The largest treasures on the seabed: from the “Ship of Gold” to the “Titanic”
Average reading time — 4 minutes
Underwater treasure troves have long attracted the attention of explorers and adventurers. After all, stories about countless treasures hidden on the seabed are not always just beautiful legends: sometimes they are confirmed by amazing finds.
Such finds are of great value — both historically and financially. Let’s find out together about the largest and most valuable troves discovered underwater:
The San José treasure — more than 20 billion dollars (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: treasure from the San José shipwreck.
The Spanish three-masted galleon San José was built to transport treasures from America to Spain. It sank in 1708 off the coast of Cartagena in Colombia during a naval battle with the British fleet. On board the ship, which was carrying 600 people, were enormous riches, including gold, silver and emeralds. The treasure, now valued at over $20 billion, makes the San José the most valuable shipwreck in history.
Black Swan Project — $500 million (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: The treasure found during Black Swan Project.
In 2007, Odyssey Marine Exploration carried out Black Swan search operation, which uncovered gold and silver coins worth over $500 million. The ship that carried the treasure has never been conclusively identified, although the Spanish government claims it is the Spanish warship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk by the British navy in 1804.
Nuestra Señora de Atocha treasure — $450 million (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: Treasure from the Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha
Nuestra Señora de Atocha was a Spanish galleon that sank in 1622 off the coast of the Florida Keys during a hurricane. The loss of the ship, which was carrying gold, silver, copper and jewels from South America to Spain, was extremely painful for the Spanish kingdom. The ship was discovered in 1985 by the famous treasure hunter Mel Fisher. It contained more than 40 tons of valuable items.
Whydah Gally treasure — $400 million (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: Treasure from the sunken galley ship Whydah Gally.
Whydah Gally was a galley ship built in 1715 and captured by pirates during one of her voyages. It is believed to have been the flagship of pirate Samuel Bellamy, known as “Black Sam”, for several years.
In 1717, the ship laden with plundered treasure, sank in a storm off the coast of Cape Cod. The Whydah Gally was discovered in 1984, along with a cargo of about 200,000 items: various artifacts, gold, silver and cannons.
The SS Central American treasure — $300 million (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: The treasure of the sunken ship SS Central American.
The SS Central American, also known as the Ship of Gold, was a paddle steamer that operated on the east coast of Central America and the United States in the 1850s. The ship sank in 1857 as a result of a hurricane, taking the lives of more than 400 people. There were more than 14 tons of gold on board, which the SS Central American was transporting from the Californian mines to New York.
The sunken ship was discovered in 1988 by the Columbus-America Discovery Group of Ohio. All the treasures were raised to the surface.
Interesting fact: the weight of one of the gold bars found on the ship was 36 kilograms! Today, 36 kilograms (1270 ounces) of gold is worth more than 3 million dollars. And the cost of all 14 tons (about 494 thousand ounces) discovered is more than 1 billion 150 million dollars!
The treasure of the Antikythera ship — 120-160 million dollars (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: Statues found on the sunken ship.
This treasure was found on a ship that sank more than 2 thousand years ago near the Greek island of Antikythera. The merchant ship was discovered in the early 20th century. In 2012-2014, new treasures were raised from the shipwreck, including gold coins and bronze and marble statues.
The Titanic treasure — $190-200 million (at the time of discovery)
Photo caption: One of the expensive artifacts found on the sunken Titanic.
And, of course, we couldn’t help but mention the most famous sunken ship in history. The Titanic sank on April 14, 1912, after hitting an iceberg. The ship was carrying more than 1,500 people. On board were many expensive artifacts, including gold, diamonds and silver. In 1985, Robert Ballard’s expedition discovered the wreckage of the Titanic, and with it, treasures worth about $200 million.
Such finds reveal incredible stories and secrets of past eras to humanity. And they also prove that gold has remained a symbol of wealth for centuries.
By the way, exciting underwater discoveries are still happening today. For example, two amateur divers accidentally found a gold treasure off the coast of the Spanish resort town of Javea. Read more about this discovery in the article “Golden treasures of the Mediterranean Sea.”
