Hoping To Strike It Rich One Day And Buy Your Own Yacht?

There are an estimated 3 million undiscovered shipwrecks in the world.

Some of them loaded with riches from the grand old days of sail, when the only way to do a ‘money transfer’ was by sailing ship, on long and perilous journeys often beset by pirates, rival navies and fearsome storms. Countless vessels sunk to a watery grave.

The estimated total of this lost treasure?  A staggering 60 billion dollars. And it’s still sitting there, the gold shining as brightly on the seafloor today as the day it was minted a thousand years before.

Most treasure finds will be in deep water, and you may need a loan of your boss’ submarine to get to it. But there are also plenty of shallow water finds happening, sometimes very local to a superyacht’s cruising grounds. So don that scuba gear and keep an eye out for gold glinting on the seafloor! 

Recent Treasure Finds

1. 1715 Treasure Fleet 
   More than $1 million worth of gold artefacts was found by a family of amateur treasure seekers only 30 miles from West Palm Beach, as part of the ongoing salvage of the 1715 Treasure Fleet that sunk en masse in a hurricane. The fleet of 17 ships has already revealed $50 million of treasure since discovery; an estimated $400 million remains to be found.
2. Caesarea Harbour 
   In 2015, some amateur divers uncovered a fortune in thousand-year-old gold coins while diving the ruins of the ancient port of Caesarea. This was a popular dive site and countless people had dived there before them, but a big storm had just passed through and revealed the treasure. Luck is always part of the equation when treasure hunting!    

Sunken Treasures That Remain

1. The Merchant Royal, Cornwall: the ‘El Dorado of the Seas’
   Sinking in 1641 off the treacherous Cornish Coast with 100,000 pounds of gold onboard (now worth roughly a billion dollars), this is one of the holy grails of shipwreck-hunters. The Merchant Royal’s anchor was pulled up in a fishing vessel’s net in 2019… so the question is, where is the rest? The race is on! You’ll need the ability to dive to an estimated 300 feet in this area.
2. The Flora Del Mar, Sumatra/Malacca Straits
   Carrying the greatest haul of treasure ever assembled by the Portuguese Navy, this carrack vessel sank around December 1511, on its way back to Lisbon from Malacca. A report from the time said that it was caught in a storm off the Sumatran coast and broke up on the beach, and the treasure was lost to the waves.
3. Las Cinque Chagas, The Azores
   A vast 150-foot Portuguese naval vessel, Las Cinque Chagas is considered one of the greatest sunken treasures still to be found. On a journey back to Lisbon, the ship was beset by a plague outbreak and then by English Privateers who, upon realising she couldn’t successfully be boarded, rained ‘Greek Fire’ down until the ship and its treasure sank. Almost 1,000 souls died, and no-one got the treasure. At least, not yet. 
    

Finders Keepers? Or Finders Weepers?

This is the question you all want to know: if you find sunken treasure, do you get to keep it? Well that depends on the country you discover the treasure in. In salvage law, if diving in territorial waters, you must report the find and stiff penalties apply for those who don’t.
There must be an attempt for the owners to be found and, if not found, the government of the country will often assume ownership.

Having said that, there are glints of hope on the horizon for ye treasure-seekers hoping to keep some loot.

● If you discover the treasure in international waters, salvage rights are yours. 
● Some countries, like England, offer finder’s fees in their territorial waters, and in some cases, salvage rights.
● US states have their own rules on salvage, such as in Florida, where the state takes 20%.

Other countries, like Israel, will reward you with… exactly nothing. But be warned, find something in Israel and don’t report it, the only ‘treasure’  you will find in the medium future is bits of gristly meat from the prison guard’s stewpot. So basically, your reward is a pat on the back and not being put in jail.

And having an interesting tale to tell in every bar you go to, from now until the end of time.
Happy treasure hunting!