Gold coins worth $779 million waiting to be found

The one thousand lives perished when HMS Victory were drowned some 268 years ago cannot be restored but goldcoins now worth around 500 million pounds can be brought up.

According to latest reports the remains of the first HMS Victory are to be raised from the sea bed off the Channel Islands.

The ship was carrying a large quantity of gold coins from Lisbon to Britain.

The wreck is to be handed over to the Maritime Heritage Foundation, which is expected to employ Odyssey Marine Exploration to carry out the recovery. The American company found the ship four years ago.

The ship’s location remained a mystery despite numerous searches, until Odyssey discovered the wreck in May 2008.

The Florida-based firm found the site 330ft under the English Channel, nearly 65 miles from where the ship was historically believed to have been wrecked, near the Channel Islands.

It was also thought that large quantities of silver and gold coins would have been on board The Victory from enemy prize ships captured by Balchin, worth 120,000 pounds sterling at the time

Only a cannon, marked with the crest of King George I, has been recovered so far but the remains of the ship’s hull, an iron ballast, two anchors, a copper kettle and rigging have been spotted on the ocean floor where the ship was laid to rest 300 years ago.

The guns and other reclaimed artifacts will be displayed in British museums, however under British laws of salvage, the salvage company is likely to receive the bulk of any treasure found. – BullionStreet

Tags: Gold coins

Posted by admin on Jan 26 2012. Filed under Gold price. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry