An unprecedented find could be the richest ever, with 17 tonnes of gold and silver aboard an unidentified ship codenamed the "Black Swan."
A fortune beyond the imagination of any pirate of the Caribbean has been discovered in the infamously treacherous seas off the Scilly Isles, southwest England. Seventeen tonnes of gold and silver coins -- 500,000 coins in all -- have been found at one of the most lucrative shipwreck sites ever discovered.
Revealing details of the find, salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration said on Friday it believed the coins were worth an average of US$1,000, giving a total estimated value of US$500 million.
The site of the 400-year-old wreck, codenamed the "Black Swan," has not been disclosed by the company, which flew the coins straight from the salvage site to its headquarters in Florida.
But English experts have heard recent gossip of a spectacular find, and suspect it may be lying just outside UK territorial waters. Many of the coins, most of which are silver with some gold, are believed to be in mint condition.
They were described as "unprecedented" by one expert, Nick Bruyer, who examined a sample.
"I don't know of anything equal or comparable to it," he said.
John Morris, cofounder and chief executive of Odyssey, said the company was not yet certain of the identity of the ship.
"Our research suggests that there were a number of colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located."
His partner, Greg Stemm, said: "The remarkable condition of most of the first 6,000 silver coins conserved has been a pleasant surprise, and the gold coins are almost all dazzling mint-state specimens. We are excited by the wide range of dates, origins and varieties of the coins, and we believe that the collecting community will be thrilled when they see the quality and diversity of the collection."
Peter Marsden, an internationally recognized expert on maritime archeology and the founder of the Shipwreck Centre museum in Hastings, England, said the find highlighted the need for international agreements on protecting historic wrecks.
Even in UK waters only a handful of historic wreck sites have been designated and outside territorial waters it's open season on wrecks -- although where ownership can be proved, nations have frequently laid claim to the contents.
Marsden said the increasingly commercial treasure hunting industry highlights the need for international protocols on protecting historic wrecks. In some cases, he said, salvage teams were using remote equipment to simply scoop anything movable into giant skips.
"Though there is often impressive talk of archeological work I have yet to be convinced that many of them have the commitment or the means to record, preserve and most importantly publish all the details," Marsden said. "A mass of historical evidence is being lost."
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