovered the sunken British ship Port Nicholson, which in 1942 never brought platinum bars from the USSR to New York. The ship was sunk by a German submarine. Its cargo was intended for the settlement of the Soviet Union with the US government for the supply of ammunition, military equipment and food by the allies.

Treasures of the "golden ship "Flor de la Mar"

History keeps the secrets of hundreds and thousands of treasures still waiting in the wings at the bottom of the ocean. Despite its famous location, even the most experienced divers cannot find these treasures. The more we learn about them, the stronger the desire to touch the secret hidden under the water.

...It was an unusual flight. In 1512, the flagship of the Portuguese squadron, Flor de la Mar, sailed from the Sultanate of Malacca, located on the southwestern coast of the Malay Peninsula. On board the Flor de la Mar, which was part of the Portuguese squadron under the command of the conqueror of Malacca, Admiral Alfonso d'Albuquerque, were the treasures of the Sultans of Malacca, as well as wealth captured by the conquistadors in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, in India and Siam.

The last voyage of the Flor de la Mar did not last long. Almost immediately after departure, caught in a strong storm, the ship hit a reef and sank, becoming an alluring legend for treasure hunters for many centuries. Sculptures of elephants, tigers, monkeys cast in gold, jewelry made of precious stones, Chinese porcelain and other treasures from the Portuguese ship, which experts estimate could be worth billions of dollars, still lie at the bottom of the Strait of Malacca off the coast of Indonesia.

Legends of treasures lost in this area of the world have captured the imagination of treasure hunters for centuries. Just off the coast of Indonesia, according to historians, the waters hide the wealth of hundreds of wrecked ships. They brought spices, porcelain, fabrics, products made of precious metals and much more from China and former colonies. Ships sank during storms, crashed on reefs, and became prey to pirates.

And in 1991, a sensational message spread throughout the world that at the bottom of the Strait of Malacca, 8 km from the northeastern coast of the island of Sumatra, under an 18-meter layer of sand and silt, the remains of a Portuguese ship that sank almost 500 years ago with untold treasures on board were discovered. Reports about the found wreck of the Flor de la Mar never left the pages of the press in Indonesia and a number of neighboring countries.

In the area of the alleged discovery, where local underwater treasure hunters immediately flocked, Indonesian Navy ships conducted round-the-clock patrols to stop unauthorized attempts to raise treasures from the seabed, the auction value of which, according to some estimates, could be about $9 billion, which is almost a third Indonesia's annual budget.

The search for Flor de la Mar was carried out for two years by the Indonesian company Jayatama Istikacipta with the permission of the government of that country. This search cost the company $10 million. However, its owners were ready to invest the same amount in lifting treasures from the seabed, calculating that the proceeds from the sale of valuables at auction would be 7-9 billion dollars. According to the terms of the contract, half of the recovered treasures were to go to the Indonesian government, while items of historical value were to be returned to the Malaysian government.

It is possible that they were on board other ships of the Portuguese squadron, which are believed to have run into reefs off the coast of Sumatra during a storm and sank to the bottom along with the Flor de la Mar. And the owner of Jayatama Istikachipt himself admitted that the company’s representative in Singapore was clearly in a hurry with a sensational statement, which was immediately picked up by news agencies.

Reports of the discovery of the sinking site of the Flor de la Mar sparked a new wave of interest in the search for underwater treasures. The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received offers from all over the world to cooperate in the search for these riches, and the police and coast guard have noted with annoyance the unprecedented influx of underwater sports enthusiasts into these places.

Treasure hunters from other countries also hastened to take part in the division of the Flor de la Mar treasures. An Australian archaeological expedition has announced that it has completed negotiations with representatives of the Indonesian and Malaysian governments about lifting cargo from a Portuguese ship.

And in Hong Kong, a certain Italian Bruno de Vincentis, in turn, said that his negotiations with the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities are at the final stage. “We hope to find the treasure, although it will be quite an expensive undertaking,” Bruno de Vincentis said. “We are inspired by the fact that among the wreckage of the Flor de la Mar lies perhaps the largest treasure in the world.”

But the Indonesian authorities are in no hurry to meet treasure hunters halfway. “We have not yet given permission to anyone for underwater research,” government officials said. According to international law, the treasure found must be divided between three parties: the country to which the ship belonged, the country in whose territorial waters the treasure was found, and those who found it. The head of the Indonesian Archaeological Research Office noted in this regard that his country lacks the experience to carry out such work.

The concern of the Indonesians can be understood if we recall the events of the relatively recent past, when a group of adventurers illegally recovered many antique items from a sunken ship in the Maluku Islands, which were then sold at European auctions for millions of dollars.

What they failed to raise was barbarically destroyed. And in 1990, eleven foreigners were detained in the area of Bintan Island, where the wreckage of five sunken ships is believed to be located. According to police, the group, which included Americans, Australians and British, was engaged in illegal treasure hunting.

Underwater treasures off the coast of Indonesia haunt many. At the same time, some are concerned about how to take possession of them, others about how to preserve them. The fight is going on with varying degrees of success. And is it even possible to talk about reliable protection of shipwreck sites if pirates are still active in the waters of the Strait of Malacca? So the story of Flor de la Mar may have a most unexpected ending.

Even in our age of advanced technology, every year tens of thousands of people dive into the depths of the sea and ocean in search of treasures. And this is not empty treasure hunting. The depths of the sea keep many secrets and treasures! 75% of the silver and gold mined throughout the history of mankind continues to be located at the bottom of the world's oceans.

According to experts, it will take more than four hundred years to discover and raise sunken ships to the surface in an unknown location. Just think what treasures of sunken ships can be found on lost ships that have been resting in the depths of the world's oceans for hundreds of years. What sunken and disappeared ships still haunt sea treasure seekers, historians and archaeologists? Of course, it is not possible to compile a complete list of such ships, but some are talked about most often.

Flor de la Mar - Sumatra, Malaysia

The story of the 16th century Portuguese ship Flor de la Mar is considered one of the most mysterious stories of the disappearance of sea vessels. The schooner Flor de la Mar disappeared in 1511 during a storm in which she was caught off the northern coast of Sumatra. The ship is said to have contained looted treasures that the Portuguese had taken from the people of the kingdom of Melaka, modern-day Malaysia. According to some reports, the ship's holds were literally filled with gold, weighing 60 tons. Despite the fact that the supposed site of the disaster is located in one of the most popular places among divers, no one has yet found the treasure.

Merchant Royal - Darmouth, UK

Britain's largest yet-to-be-discovered sea treasure is believed to be submerged in waters about 34km off Land's End in Cornwall. The ship was returning to England along with Spanish treasures, but a storm that occurred on September 23, 1641 prevented the Merchant Royal from reaching its destination. On board the ship at that time there were 500 bars of gold, silver and precious stones.

"San Jose" - Baru Peninsula, Colombia

In 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the English commander Charles Wagner captured and sank a Spanish ship, which was said to be carrying untold treasures in addition to its crew. It is known that "San Jose" rests at a depth of approximately 305 meters between Isa del Tesoro, which is also called Treasure Island, and the Baru Peninsula. The San Jose's cargo is currently valued at a billion dollars.

Nuestra Senora de Atocha - Key West, Florida, USA

In 1985, marine treasure hunter Mel Fisher, after 16 years of persistent searching, discovered the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, 56 km off the coast of Key West in Florida. Treasures, gold and silver, 100,000 Spanish coins, Colombian emeralds and other artifacts began to rise to the surface.

HMS Victory - English Channel, UK

In 2009, the American company Odyssey Marine Exploration announced the discovery of a sunken ship, the predecessor of the Victory that Admiral Nelson was on. The ship was found in the area of a group of reefs near the Channel Islands. According to company experts, there are 100,000 gold coins on board the ship. Disputes over the ownership of the discovered treasures continue to this day.

Notre Dame de la Deliverance - Key West, Florida, USA

In November 1755, the Spanish galleon Notre Dame de la Deliverance left the port of Havana with a cargo of treasures collected from the mines of Mexico, Peru and Colombia. A day after sailing, the ship was caught in a strong storm with a hurricane and, unable to cope with the elements, sank with almost all its cargo and almost the entire crew. The lost gold and silver is estimated at $2 billion, and the site where the galleon sank was reportedly discovered in 2003, but the looted treasure has yet to be resurfaced.

USS San Jacinto - Abacos, Bahamas

The water depths off the coast of the Bahamian island of Abaco are not only the best places for deep-sea diving, but also the alleged site of the wreck of 500 ships with valuable cargo on board that has not been found to this day. One of the most interesting finds made in this region is perhaps the USS San Jacinto, an experimental military vessel from the Civil War. This ship, which sank at Chub Rocks, was one of the first naval steamships.

Hoi An Junk - Da Hang Peninsula, Vietnam

In the 90s, off the coast of the Da Hang Peninsula in Vietnam, the remains of a sunken ship were discovered at a depth of 79 meters. It turned out that it was a Thai ship with an impressive cargo consisting of antique blue and white ceramics decorated with human figurines, images of animals, landscapes and mythological creatures. Historians and archaeologists estimate that the ceramics date back to the Vietnamese Golden Age, which occurred in the mid-15th century.

SANTISSIMA TRINIDAD

In 1616, the Spanish galleon Santissima Trinidad, heading for Acapulco, off the southern tip of Japan, was caught in a severe storm. According to experts, there were 3,000,000 pesos, or 94 tons of coins, on board the galleon.

NEUSTRA SENORA DE BEGONA, SANTO DOMINGO, SAN AMBROSIO & SAN ROQUE

In 1605, seven Spanish galleons left the port of Cartagena and headed for Havana. The sailors were confident that the season of hurricanes and storms was behind them. However, an unpleasant surprise awaited the Spaniards ahead. Halfway between Jamaica and Yutacan, the ships encountered a terrible storm. Only one galleon managed to return back to Cartagena, two still made it to Jamaica, but the other four were not so lucky. The galleons, along with a cargo of gold, silver and emeralds valued at 8 million pesos, sank off the coast of Serranilla. Along with the treasures, 1,300 people, including all crew members, also rested at the bottom of the sea.

NAPRIED

In June 1872, the Napried left Boston for Beirut with a cargo of carpets. However, on the way, a strong fire broke out in the holds, the ship burned down and sank in an unknown place. Napried carried not only carpets; in its holds they carried a valuable collection of Cypriot antiques that belonged to the American ambassador. This man collected a rich collection of ancient valuables, consisting of more than 35,000 items, 5,000 thousand of which were lost during a shipwreck. At one time, the ambassador negotiated the sale of the collection to one of the world's museums and, in the end, sold it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

ISABEL

Just south of the Portuguese cape of Santa Maria, the hull of the ship Isabela rests at a depth of 400 feet. This galleon once belonged to the armada of the Duke de Veragua; in 1672, on the way to Seville during a storm, the ship capsized and sank to the bottom. Captain Juan Ugarte and 400 people on board died in the shipwreck. Among the remains of the ship in the depths of the sea, treasures worth $1,000,000 are still buried, according to historians, mostly Peruvian and Colombian gold.

SOLEIL DORIENT

The wreck of the 1000-ton ship of the French East India Company “SOLEIL DORIENT” is one of the most famous and “promising” in terms of the volume of sunken sea treasures and disasters. "Soleil dOrient" with gifts from the King of Siam to the King of France Louis XIV, the Pope and a number of wealthy aristocrats of Europe, set sail in 1681. The valuable cargo was accompanied by three ambassadors and twenty valets. It is believed that the ship ran aground off the southeastern tip of Madagascar and was severely damaged before it sank. Apparently, the remains of the ship may be located at shallow depths. In addition to the impressive cargo of diamonds, among the special valuables that were on board the Soleil dOrient, experts highlight a gold dinner service consisting of 1000 items (a gift from the Japanese emperor), a large number of silver cutlery and valuable porcelain that once belonged to the emperor of China. The historical value of the Soleil dOrient cargo cannot be overestimated.

MERCEDES

The Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, carrying a huge amount of gold, silver and jewelry on that ill-fated voyage in 1804, was attacked by the British off the Portuguese Cape of Santa Maria. At that time, Spain officially adhered to a policy of neutrality, but at the same time rather opaquely hinted at a military alliance with Napoleon's France. Following orders from the Admiralty, Vice Admiral Graham Moore demanded that the Spaniards change course, sending the ship to the shores of England. The senior Spanish officer, Rear Admiral Don José Bustamente, refused to comply with British demands and opened fire. As a result of a short battle, the Mercedes exploded. According to contemporaries, the ship cracked like an eggshell, the yolk of which flowed into the depths of the sea. The ship did not sink instantly; it sank quite slowly, so many managed to escape. Most of those who managed to avoid death. In one of his letters, Admiral Moore stated that a group of four Spanish ships, one of which was the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, were carrying 4,436,519 gold and silver pesos in their holds, 1,307,634 of which belonged to the Spanish king. Soon after this incident, Spain forgot its neutrality and declared war on England.

On March 25, 1997, the Spanish ship La Capitana was discovered carrying Inca treasures. This is one of many underwater treasures that seekers are hunting for. Here are some stories about successful and not so successful searches for treasures of sunken ships

Mysterious "La Capitana"

The real name of this ship is “Santa Maria”, “La Capitana” - translated as the flagship, advanced ship. He was one of the ships that transported the golden treasures of the Inca Empire plundered by the Spaniards. The heavily laden ship was wrecked in 1654 off the coast of modern Ecuador.

A Spanish galleon that crashed in a storm and lay on the ocean floor for several centuries was discovered in 1997 by Argentine treasure hunter Germán Moro. Experts estimated the value of the Incan treasures from La Capitana at several billion dollars - the galleon's holds were literally filled with gold and silver. But the searchers managed to recover only a few tens of thousands of silver coins from the sunken ship. Disputes are still raging: was it the same ship that Moreau discovered? After a detailed study of historical materials, treasure hunters were disappointed - most likely, they found a ship that had taken part of the precious cargo from the distressed La Capitana, but soon sank itself. And the famous “Santa Maria” (“La Capitana”) still lives somewhere in the depths of the sea and is waiting in the wings.

"Santa Maria", or "La Capitana" never gave up its treasures to people

The legendary "Nuestra Señora de Atocha"

The legendary Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de Atocha", transporting a rich cargo of gold from Havana to Spain, was destroyed by a strong sea hurricane off the coast of Florida in 1622. The Atocha's cargo consisted of tons of gold and silver. The ship sank at a shallow depth of 15 meters, but a hurricane scattered the galleon's treasures along the seabed.

American Mel Fisher, the most successful treasure hunter of the twentieth century, in the 80s announced his intention to find and raise the wealth of Atocha from the bottom of the sea. Gold miners had to spend a lot of time in Spanish archives to determine the most accurate location of the sunken ship. At first, only a few gold and silver coins were recovered from the bottom of the sea. The search for treasure was complicated by litigation - underwater excavations were carried out on the territory of a marine reserve. As a result, it was agreed that 20 percent of the treasure hunters’ “catch” would belong to the state of Florida, off the coast of which the Atocha sank.

Months of searching finally led to the site of the death of the Atocha. Under the impact of the elements, the ship broke into three parts, the most “delicious” of which was the central part of the ship, where gold was supposed to be stored in the hold. Fisher's team combed the bottom with highly sensitive metal detectors and magnetometers, and, having detected a clear signal, began searching. "Atocha" gave its treasures to treasure hunters Mel Fisher on July 20, 1985. It was about two hundred gold and more than 1,100 silver bars, priceless works of jewelry and precious church utensils. In addition, historically valuable items were recovered - ancient dishes, weapons and ship accessories. The total value of the treasures recovered from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha was estimated at $400 million.

"Atocha" became the richest catch of code detectors of the twentieth century

Impregnable "Lutina"

The warship "Lutina" belonged to England. In 1799, he was assigned an important and dangerous mission - to transport a truly precious cargo from Foggy Albion to Hamburg, Germany: one thousand gold and five hundred silver bars worth 1,175,000 pounds sterling. This was a large government loan that the British government provided to a German trading port as a sign of solidarity in the war against Napoleon.

On October 8, 1799, the Lyutina, burdened not only with precious cargo, but also with military weapons (the ship had 30 cannons), left the English port and headed for Hamburg. But in the North Sea the ship was overtaken by a strong storm. "Lutina" crashed into a sandbank, capsized and sank off the coast of Holland at a depth of several tens of meters. Of the 280 crew members, only one sailor managed to escape. Having learned about the death of a ship carrying gold off its shores, Holland hastened to declare the entire sunken cargo confiscated. Local fishermen were the first to get treasures from the Lyutina - they managed to lift several coins and gold bars from the bottom of the sea. But the sea current soon covered the lost ship with sand. For twenty years no one disturbed the sunken Lutina; only in 1821 did the Dutch authorities make an attempt to raise English gold from the bottom of the sea. Work to save the treasures was carried out for several decades, but were unsuccessful - only in 1858 it was possible to obtain gold bars worth 10 thousand pounds sterling. When the Dutch became disillusioned with the success of their enterprise, the English entrepreneurs involved in the recovery of sunken ships entered into an agreement with them, according to which 70 percent of the recovered treasures should be returned to Great Britain. This was in 1911, when treasure hunters were armed with dredgers and pumps. To divert the sea current that carried the sand, an underwater channel was dug. The work lasted until 1913. The divers even managed to get several gold bars through the hole in the ship. But when the next day they went to the bottom, they discovered that the hull of the ship had turned, closing the entrance to the hold - the ship refused to give up its treasures to the people. Soon the First World War began, and the search for the treasure stopped. The “enchanted” “Lutina” has continued to rest on the seabed under a multi-meter layer of sand for 200 years, storing its treasures.

Fatal "Egypt"

An English ship with five tons of gold and ten tons of silver, leaving for India in May 1922, sank off its native shores, barely leaving its home port. "Egypt" collided with a French cargo ship in heavy fog. The location of the wreck was well known, but lifting the precious cargo was not easy - the ship sank to a depth of 120 meters. Only six years later, the Italian company, which equipped its divers with hard diving suits, began lifting the ingots. Rescue vessels found the ship at the bottom using a trawl net, then divers got down to business. The work was titanically difficult. At a depth of 120 meters, even in hard spacesuits, people could stay for a maximum of 20 minutes, so the searchers had to make several dozen trips to the bottom. When the divers managed to make their way to the compartment where the treasures were stored, it turned out that they were behind an armored door, the key to which was never found. The search had to be temporarily stopped due to the onset of storm season. And soon a team of divers working on the Egypt tragically died while clearing mines from a warship that sank during the First World War. To extract the treasures, a new team of specialists had to be recruited. "Egypt" was waiting - all that remained was to break open the armored door. Blasting operations were excluded due to their danger to divers. Even the criminal authorities of that time - the security guards - were offered to open the treasured door. But luck unexpectedly turned its face to the stubborn treasure hunters. The captain of the "Egypt" remembered that he kept a spare key to the safe in a drawer in his cabin. Divers had difficulty finding this key on the sunken ship, which was almost corroded by sea water. Using a cast from a rusty key, they made a duplicate, which managed to “unseal” the treasures of “Egypt.” For four years, divers brought to the surface gold and silver bars worth more than a million pounds sterling. The spoils were divided between the English company that owned the ship (it got a third of the treasures found), and the Italian company Sorima, which carried out the lifting work (two-thirds of all the wealth).

The treasures of "Egypt" were raised from the bottom of the sea with great difficulty

Russian treasures of "St. Michael"

On October 15, 1747, the Russian galliot "St. Michael" left the port of Amsterdam for St. Petersburg, loaded with precious gifts for the Russian Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and her court, and died in a storm off the coast of Finland. The hull of the ancient ship was discovered by Finnish fishermen in 1953, but did not interest Finnish authorities and historians. In 1961, Swedish divers became interested in an ancient ship lying at the bottom of the Baltic, who suggested that it was the Russian “St. Michael” with a golden treasure in its holds. Without publicizing their guesses, the treasure hunters received permission from the Finnish authorities to carry out underwater work off its coast. And in the very first days of the search, real treasures were recovered from the seabed - 34 golden snuff boxes made by famous French masters of the 18th century, some of which were decorated with precious stones. A collection of gold and silver English watches, precious tableware, gold furniture decorations and even a carved gilded carriage made especially for Empress Elizabeth.

Treasures of the Russian "St. Michael" went to Finland