Treasure lies in the eyes of the beholder | home
Possible targets for future expeditions and movies
"H.M.S. THETIS" wrecked year 1830 at Cabo Frio Brazil, cargo 165,000 pound sterling in silver. She also carried a lot of contraband in gold. A large part of the treasure was salvaged by an English salvage crew in 1831 in one of the most spectacular salvage operation on record. I found the shipwreck in 20 to 60 feet of water, in 1970, while diving for lobsters. "H.M.S. THETIS"
"Wakama" German blockade runner, scuttled by Nazi crew 1943 near Cabo Frio, Brazil, cargo: Secret documents, Diamonds, semi precious stones, rock crystal, tungsten. I participated in a salvage operation in 1975 when a fortune of semiprecious stones were recovered. The 40 pounds of diamonds are still there.
Portuguese Galleon "Rainha dos Anjos" burned and sank year 1722, Rio de Janeiro, she came from India and China with a very rich cargo of porcelain, carved ivory, gold jewelry and 60 boxes of priceless gifts from the Chinese Emperor. In Rio she was completing her cargo with a shipment of gold.
Not far from the "Rainha dos Anjos" there is an Airplane with valuable diamond shipment. In 1958, 2 airplanes collided and crashed into the Bahia de Guanabara. One of the planes and the passengers it carried, was never found because of the currents that carried it in a different direction. In 1970 when I was working as a commercial diver, a friend of mine accidentally found the plane while recovering a lost fishing net. He gave me the location. He did not know that one of the passengers carried a very valuable shipment of diamonds.
Luxury passenger liner "Principe de Asturias" wrecked year 1916, on San Sebastian island, 500 passenger and crew died in the disaster, cargo: Passenger luggage, tin, lead, and 3,000,000 pound sterling in gold for diplomatic payment (first world war, has not been recovered) I made several dives and recovered some silver ware (now at the Museo da Marinha, Rio de Janeiro) in 1993.
Dutch galleon "Huys Nassau" sunk during the same battle as above, year 1648, not located yet but close to the other 2 wrecks.
Portuguese galleon "Santa Ecolastica" sunk year 1700 after colliding with a huge Sperm whale; I recovered many artifacts in 1980 and found the skeleton of a large sperm Whale close to the wreck site. Site drawings
Portuguese galleon "Nossa Senhora do Rosario e Santo Andre", burned and sunk year 1737, the night after arriving from India. I recovered Chinese porcelain of the Khang Hsi ( the following Dynasty after the Ming) period and a lot of "money Caury shells", the money used to buy slaves in Africa, from the wreck in 1980.
Dutch galleons "Amsterdam" and "Orangeboom" sunk in battle in 1627, Salvador Bahia Brazil. I found the wreck and recovered some artifacts in 1980 from the "Orangeboom". The "Amsterdam", famous Dutch pirates Piet Heyn`s flagship, lies very close by but has not been located and identified yet.
Portuguese galleon "Santa Clara", sank 1576, after running on the "Laje de Espera", a reef on the coast, near Salvador Bahia Brazil, a very rich galleon coming from India with Chinese porcelain and gold jewelry, lies in 30 feet of water but has not been located yet. I have narrowed down the location to less than 5 miles.
Shipwreck of Dom Pedro Sardinha, wrecked year 1549, on a rock that bears the bishop's name, north of Salvador Bahia, Brazil. Dom Pedro Sardinia was the first Bishop in Brazil. He was returning to Portugal with all his wealth when his galleon wrecked 2 weeks out of Salvador. The cannibals saved most of the people but slaughtered and ate all but 2.
English East Indianan "Queen" burned and sank year 1800 in Salvador Bahia Brazil. See "The Curse Of The Queen"
East Indiamen "King George" and "Britannia" wrecked year 1800 on Los Roques island., one chest of gold coins and 125 chests of silver coins went down with the Britannia and are still there. A sailor standing on the pile of silver chests, yielding his cutlass and shouting "this treasure is mine" was the only fatality from the Britannia.
Portuguse galleon "Santa Rosa" exploded and sank year 1726, in sight of the coast of Pernambuco Brazil. From a crew of 700, only 7 survivors were picked up the next morning. This is probably the richest shipwreck of the world, with about 10 tons of gold, mostly coins and a large quantity of large diamonds on board. This shipwreck has not been located yet.
The Portuguese galleon "Sao Paulo" exploded and sank during a battle with Dutch galleons, year 1652 in 70 feet of water off the coast of Pernambuco Brazil, in the same region as the Santa Rosa. The Sao Paulo was located in the 1970 ties and the large bronze cannon removed.
Dutch galleon "Swan" and Spanish galleon "Chagas" ran aground during a fierce battle between Spanish and Dutch galleons year 1631. The wrecks lie in about 20 feet of water near Cabedelo, but have not been identified yet.
Roman Coin site year 500 AD, near Cabedelo, Paraiba, Brazil. Every few years some roman coins turn up along the northeast coast of Brazil. This suggests that possibly the Romans landed in south Amarica a thousand years before Columbus. However to date it has never been possible to find conclusive proof of that fact.
A few years ago some fishermen found a piece of wood and a dozen or so coins stuck to their anchor. One of them showed me his coin and drew me a map with the location of the find. I took a photo of the coin and later identified it as a Roman coin of ca. 500 AD. I think this would be an extremely interesting shipwreck.
Spanish galleon "San Pedro de Alcantara", exploded and sank in 80 feet of water, year 1815, while at anchor near the island of Margarita, Venezuela. The San Pedro was carrying a large treasure destined to pay for the war with the insurgent Venezuelans that fought for their liberty. There also was the plunder of the coastal town of Puerto Santo and the island of Margarita, including the crown of the "Virgen del Valle" a national treasure of priceless value.
Aves fleet of count D Estres wrecked year 1678 on Aves island. 16 French warships and one privateer wrecked on the Island. Over 1200 men died. An expedition by Exploration International located several wrecks from that fleet in 1997.
Deep Gold, transport of 1,000,000 ounces of gold, cast into 24 Kg gold bars, bearing the Nazi cross, exploded and sank year 1984, off the coast of Venezuela. I happened to be in the vicinity when the ship sank and later organized 3 large scale expeditions to recover the gold. I was not successful, neither were several other expeditions later. This is a long story…."The Deep Gold Wreck"
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