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$500 Million Worth of Shipwreck Relics Found

I would not want to be a deep sea explorer, but I can see how in this case, it definitely paid off! Odyssey Marine Exploration recently landed in the U.S. with plastic containers that held coins they had found in a shipwreck. The coins are made of colonial-era silver and gold. The company found the coins in an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean. Because the ship was located in a lane where many colonial vessels went down, they really are not sure yet of the size, age, or even nationality of the ship. The company won’t released the location of the shipwreck, for security reasons, but rumor are that it is either from a wreck site near the English Channel or from a 17th century vessel that sunk near the southwest tip of England. Court records indicate that the coins they found may be from an English ship that is four hundred years old.

What they do know is that they estimate there are 500,000 pieces (17 tons) expected to get about $1,000 apiece from collector and investors. That means a paycheck of $500 million – an unparalleled find for colonial era shipwreck relics. Odyssey Marine Exploration is also being secretive about the types or denominations of coins found during what they dubbed “Project Black Swan.” The coins, most of them silver, will be released on the market in a controlled manner, which will raise their value and keep the prices high.

Odyssey Marine Exploration is the first publicly traded company of its kind and the “Black Swan” find could not have come at a better time. The company found 50,000 coins and artifacts off the coast of Georgia in 2003, but posted losses for the business in 2005 and 2006. They use state-of-the-art equipment, including deep-water robotics, to hunt for shipwrecks.

Before the “Black Swan” find, the richest shipwreck find was of the Spanish ship Nuestra Senora de Atocha. Its treasures were found by Mel Fisher in 1985 and brought in $400 million from coins and other artifacts. The Nuestra Senora de Atocha sank off near the Florida Keys in 1622.

It just amazes me when people find shipwrecks like this. Part of me wants them to leave it alone – after all, there must have been men that went down with the ship and this is their final resting place. But, the artifacts it can yield will be so interesting to see. It just amazes me to think how huge the oceans of the world are and all that they could contain.

Other Oceanic Blogs:

Australian Ghost Ship is a Mystery

A “Titanic” Adventure

Hitting The High Seas On A “Bloggers Cruise”