HMS Victory 1737 is to be raised from the sea, possible treasure!

The 1737 man of war HMS Victory was the largest ship in the world at its commission.
She had a 900+ crew and a complement of Royal Marines and was armed with over
100 bronze cannon. In 1744 the Victory sunk in a storm with all on board lost at sea.
She was built with high sides that caused steering problems in certain conditions,
this may have contributed to her fate.





In 2008 the Victory was found in the English Channel by the US salvage company Odyssey.
They found it in an area that is heavily trawled and may have been damaged by fishing nets.





The wreck and artifacts will become property of the Maritime Heritage Foundation of England
and displayed in museums. Odyssey will claim the majority of any treasure found.
Treasure?
Yep, there be treasure me heartys!
Apparently the Victory was carrying 120,000 pounds in gold and silver coin that was captured
from enemy ships and estimated to be about 500 million pounds today. On top of that there are
reports that she was also carrying another 400,000 pounds for merchants in her hold.
There could be billions down there in todays money.

The Dutch financial publication, Amsterdamsche Courant, reported on 18 November 1744, a month after the ship sank: "People will have it that on board of The Victory was a sum of 400,000 pounds sterling that it had brought from Lisbon for our merchants."

www.bbc.co.uk

Odyssey's market shares are starting to reflect this interest,

Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. rose the most in four months after the Daily Mail reported that the U.S. company is expected to be employed to recover the wreck of British warship H.M.S. Victory, which sank in 1744.

www.businessweek.com

Hmmm I might have to get myself some shares while they're still a good price
This all got me to thinking about how many other treasure wrecks there are, here are a few

FLOR DE LA MAR - Wrecked in 1511, the Portuguese had a field day when they overran the ancient kingdom of Malacca in present-day Malaysia after its sultan declined a request for permission to trade there. Admiral Alfonso d'Albuquerque's men spent three days sacking the city and relieving it of 60 tons of gold booty plus the sultan's throne - not to mention his ingots and coinage - and more than 200 chests of diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires. The Portuguese didn't get far with it, though; she went down in a storm off the northern coast of Sumatra along with riches estimated to be worth $1.7 to $3 billion.

NAU CHAGAS - Sunk on June 13th, 1594, the Portuguese carrack (merchant ship) Nau Chagas was returning home from the East Indies in June of 1594 bulging with treasure that included bounty rescued from two other wrecked ships. 3,500,000 cruzadoes, plus an unknown number of chests of diamonds, rubies and pearls. The overloaded vessel sailed into the Azores to replenish stocks, pulled out the next day, and came under protracted attack by four English warships. She went down in deep waters about 18 miles south of the channel between Pico and Fayal, in the Azores. The riches that sank with her is believed to have been thousands of tons of the richest cargo (including diamonds, rubies, and pearls) ever to leave an Asian port. Reputed value more than 1 Billion US Dollars.

SAN JOSE - The San José is considered to be one of the richest treasure ships ever lost in the Western Hemisphere. She sank in about 1,000 feet of water on June 8th, 1708. This loss resulted from a battle with an English squadron. Due to the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession, no treasure had been sent from South America to Spain for a period of six years. English Commodore Charles Wager tracked down the treasure-laden ship 16 miles off Cartagena and sunk it in 1000 feet of water. The San José was loaded with eleven million pesos (about 344 tons of gold and silver coins). 116 chests of emeralds, and the personal wealth of the Viceroy of Peru. The estimated Value of the cargo today is more than 1 Billion US dollars.

www.treasurelore.com

I think I'm in the wrong line of work, where are my floaties?

Delete post

...it's definately worth getting your snorkle out for...

There must be hundreds of these wrecks loaded with "booty" sat at the bottom of the oceans...

Now - Where did i put my armbands..?