Treasure hunters find $500m worth of gold HMS Victory found!

[ford man xf]

Treasure hunters find $500m worth of gold
February 3, 2009, 1:10 pm

The US firm which claims to have discovered one of the greatest British warships ever lost at sea is seeking "immediate" permission to begin recovering artefacts from the wreck.

Florida-based Odyssey has been embroiled in a legal dispute with the Spanish government, after it recovered a shipwreck with gold and silver coins in 2007 and flew the haul, estimated by some to be worth $US500 million, back to the United States.

It discovered the final resting place of the HMS Victory in the English Channel and notified the British Ministry of Defence as soon as the team concluded it was the man-of-war which sank in a storm in 1744 with a crew of 1150.

The exploration company said it was negotiating a collaboration agreement with the British government, which claims sovereignty over the ship thought to have been the most impressive war vessel of its time.

"The money is not as important as the cultural and historical significance of the discovery. It is a monumental event, not only for Odyssey but for the world," Odyssey's CEO Greg Stemm said.

"It is probably the most significant shipwreck find to date.

"HMS Victory was the mightiest vessel of the 18th century and the eclectic mix of guns we found on the site will prove essential in further refining our understanding of naval weaponry used during the era," he added.

Odyssey said it feared the wreck was suffering substantial damage from natural erosion and extensive trawler-fishing and its contents could be lost unless they were brought to the surface as soon as possible.

The Victory's archaeological treasures are prized by salvagers because they are believed to include 100 brass cannons, thought to be engraved with dolphins and the monogram of King George II, and a substantial amount of gold and silver.

Odyssey said it found the wreck 100 metres under the English Channel, nearly 100km from the Channel Islands site where the ship was historically believed to have been wrecked in a violent storm.

Reports from the time claim the ship was carrying four tonnes of gold.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/...worth-of-gold/


Wreck of HMS Victory found in English Channel

A bronze cannon known as a 42-pounder, for the size of ball it fired, is lifted from the sea above the wreckage of the HMS Victory.
The discovery of the shipwreck solves a longtime mystery about the fate of the warship, which sank in 1744 with 1,000 people and potentially $1 billion in gold aboard.
By Thomas H. Maugh II
February 3, 2009
American salvagers say they have discovered the long-sought wreck of HMS Victory, the mightiest and most technologically advanced warship of its time, which sank during a violent storm in the English Channel in 1744.

Armed with as many as 110 massive bronze cannons and carrying a crew of 900 men and 100 supernumeraries, the Victory was lost with all hands and reportedly with a treasure of gold bullion whose value is estimated at $1 billion.


In a news conference Monday in London, Greg Stemm, chief executive of Odyssey Marine Exploration in Tampa, Fla., said the company found the remains in 330 feet of water more than 60 miles from where the vessel was thought to have sunk -- exonerating the captain, Sir John Balchin, from the widespread accusation that he had let it run aground through faulty navigation.

"This is the naval equivalent of the Titanic, perhaps even more important than the Titanic," said marine archaeologist Sean Kingsley, director of Wreck Watch International, who consulted with Odyssey on the find. "It's the only intact collection of bronze guns from a Royal Navy warship in the world."

The ship, he added in a telephone interview, "was the equivalent in its day of an aircraft carrier armed with nuclear weapons. . . . When it disappeared off the face of the Earth, there was a collective gasp in the establishment and the general public."


Like the Titanic, the Victory had flaws that rendered it vulnerable to its fate: Its three-deck design was unusually top-heavy, making it susceptible to excessive rolling, and its timbers were not aged properly, leading to premature rot.

Those flaws were corrected when its successor, the sixth and last British warship named Victory, was designed and built three decades later for Admiral Lord Nelson.

By that time as well, the massive bronze cannons had given way to lighter, cheaper cannons made of steel, marking the end of an era.

Odyssey Marine Exploration, which finds sunken ships and sells the artifacts, has made other notable discoveries.

In May 2007, it announced that it had recovered 17 tons of silver and gold coins from a Spanish wreck in the Atlantic, off the coast of Portugal.

The company is now in court with the Spanish government, which claims ownership of the treasure.

The company has been criticized by experts who say it has inflated the value of treasure to procure financial backing. Kingsley and Stemm both noted that the team had so far seen no sign of cargo on the Victory.

Odyssey's shares, which have fallen sharply since September, rose 25 cents, or 6.3%, on Monday to close at $4.20 on Nasdaq.

The Victory search will be profiled this Thursday night in a documentary on the Discovery Channel.

Odyssey has also been criticized for its emphasis on finding wrecks carrying valuable cargo.

"I don't approve of treasure hunting," said marine archaeologist George Bass of Texas A&M University.

"I would like to think that historic shipwrecks would be treated like historic monuments on land, not broken down and sold for profit," he said.

Stemm said Odyssey was negotiating with the British Defense Ministry over what salvage rights it will have.

The Victory site was discovered in May during Odyssey's extensive surveying of the English Channel area with ships carrying sensitive magnetometers and other instruments. The location has been kept a closely guarded secret ever since.

Researchers used the company's 8-ton remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Zeus to explore and photograph the site.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,1974339.story

[ford man xf]

Pretty amazing find! I have always wanted to visit its successor HMS Victory in Portsmouth, has anyone been there?

[mcnews]

Yep been to the Victory as a kid, still remember it. Very impressive and the tour was ace.

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by mcnews

Yep been to the Victory as a kid, still remember it. Very impressive and the tour was ace.

Same here, as a 8 year old i was completely captivated, probably why i ended up a professional mariner meself eh! :