Inside the world’s most expensive shipwrecks where £16billion in gold, jewels and emeralds lay buried underwater

THERE is an estimated £16billion worth of antique treasure tied-up in watery graves with three of the world’s most high-valued shipwrecks.

Out of the trio, only one has been found – and it is currently at the heart of a bitter dispute over ownership.

The San José – £13billion

Spanish galleon, San José, sailed the high seas for a decade before it sank in 1708 on its journey from what is now Panama, towards the port city of Cartagena in Colombia.

It was one of two twin ships built to join the Spanish treasure fleet, boasting three masts, 64 guns, and a roughly 600-strong crew.

San José was accompanied by three Spanish warships, a hulk, and fourteen merchant ships on its final voyage.

Despite its mighty company, the galleon was sunk by a British warship, as the island nation fought with Spain some 300 years ago.

The Spanish ship had a cargo of gold, silver and emeralds, which professional treasure hunters believe could be worth as much as £13billion in today’s currency.

Colombia, Spain, a US salvage company and indigenous groups in South America have all tried to stake claim on the treasure.

The Colombian government is steadfast that the shipwreck, found off the coast in 2015, belongs to it.

At least, geographically, anyway – which is why the government has not shared the exact location of the shipwreck for scuba divers to explore.

The government has said it wants to raise the remains of the vessel and put it in a museum, although archaeologists say it should be left where it is.

Meanwhile, local indigenous groups argue the wealth came from the mines of the Bolivian highlands, and therefore belongs to their people.

But 300 years in the warm, salt waters of the Colombian coast takes its toll.

As time goes on, and disputes persist, the salty water will continue to dissolve what remains of the treasure.

The Flor de la Mar – £2billion

The “Flower of the Sea”, or Flor de la Mar, was designed to be one of the finest ships in the Portuguese fleet when it was built in 1502.

At 118 feet long, and weighing 400 tonnes, the Flor de la Mar was regarded as a jewel of the Indian Ocean over its nine-year career.

But by November, 1511, following Portugal’s successful invasion of Malacca city, the ship was described as barely seaworthy as it set sail for home.

The capturing of the city, part of Malaysia, had meant the ship was laden with unthinkable treasures stripped from the royal palace of the Sultan of Malacca.

It’s believed there were 80 chests of gold, and 200 chests bursting with rubies, diamonds, emeralds, coins, perfumes, and jewellery-encrusted furnishings that once decorated the royal palace. 

The bounty was so monumental that crew members were anxious about whether the ship could stay afloat while transporting such a heavy load.

Alas, they were right.

The ship was caught in a storm and wrecked on some shoals in the Strait of Malacca.

Its remains have never been found, with Flor de la Mar most likely getting caught in the current and pulled out to sea.

The Merchant Royal – £1billion

Dubbed the El Dorado of the sea, the Merchant Royal was a galley ship built in London in 1627.

It was used for trading with Spanish Colonies in the West Indies, but was eventually plagued by a leak in the hull when on a return trip to England in 1640.

Once fixed up, after a brief visit to the southern Spanish port of Cadiz, the Merchant Royal went to the aid of a neighbouring ship that had caught fire.

The Merchant Royal struck a deal to deliver the burning ship’s cargo to shore, which was rumoured to be gold and silver – wages for about 30,000 Spanish troops.

It’s believed there was a trove 100,000lbs of gold, 400 bars of Mexican silver and almost 500,000 ‘pieces of eight’, or Spanish dollars.   

But it wasn’t long into the journey when the hull sprung another leak, and the ship had to be abandoned.

The British vessel sunk approximately 30 miles off Land’s End coast in Cornwall, taking the treasure and the lives of 18 men with it.

All that’s left of the ship is its rusted anchor, discovered off the Cornish coast in 2019.

A 1641 pamphlet, held in the British Library, describes the Merchant Royal as having gone down with “300000 in ready boliogne (bullion)” and “100,000 pound in gold and as much value in jewels”.

In a section of King Charles I’s state papers, dated 30 September 1641, he describes the loss of the cargo as “the greatest that was ever sustained in one ship, being worth 400,000l. [£400,000] at least”.

 if we take the figure of £400,000 from Charles I’s memo as being a conservative value of the haul, the value of the trove becomes a little leaner than a billion pounds.

Combining the price of the gold, and other antique treasures, with today’s value would see the total worth teeter around £1billion.