Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, off England's southwest coast, lies a shipwreck believed to be holding an enormous treasure worth one billion pounds. For years, salvage companies have been scouring the waters off Cornwall, attempting in vain to find it.
A TV show on the Discovery Channel even followed an exploration team in its attempts to locate the merchant ship it sank with. But, CornwallLive reports that to this day, the exact location of the 700-ton ship, nicknamed the "El Dorado of the seas", remains unknown.
Dubbed the Merchant Royal, she was built in 1627 in London. Owned by English merchants and captained by John Limbrey, she sailed around the West Indies and Spain. It is said that the ship started to leak heavily by 1640. After undergoing repairs, it was decided that she would transport Spain's colonial loot to Antwerp, in Belgium, before going back to London.
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According to reports, the treasure included 500 bars of gold bullion, 400 ingots, half a million coins, jewellery and countless gems and pearls. The Merchant Royal left for the expedition in August 1641, trailed by the Dover Merchant. But on the way, she started leaking again, and nothing could be done to save her.
Eighteen men perished, while 40 others, including the captain, were rescued by the Dover Merchant. The treasure, which is believed to have been worth one-third of England's public funds at the time, was lost to the sea.
It is now thought that it is worth hundreds of millions of pounds, if not £1bn, in today's prices. After years of searches, in 2007, 600,000 silver coins, hundreds of gold coins and other artefacts were found on the sea floor in the Atlantic Ocean.
The treasure, worth over £300m, was rumoured to be part of the Merchant Royal's and was recovered by an American company called Odyssey Marine. They took it to the United States, but after lengthy legal wranglings, Odyssey was ordered to hand over coins recovered from the wreck to Spain, suggesting that the ship was really a Spanish frigate.
Two years later, the company continued its search on the Treasure Quest TV show. All attempts to find the "El Dorado of the seas" were unsuccessful... until March 2019 when a huge anchor was trawled in Cornwall by the fishing vessel Spirited Lady .
It was estimated to date back to a period between 1600 and 1800 and could have belonged to the Merchant Royal. The discovery narrowed the area where salvage companies can look for the treasure. But, to this day, the Merchant Royal mystery is still intact.
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