Up to a billion dollars’ worth of gold and silver on a sunken 17th-century English warship may soon be recovered following an agreement with Spanish authorities.
Professional marine treasure hunters working with the British government have reportedly been given the go-ahead to recover gold and silver pieces from what is thought to be the wreck of the HMS Sussex, which took 560 sailors to a watery grave off Gibraltar in 1694.
Although the Spanish government had given its approval, authorities in the regional government of Andalucia had been blocking progress towards recovering the 10 tonnes of gold and silver believed to have gone down with the vessel. On Friday, however, they gave the go-ahead for the Odyssey Explorer to go after the wreck, El PaÃÂs newspaper reported on Sunday.
The United States ship, belonging to the Florida-based Odyssey Marine exploration company, has been scanning the sea bed off Gibraltar for almost a decade. The 640 square kilometres of Mediterranean sea bed have turned up what appear to be dozens of ancient and modern wrecks, including some believed to date back 2 000 years to Phoenician and Roman times.
But one wreck in particular, lying about 760m down and with the cannons still clearly visible to robot cameras despatched by the company, is thought most likely to be the HMS Sussex. The 80-gun warship, supposedly laden with gold and silver, had been on a secret mission to ensure the support of the Duke of Savoy in the war of the League of Augsburg against Louis XIV of France.
Admiral Sir Francis Wheeler, with HMS Sussex as his flagship, had led a fleet of about 80 vessels to the mouth of the Mediterranean at Gibraltar.
”Historical records suggest a million pounds sterling was destined for Savoy,” Odyssey Marine says. ”Other court records show that just as Wheeler’s fleet was assembling to sail for the Mediterranean, a million pounds was being collected at the exchequer … and that an order was sent to the exchequer to issue ‘a million pounds in money for the use of the fleet’.”
In mid-February 1694, after a stop-off in Gibraltar, the Sussex found itself caught in a terrible storm. Wheeler eventually agreed to cut down the main mast to increase its stability.
But, according to the two Muslim sailors who were the only survivors from the crew, the mast smashed to pieces while the vessel drifted, took on water and, eventually, plunged to the bottom of the ocean. About 560 Sussex crew members were among the 1 253 sailors to die that night.
Wheeler’s body, dressed in his night-shirt, was discovered later by Spanish fishermen.
The HMS Sussex has long been a treasure hunter’s dream. Odyssey Marine, which recovered more than $75-million of gold and silver coins from the wreck of the SS Republic off Georgia in 2003, began its hunt for the Sussex in 1997. In what was hailed as a ground-breaking agreement between a government and a treasure-hunting company, the United Kingdom has signed a deal with Odyssey Marine Exploration to allow it to seek out the Sussex.
Under the terms of the deal, any treasure discovered will be divided between the government and the company. The Spanish government initially tried to block the search, but Spain now agrees that — if it can be proved that this is the Sussex — the cargo belongs to Britain. – Guardian Unlimited Â