According to the estimates of G. Risenberg, a native of America, who searches for sea treasures, today there are treasures with a total value of about 600 billion dollars under water. But this is not the only point of view, some researchers of the deep sea are talking about trillions!
UNESCO estimates the number of sunken ships at three million. Only one Atlantic Ocean hides them from us in the amount of one hundred thousand. And this figure does not correspond to reality, because the calculation of shipwreck victims began to be conducted relatively recently.
The Caribbean Sea is a world-renowned marine treasury. Nobody really knows how many Spanish galleons have sunk here. But they transported the jewelry taken from the Aztecs to the European continent. Many ships stumbled upon reefs, became victims of pirate attacks or violent storms. At the very beginning of the 17th century, half a dozen galleons went to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. Then more than a thousand sailors died, and many billions of dollars worth of jewelry was lost.
Spanish galleons and other wrecks
There is another famous maritime treasury off the coast of Spain. Having passed a difficult and extremely dangerous path, having crossed the ocean, ships often drowned near their native shores. The south of Spain in those days was the most disastrous place, the city of Cadiz acquired notorious fame. About 200 ships filled with treasures sank in its bay. Their approximate cost, according to the most conservative estimates, is over $ 30 billion. But for what reason did the tragedy recur so often?
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This place is well known for the powerful currents of Gibraltar, and sometimes they are joined by sudden hurricane winds. Agree that it was very difficult to resist this raging element in those days. Often ships sank in other places off the Spanish coast. If we recalculate the value of the treasures sunk there in dollars, then we can talk about an amount significantly exceeding one hundred billion.
Many marine treasures are found in other parts of the world. Do you know how many ships sank in the Gulf of Finland? Over six thousand! And even if they were not as rich as the Spanish galleons, they also carried a lot of valuables. For example, at the beginning of the 18th century, a ship with the treasury of the Russian army based in Finland sank here. And how many fascist ships with valuables looted in the Soviet Union during the war years went to the bottom here, no one knows for certain!
Unfortunately, our contemporaries do little research on sunken ships and valuables and artifacts on them. Therefore, it is only natural that jewels and very valuable historical relics can be found on these ships. By the way, valuable cargoes in the Baltic waters are perfectly preserved!
Pioneer of underwater treasures
A native of New England, young Captain W. Phipps is the first and rather successful hunter of underwater treasures. He managed to find a treasure on the Spanish galleon "Concepcion". But it all happened quite by accident.
While walking along the Spanish coast, the captain saw an elderly sailor attacked by vagrants. Being a just and noble man, he, without hesitation, hastened to help and soon put the attackers to flight.
The sailor rescued by William thanked the captain and told him the secret of the "Concepcion" galleon, on which he once served. Returning to England, Phipps became the founder of a certain organization, which was called the "Adventurers Company". He managed to enlist the support of not only wealthy nobles, but also the king. This happened during the time of Charles II.
The first attempt was unsuccessful. However, Phipps had an incredible gift of persuasion and managed to knock out money to organize a second expedition. For a long time, the searches were unsuccessful, but one day everything changed. The captain drew attention to a piece of coral that a diver lifted from the seabed. It seemed to William that the coral was surprisingly regular. He ordered to split the coral, and before the astonished eyes of the sailors appeared a box full of coins.
Immediately, work began to extract the treasure from the seabed. Over the course of three months, many jewels, coins, gold bars and several tons of silver were raised. The value of the treasure was over 300,000 pounds, which at that time was quite an impressive amount.
Centuries passed, and the number of treasure hunters rose sharply to several tens of thousands of enthusiasts. The invention of scuba gear played an important role in this matter. The treasure hunters also received other technical means. For example, in Florida, there is a rental office on any beach where you can get a metal detector. Obviously, anyone can hunt for sea treasures, it would be time, the desire to earn and a certain starting capital for the rental of equipment.
