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Tales of pirates, shipwrecks, sunken treasure and gold have always held an allure for kids and adults alike.. From Captain Kidd’s treasures to Hollywood blockbuster adventure movies such as.. |
THE LURE OF SUNKEN TREASURE & SOME PAST SUCCESS STORIES |
Pirates of the Caribbean & Indiana Jones, these usually seem to excite and bring the adventurer out in us all. |
However, to the average person the chance to actually participate in a once-in-a-lifetime shipwreck salvage to recover long lost sunken treasures will always remain as just a dream. |
Over 3,000 Years of sea travels… |
Man has traversed the world’s oceans for thousands of years. Unfortunately, throughout the years, unchartered waters, violent storms, human error and wars have doomed numerous vessels before they were able to arrive at home ports or other planned destinations. |
During the olden days no maritime records were kept of the ships planned voyages or their manifests. Many simply left their home or destination ports, never to be heard from again, vanishing with their entire crew and precious cargos. |
Atocha: Lost at the bottom of the vast ocean in the Lower Florida Keys for more then 350 years, the Spanish ship, Nuestra Senora de Atocha, carried 40 tons of silver and gold and 70 pounds of emeralds. |
Historic Salvor, Mel Fisher, finally discovered the Atocha with all of its treasure, after a 16-year search on July 20, 1985. |
This incredible treasure was auctioned off by Christie’s New York on June 15, 1988 for a staggering US$400 Million. |
Manila Galleons: Most of these are galleons that were built during Spanish rule in the bustling port of Cavite on Manila Bay (Philippines). |
For 250 years (1565-1815) these great Spanish vessels braved the high seas carrying vast riches of gold and silver from South America (Acapulco) across the Pacific back to Manila Bay in the Philippines. |
Needless to say, many never made it back to Manila. One such vessel was the Nuestra Senora de la Conception, which floundered in bad weather on September 20, 1638, on the shores of the western Pacific island of Siapan. |
Most of the 400 souls on board perished, along with the precious cargo of the Conception. Over a two-year period the team combed a half-square-mile area, salvaging, among other things, more then 1,300 pieces of gold jewelry, 156 storage jars and a few hundred cannon balls. |
GELDERMALSEN: On November 30, 1751 the 1150 ton Dutch East Indiamen Geldermalsen departed from Canton, China for its homeward-bound voyage back to the Netherlands. The ship’s cargo was valued at 714,936 Dutch florins and consisted of 140,000 pieces of fine Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) blue and white porcelain. There was also 149 Chinese shoe-shaped gold ingots. |
On the night of January 3, 1752 the Geldermausen struck on an unchartered reef in the South China Sea and sank to her watery grave with the loss of 112 persons and all its precious cargo. |
In 1985 Australian Captain Michael Hatcher located the Geldermausen and went on to eventually salvage all the fabulous porcelain and 125 of the Chinese shoe-shaped gold ingots. These items, nicknamed the Nanking Cargo, were later auctioned off by Christie’s of Amsterdam for US$20 million. |
SS Central America: In September 1857 the side-wheel steamer SS Central America was loaded at Panama with 578 passengers and over $1.6 million dollars (1857 value) in California 49ers gold coins, ingots and other forms, bound for New York. |
On Sept. 12th, after battling a major storm and suffering from serious water leakage for over 72 hours, the Central America sank with a loss of about 425 lives. Only 153 persons were saved. |
The ship came to rest in the cold darkness 8,000 feet below the surface, about 160 miles from Charleston, South Carolina. In the hull of the vessel was a vast treasure of gold coins and ingots which would remain there for some 131 years until discovered and salvaged by the Columbus-America Discovery Group in 1988. |
The largest specimen of the Central America’s treasure is the prized 10 1/2” long “Eureka” bar weighing in at 933 ounces (over 80 pounds). The Eureka bar is stamped with an 1857 currency value of $17,433.57. The historical significance of this monetary ingot is evidenced as the Eureka bar was acquired for a record US$8,000,000 price! |
In all, ingots weighing from 5 ounces to 80 pounds and more then 7,000 gold coins ($1, $2.50, $5, $10, $20 and $50 denominations) were recovered from the ocean depths. To date over 5,000 coins and ingots have been sold via auction and online bringing in over US$100 Million. |
Belitung Wreck: |
On a sunny morning in 1998, just a few hundred meters from Belitung Island off of the east coast of Sumatra (Indonesia) an Indonesian fisherman dove down and accidentally discovered this wreck while searching for sea-cumbers. |
Eventually, the wreck location was ‘sold’ to a German group which ultimately salvaged a cargo of over 60,000 pieces of ceramics, gold and silver from China’s golden age of art and commerce. |
This phenomenal cargo was acquired by Sentosa Development Corporation, a Singapore government statutory board, for their maritime museum. |
US$34 Million was paid for the entire cargo. |
HMS VICTORY: The shipwreck salvage company, Odyssey Marine, recently discovered the HMS Victory, a First-Rate Royal Navy Warship that mysteriously disappeared in 1744. At the time of her loss, the Victory had £400,000 (1744 face value), which corresponds to approximately 4 tons of gold. This cargo worth is currently estimated from $500 Million to One Billion Dollars today. |
The Victory also carried over 100 rare King George I & II bronze cannons and these cannons are worth from thirty to One Hundred Thousand Dollars each. |
DARE VISION & PLANS: |
i) To salvage some of the numerous wrecks in Southeast Asian waters. ii) To bring maritime history to light for the whole world to view and become aware of. iii) To work hand-and-hand with the local governments on a legal and professional level. iv) To protect and preserve Southeast Asia's maritime history. |
End... for more information about investment opportunities, please email DARE. |