Shipwrecked Treasure 
                                  
Billions of dollar’s in treasures still lie in the depths of the ocean !
Shipwreck Salvaging

Starting around 1300 A.D. a vast amount of treasure vessels traveling around the world encountered enemy ships, enormous storms and hurricane’s only to sink to there resting-place on the floor of the ocean where much treasure still remains. The ocean holds some depth of water far to deep for man to travel where billions of dollars in undiscovered shipwrecked treasure still lies but the discovered shipwrecks in these depths can be salvaged by man using costly robotic equipment and submersible subs as seen in the photo. These salvages require large amounts of man power, funding and time lasting up to several month’s paying off in the end by recovering millions of dollars in sunken treasure which is far more valuable in historical value than the dollar amount itself and these treasures can be viewed in historical museums around the world.

Deterioration of sunken ships lying on the ocean floor over several hundreds of years causes only the gold treasure to be exposed then by the strong ocean current parts of treasures wash up on beaches being found by metal detectors or the local beach walker. These finding’s point out to treasure salvage rs that the shipwreck is within a close proximity of the shore line. Much treasure has been discovered and salvaged only within a several hundred feet of the shore line in water as shallow as 15 feet.

The Golden Age & Piracy

A main key to starting the Golden Age era in the years 1680 – 1730 was the competition for expansion and wealth between European and Spanish empires. The Spanish held the strongest hold on the wealth of the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America causing turmoil with England, Holland and France. These three countries began employing the services of pirates and privateers to set up colonies in the Caribbean to take by force some of Spains wealth.

Thus began the era known as the Golden Age of piracy where infamous pirates such as Captains kidd, Avery, Morgan, Bellamy, Gasparilla and Blackbeard strode the waters in command of ships connected by wealthy and political government influence destroying merchant vessel ships and plundering the treasure on board or sinking the ship to the bottom of the ocean with the treasure on board. Although, when these empires were confronted about any activity with piracy they would deny involvement and call pirates outlaws of the seas. Pirates roamed every where from Europe, South Africa, Central America, Caribbean Sea to the coast of Florida and Boston stringing a line of shipwrecks along the way. Pirates were notorious for burying there treasure and mapping what is now called a pirates map to recall the location of the buried treasure. Historians and researchers claim that Florida still contains buried and sunken treasure in value of 5 million mostly due to hurricane storms and pirates that destroyed ships off the coast and burying the treasure on land. Florida became famous for pirates taking up refugee and even has sailed the black flag of pirates over her. Famous pirates Blackbeard, Gasparilla, Kidd and Morgan were a few pirates that called Florida home. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century conflict’s of European and Spanish empires tightened for control of the trade route causing ships to encountered enemy galleon ships and privateer cannon cross fire leavng a grave yard of shipwrecks on the Atlantic ocean floor.

Galleon & Pirate Ships Fire Power

These ships were armed with 2 to 24 pounder stationary and swivel cannons. An 8 pounder cannon weighed 1600 pounds firing cannonballs weighing 8 pounds with an accurate destructive range of 100 to 200 yards with a long range of over 1,000 yards without much destructive damage or accuracy. There were several types of cannonballs used but the most common was the regular 8 pound cannonball causing extremely large holes in the ships hull, the grape & canister shot which consisted of 3 quarter inch iron balls packed in bags used as a grapeshot which was extremely deadly for crewmen of the ship, the bundle shot was several short iron bars bundled together with a short rope when shot they had the same effect as a shot gun shell spreading causing several large holes in the hull of a ship and the bar & chain shot which consisted of 2 cannonballs attached together with an iron bar or chain designed to snap the ships mast in two pieces.

Atlantic Ocean Trade Routes

The Power of Hurricane Season

Mother natures storms took its toll on many merchant and galleon ships especially during peak hurricane season forcing ships to sail way off course straight into the reafs tearing there hulls apart sinking them in the shallows, coral reefs or beaching them aground on the beach or on sand bars. In the 1600s King Phillip IV of Spain had the wealthiest empire with the largest fleet of ships traveling the Atlantic ocean sea routes to various seaports such as South Africa, Cuba, Central America, Caribbean and America trading goods but also lost the largest number of ships and sometimes loosing fleets of ships during storms. Predicting the weather took toll on many ships as they were caught in the middle of large storms, strong forced winds and hurricanes forcing them off there sea route having no control of ship navigation.

Salvaged Treasures and Artifacts

(Actual Photos Shown From Each Shipwreck)

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In 1656, The Spanish Galleon Ship “Maravillas” King Phillip IV flag ship was rammed by a sister ship only in 15 feet of water and burned by the Captain with intention to come back later and recover the today’s value of one billion dollar’s treasure. The ship and treasure was found in 1985 located on the tip of Florida near the Marquesas Key.

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In 1622, The Spanish Galleon Ships “Santa Margarita & Atocha”along with a fleet of other ships departed Cuba in route for Spain. During the early part of the course a strong hurricane arose causing the ships to veer towards the Florida reef line where the Santa Margarita ran aground and broke up. In 1985 portions of the Santa Margarita were found along with 20 bronze guns, 46 tons of silver, 40 thousand coins, emeralds and gold bars valued at 4 million dollars. The Atocha treasure discovery listed 25 gold bars, 24 tons of silver bullion, artifacts with jewels embedded, 20 bronze cannons and 1200 pounds of silverware.

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In 1717, Pirate Captain Samuel Bellamy Of The Pirate Ship “WHYDAH” sank in a storm near Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The notorious pirate Captain Samuel Bellamy also called Black Bellamy captained the Whydah which pirated any ship in sight (Sinking an estimated 50 ships) and plundered the treasure then sink-ed the ship along with the crew. Bellamy drowned in the storm that sank the Whydah along with all the treasure and other valuables. In 1984 divers began recovering the Whydah and its treasures of gold, silver and other pirate cargo.

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In 1563, the 250 Ton Galleon Ship “La MADALENA” commanded by Captain Cristobel Rodriquez was in route back to Spain from Veracruz, Mexico and Havana when a bad storm tossed the ship upon a shoal leaving only 16 survivors. The galleon ship was carrying over 50 tons of silver bullion and sepci (coins), 170 boxes of worked silver and 1,110 pounds of gold in small ingots and jewelry. The actual wreckage has never been located but two of the ships twenty eight cannons have been found by shrimpers. The shrimpers net snagged one of the bronze cannons and later another bronze cannon was snagged 2 miles from the other cannon also by shrimpers net. Then later a chest of 3,000 Spanish coins dating between 1748 and 1751 was also snagged by shrimper’s net. The two cannons are valued at ,000 each but if sold to a museum or in an auction they could be sold for double the price.

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In 1715, A Spanish Galleon was stuck in the middle of a hurricane strong storm sending it to the shallows of the ocean along with its treasures. In 2003 diver located the the treasure shown in the picture using a metal detector under 6 inches of sand and in only 12 ft. of water 3 miles south of the Sebastian Inlet, FL. The treasure was valued at 0,000 consisting of a gold and emerald cross necklace and 2 gold and emerald rings all found in a 22 carat gold box.

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Early 20Th Century Speculated Russian Warship “Dmitri Donskoi” sank during the Russian war with Japan off the southern tip of South Korea. The wreckage treasure discovery was pronounced in December 2000 containing an estimated 125 billion dollars worth of gold bars.

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The Notorious Pirate Blackbeard Also known As Edward Teach or Thatch Captained the Ship “Le Concorde” Later Renaming Her “Queen Anne’s Revenge”a 300 ton French slave ship built in 1710 having a massive 40 cannons. Edward Teach or Thatch earned the pirate name Blackbeard after serving on a British warship in the War of the Spanish Succession only to turn to piracy after his discharge in 1713. In 1718 Blackbeard finally decided ed to accept the pardon from the Royal Governor Woodes Rogers grounding three of his vessel ships including the Queen Annes Revenge at Topsail Inlet taking all the treasure and then went to Bath, North Carolina, where he finally accepted a pardon under the royal Act of Grace. Blackbeard took up residence in North Carolina not far from the Governors residence only later the Governor ordered Blackbeard to be hunted down and killed due to fear of Blackbeard living so close. Blackbeard death came in 1718 in a sword fight by his hunter’s when his opponent threw down his sword and shot Blackbeard wounding him with his pistol where Blackbeard slowly bleed out. In 1996 Blackbeard wreckage was found off the coast of North Carolina with only general items aboard such as the bell shown in the photo above.

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The Worlds Oldest known Discovered shipwreck The “Uluburn” Treasureartifacts date back to 1300 B.C. or 3,300 years ago. Discovered in 1982 and excavated eleven different periods in durations of three to four months from 1984 to 1992. Some of the discovered artifacts include the golden seal of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, glass beads, golden necklaces, precious jewels and other ancient artifacts can be viewed on display in New York’s Metropolitan Museum.

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These Spanish and Portuguese gold coins along with cannons are predicted to come from a ship that sank off the the bleak stretch of the African coast some 500 years ago in the late 1400s or early 1500s around the time of Columbus.

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In 1882 The Passenger Cargo Steam Liner “Douro”a lavish plush iron screw steamer was the Trans-Atlantic Lines star carrying passengers and picking up precious cargo along the exotic South American trade between Southampton and Buenos Aires. In march of 1882 the Douro departed Lisbon only to find itself in a destructive collision with the Spanish steamship Yrurac Bat at full speed sinking to the depth of 12,000 feet leaving three hundred and thirty three

passengers in life rafts and fifty nine drowning in the ocean waters. Salvage of the shipwreck started in 1993 to recover the precious cargo as they had found gold coins spread along the ocean floor. The treasure discovered during the salvage consisted of several gold bars and a sizable amount of gold Sovereigns. The treasure coins dated back to the reign of Queen Victoria or the Victorian Era of the United Kingdom from 1837 – 1901 which was a time of prosperity for the British Empire.

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In 1744 The “HMS Victory”was the flagship of the Royal Navy captained by Commander Sir John Balchin (Photo above) she encountered a storm dispersing it from the fleet sinking in the English Channel with an estimated undiscovered 100,000 gold coins equaling 4.167 tons. The ship was returning to Lisbon, Portugal The HMS Victory was the largest at 175 ft. long and the most heavily armed vessel of its time carrying 110 brass cannons which only 41 of them have been found including 8 enormous 42 pounders. The cannons lifted had a distinctive decoration of a dolphin

emblem on the upper surface, others had two dolphins with only a few with four dolphins also one cannon that was raised had the monogram Goerge I who ruled from 1714 – 1727. Its only a matter of time before the Team Odyssey salvaging crew discovers the billion dollar treasure.

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In 1638 Spanish Galleon The “Nuesra de la Concepcion” encountered bad weather sinking her to the depth of the ocean between Manila in the Philippines and Acapulco spilling chest of precious cargo on the ocean floor. The main reason for the Concepcion sinking was due to mutiny started by the ships officers lacking faith in there young captain wanting to relieve him from his duties a fight broke out without anyone at the ships helm to navigate

the sail buckled backwards snapping the mast and flipping her over into the sea. The loss of the Concepcion was costly to the Spanish crown loosing tens of millions of dollars worth of valuables in today’s market. The excavation of the Concepcion treasures yielded 1,300 pieces of 22.5-karat gold jewelry – chains, crucifixes, beads, buckles, filigree buttons, rings and broaches with precious set stones embedded and a ships time log of the 17Th century jewelry has proved to be made in the Philippines.

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In 1846 The Steamship “SS New York”sank off the Louisiana coast from a hail forced storm then discovered and salvaged in 2007 in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the coins are uncirculated or in mint condition bringing an estimated value of 0,000 a piece at an auction.

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In 1715 A Fleet Of Ships Sailed In Route To The Queen of Spain when the fleet sank after encountering a storm. The jewelry aboard of an entire set of 309 emeralds totaling a little over 232 carats with an estimated value of million was discovered by a diver in 1970. The set consisted of a set f emeralds, two rings, a pendant, a necklace and earrings.

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In 1857 The Side-Wheel Steamer “S.S. Centeral America” was in route to New York carrying .6 million in cargo of two tons of gold dust, nuggets, coins and assayer ingots. The ship sank in a hurricane off the coast of the Carolina’s in 8,000 feet of deep ocean where she lay ed rest for over 100 years before salvage’s discovered the wreckage. In 1865 eight years after the sinking of the S.S. Central America two more ships were taken by violent storms and hurricanes the S.S. Brother Jonathan sank off the coast of Northern California and the S.S. Republic sank off the coast of the Georgia coast both were carrying significant amounts of gold and silver coins. Due to

modern technology and recovery methods salavagers located all three shipwrecks in deep waters recovering thousands of gold coin and silver coins, assayer gold ingots, bars and bricks. The gold was sold off in an auction held in New York with one gold ingot (Bar) selling for ,750, one gold coin sold for ,900 and one gold slug valued in 1851 at selling in the auction for ,850.

Salvage Investors Profit Large

Hundreds of shipwrecks still remain undiscovered in shallow and deep waters holding unseen amounts of treasures that would definitely increase your bank account balance. Many salvage companies seek investors to assist in funding there expeditions for equipment such as sonars, mini subs, deep water electronic equipment and so on… offering investors generous returns on there recovery. The return on the discovery of sunken treasures can be unimaginable in amounts some companies looking for expedition investors are Treasure Salvors Inc., RMS Titanic Inc., Marine Exploration Inc.(MEXP), Deep Blue Marine Inc. and Oddyssey Marine Expedition are just a few of a hand full of companies seeking investors offering returns such as one company paying 35% to investors of the companies salvage. Normally these salvaging companies require a large investment amount although you can find some salvaging companies listed on the stock index where you can buy cheep shares into the comanies expedition such as the Odyssey Marine Expidition stock is going for .69 on the NASDAQ and Marine Exploration Inc.

Stock is running for .43. These companies stock is a reasonable investment and the return can be even more generous in the long run. The average treasure seeker has also become quite lucky stumbling across major finds on and off shore using land and water metal detectors which can be purchased from the a hundred to thousands of dollars online or at your local sports/outdoors store. Next time you get a chance visit your local museum to view the beauties discovered from the depths of the ocean that men from past times created.

 

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