08/19/2022
The Black Swan Project 🦢 $500 million 💰
The biggest shipwreck, with the greatest amount of treasure, would of course mean the greatest struggle to lay claim to said treasure. 😅
After discovery and excavation, in 2007, by the Odyssey Marine Exploration (these guys are all over these shipwrecks) they uncovered and flew 17 tons of coins from Gibraltar to an undisclosed address in the U.S.
However, once word got out about the ship’s discovery, its nationality came under debate. The ship was found floundering in uncertain territory, a location where Colonial-era ships were known to frequent.
The ship's age and size were also very vague. Due to these uncertainties, very little was released about the wreck site. Being that this was the largest treasure haul ever discovered in the world meant this uncertainty needed to be sorted out right quick.
Experts were called in, and could only return statements of astonishment, saying the find was “unprecedented” and “without comparison.” Finally, the Spanish Government filed its claim against the cargo and stated they believed the ship to be the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, which had been sunk by the British in 1804.
In 2008, the U.S. federal court stepped in to order the Odyssey to disclose its findings - location of the wreck, and any artifacts and treasures uncovered. The information the Odyssey provided ruled out the Nuestra de las Mercedes.
After five years of litigation, the courts finally made a ruling in favor of Spain, and the treasure had to be flown back. But don’t worry about the Odyssey, they laid claim to almost every other shipwreck on this list.
