At the bottom of the sea in many different places on the planet there are still traces of many sunken ships transporting valuable goods hundreds of years ago. National Geographic Magazine speak of the most valuable sunken treasures – from Spanish coins to ancient Chinese ceramics.
San Jose is in the Caribbean
The Spanish galleon San Jose is often called the most expensive sunken ship. It was carrying up to 200 tons of gold, silver and precious stones when it was sunk by a British warship in 1708.
Estimates of the value of the sunken cargo range from a few billion USD to more than 20 billion USD. Many parties have tried to reclaim the remains of the ship, including American salvagers, the Colombian and Spanish governments, and a group of indigenous Bolivians who claim the valuable metals on the San Jose were mined by their ancestors.
However, Colombian law stipulates that artifacts from the ship cannot be sold. San Jose and its treasures still lie at the bottom of the sea, and according to some archaeologists, they are better off staying there.
Bomb Jesus off the coast of Namibia
In 2008, a geologist was searching for diamonds in an area known for its large reserves. But instead he found something else – a copper ingot. Archaeologists later found 22 tons of these ingots, previously traded for spices, as well as more than 100 elephant tusks, a bronze cannon, swords, altimeters, muskets and chain mail – thousands of historical artifacts in total.
Among the finds was gold: more than 2,000 coins, mostly Spanish, but also Venetian, French and others. The unusual cargo helped identify the Bom Jesus, a Portuguese merchant ship that went missing in 1533 en route to India. The ship and its treasure remained intact for nearly 500 years. Currently, it is the oldest and most valuable shipwreck ever found on the coast of sub-Saharan Africa.
Belitung in the Java Sea
In 1998, Indonesian fishermen diving for sea cucumbers found a block of underwater coral with pottery seemingly attached to it. Their discovery ultimately turned out to be nothing more than an Arab dhow carrying more than 60,000 samples of gold, silver, and ceramics from the Chinese Tang Empire.
The latter is especially noteworthy because it provides a thorough look at ancient Chinese trade. Thereafter, the empire eagerly purchased textiles, pearls, coral, and fragrant wood from Persia, East Africa, and India. By the 9th century, Chinese pottery had become popular but camels were not suitable for transporting fragile goods. Therefore, more and more such products began to be transported by sea.
Although Arab sailors apparently used the “maritime silk road,” Belitung was the first dhow route found in Southeast Asian waters. In fact, this ship is the largest, most valuable collection of 9th-century ceramics and gold that China has ever found in one place.
Palm trees in the Wadden Sea
Palmwood, named after the wooden crates that held goods, transported wealth from around the world—and a unique glimpse into the lives of the 17th century elite.
In the broken boxes, divers found more than 1,500 artifacts, including an elegant dress decorated with silver embroidery, a damask shirt, and a velvet tunic dyed with cochinel, a pigment extracted from insects found only in the Americas. Researchers also discovered a silver cup and cutlery, a luxury cosmetics set, a Persian rug and a collection of 32 leather-bound books dating from the 16th to the 17th centuries.
Although restorers are actively working on objects recovered from the seabed, much of the wreck remains unexcavated. Currently, it is covered by a protective net to protect the artifacts from ocean currents.
Nam Hai One in the East Sea
In 1987, while searching for a ship of the Dutch East India Company that sank in the 18th century, the British company Maritime Exploration stumbled upon something unexpected. Specifically, merchant ships are even older – from the 12th century.
A thick layer of silt helped preserve not only the ship itself but also its cargo: ceramics, coins from the Song Empire, and silver ingots. Over the following years, archaeologists pieced together tens of thousands of objects in the ruins of Nanhai One, including 100 gold artifacts and thousands of coins. But most of the finds are ceramics.
