$500M Treasure Ship Found In Atlantic

Explorers Believe Colonial-Era Treasure Is Richest In History; Location Of Ship Kept Secret

(AP)  Deep-sea explorers said Friday they have mined what could be the richest shipwreck treasure in history, bringing home 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins from an undisclosed site in the Atlantic Ocean. Estimated value: $500 million.

A jet chartered by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration landed in the United States recently with hundreds of plastic containers brimming with coins raised from the ocean floor, Odyssey co-chairman Greg Stemm said. The more than 500,000 pieces are expected to fetch an average of $1,000 each from collectors and investors.

"For this colonial era, I think (the find) is unprecedented," said rare coin expert Nick Bruyer, who examined a batch of coins from the wreck. "I don't know of anything equal or comparable to it."

Citing security concerns, the company declined to release any details about the ship or the wreck site Friday. Stemm said a formal announcement will come later, but court records indicate the coins might come from a 400-year-old ship found off England.

Because the shipwreck was found in a lane where many colonial-era vessels went down, there is still some uncertainty about its nationality, size and age, Stemm said, although evidence points to a specific known shipwreck. The site is beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country, he said.

"Rather than a shout of glee, it's more being able to exhale for the first time in a long time," Stemm said of the haul, by far the biggest in Odyssey's 13-year history.

He wouldn't say if the loot was taken from the same wreck site near the English Channel that Odyssey recently petitioned a federal court for permission to salvage.

In seeking exclusive rights to that site, an Odyssey attorney told a federal judge last fall that the company likely had found the remains of a 17th-century merchant vessel that sank with valuable cargo aboard, about 40 miles off the southwestern tip of England. A judge signed an order granting those rights last month.

In keeping with the secretive nature of the project dubbed "Black Swan," Odyssey also isn't talking yet about the types, denominations and country of origin of the coins.

[jetranger7]

WAIT A MINUTE,, NOW, THOSE MAY BE THE COINS THAT FELL OUT OF MY POCKET THE OTHER DAY !!! I'D LIKE THEM BACK PLEASE, ALL 500-MILLION OF THEM !! PLEASE !!!!

[tomtomasters]

It's probably all the missing loot taken from the WTC after 911. They better watch out Bush is looking for more for the War.

[lauriejj25]

I grew up with John & Dave Morris. They lived two doors down. I was best friends with their sister. Think they'd still remember me now? LOL

[nolalou]

Just wait until Jack Sparrow's ghost shows up to claim his stolen loot!!

[a-ji]

$500M!!! WOW!!! AND WOW! AGAIN AND AGAIN!

[casper10x]

BELONGS TO WHO ?

All of this money should be given to the descendents of slaves, as it was procured during the COLONIAL period when SLAVES were doing all the WORK and gettin no benefits at all. This money must be placed in banks for DESCENDENTS of Slaves to draw from each year a certain amount ? 500 dollars each, to help settle the books.

[cpaide]

I bet they're just all those Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea dollar coins no one wants.

Seriously, though: the whole thing is a big secret and the photo shows only one open bucket of coins and lots of others unopened. I wouldn't invest in any of this--smells a little too fishy.

Next thing you know, they'll be selling the secret coins online but withholding delivery to keep the coins safe.

[oleander8]

What are you smokin' cpaide?

[alice135]

To CASPER10X

GIVE IT A BREAK WILL YA!!!

[gunnerv1]

CASPER10X P*I*S*S* OFF

[mikealford3]

It is amazing the wealth of what was on the colonial ships. I can only imagine what other wealth is yet to be discovered.

THANK YOU, alice and gunner.

[nordeck52]

cpaide, you cannot be serious. Just because the photo only shows one bucket opened doesn't mean that they haven't gone through more of the buckets. Do not believe everything you see in pictures.

And CASPER10X, what does it matter? While the institution of slavery was an outrage that should never have taken place, there is no way to link the treasure of this shipwreck to the slaves. Just because it is from the colonial era doesn't mean that slaves were involved in the money. Remember, not everyone in the colonial period was involved with slavery. So calm down.

[last121868]

To: casper10x: PUUUULEASE!!!!! Give IT and EVERYONE a break!
To those who found the treasure: GOOD FOR YOU!!!!

[cpaide]

Yes, let's just assume that all of the buckets are full of loot with no verification whatsoever. Hey, don't believe everything you read in print.

We're talking about a publicly traded company that has racked up losses for more than 2 years running. Just an announcement like this could make someone more money than actually finding a treasure.

"We have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by our team out there is unsurpassed."

Ya, that's why loose coins were tossed into plastic buckets. Guess what that does to the value of these collectibles?

I'm christening the salvage boat "Enron of the Seas."

[conplan6022]

casper10x, the ex-slaves should be thankful they are not slaves anymore and get to live like equal citizens. If it wasn't for people like Lincoln/Jefferson, your people would still be picking cotton today.

And considering you have all this freedom now, why do many of your children grow up to be thieves, pimps and drug-dealers rather than upstanding citizens? Not to mention the uncontrolled breeding that's going on in your communities.

Seems all you people want is handouts and keep pulling your race and slavery card instead of getting your act together. You and people like you are an embarrassment to your community.

[house015]

Casper10X, there are lot of colonial era poor white people who might disagree about who exactly did ALL the work. For the record, there was at least ONE black person in NC who was making some money. He owned the majority of the slaves, and that is historic fact.

[noaanhc]

Calm down everybody its just money.Really it is no big deal actually.Really sad that we have to depend on a simple pieces of paper in our wallets and purses to survive.

[consciousnes]

Slaves, WHICH slaves, should we start with the African slaves, The European slaves, the Middle Eastern Slaves, etc, etc, etc....Every race and nationality has been enslaved at one time or another. Africans had white slaves back in biblical times. Ever heard of the Exodus? Romans had slaves from all over the known world. The Saxons enslaved the English, the English enslave the Irish, etc, etc, etc.
I can understand what you are talking about to a point, but lets give it a rest, quit looking for a free hand out get off your duffs and go to work.
Sorry, I didn't mean to swear at you.

[nothappyatall]

"It is amazing the wealth of what was on the colonial ships. I can only imagine what other wealth is yet to be discovered."

Yeah, all of it STOLEN from the working people and slaves by kings and Govt rulers for their own use so they could live like big shots in huge castles and mansions while those who paid taxes worked 16 hours a day and lived in huts.

[dylanxxv]

CASPER10X...Your a joke...The decendants of blacks deserve NOTHING...
This is good news for me though...Maybe my investment in the company will pay off this year...

[mountainzen]

Uhmm...that stuff is mine. I lost it or something. I can identify it--its mostly silver, and its worth about 500 million....

[taylpatr]

I'm of Slavic decent. The word Slave comes from the term Slavic. There were far more of my people enslaved throughout history than any other ethnic group. So, where's my cut?

[phoenix1218]

BELONGS TO WHO ? All of this money should be given to the descendents of slaves, as it was procured during the COLONIAL period when SLAVES were doing all the WORK and gettin no benefits at all. This money must be placed in banks for DESCENDENTS of Slaves to draw from each year a certain amount ? 500 dollars each, to help settle the books. Posted by CASPER10X

Casper,
The descendants of slaves do not deserve anything for what happened to their ancestors. If their ancestors were still alive then they would deserve it but they are not so there. Going by your theory that the blck peole of today are owed because their ancestors were slaves would mean that the MicMac Indian tribe owes me something because they massacred some of my ancestors....Come off it casper. The MicMac indians owe me nothing just like the blacks of today are owed nothing.

[randalds]

And Cheney thought his kickback and bribe money from the big oil companies and war contractors was going to be safe under water! HA!

[phoenix1218]

In 1860 only a small minority of whites owned slaves. According to the U.S. census report for that last year before the Civil War, there were nearly 27 million whites in the country. Some eight million of them lived in the slaveholding states. The census also determined that there were fewer than 385,000 individuals who owned slaves (1). Even if all slaveholders had been white, that would amount to only 1.4 percent of whites in the country (or 4.8 percent of southern whites owning one or more slaves).
In the rare instances when the ownership of slaves by free Negroes is acknowledged in the history books, justification centers on the claim that black slave masters were simply individuals who purchased the freedom of a spouse or child from a white slaveholder and had been unable to legally manumit them. Although this did indeed happen at times, it is a misrepresentation of the majority of instances, one which is debunked by records of the period on blacks who owned slaves. These include individuals such as Justus Angel and Mistress L. Horry, of Colleton District, South Carolina, who each owned 84 slaves in 1830. In fact, in 1830 a fourth of the free Negro slave masters in South Carolina owned 10 or more slaves; eight owning 30 or more (2).

[phoenix1218]

According to federal census reports, on June 1, 1860 there were nearly 4.5 million Negroes in the United States, with fewer than four million of them living in the southern slaveholding states. Of the blacks residing in the South, 261,988 were not slaves. Of this number, 10,689 lived in New Orleans. The country's leading African American historian, Duke University professor John Hope Franklin, records that in New Orleans over 3,000 free Negroes owned slaves, or 28 percent of the free Negroes in that city. The majority of slaveholders, white and black, owned only one to five slaves. More often than not, and contrary to a century and a half of bullwhips-on-tortured-backs propaganda, black and white masters worked and ate alongside their charges; be it in house, field or workshop. The few individuals who owned 50 or more slaves were confined to the top one percent, and have been defined as slave magnates.

[a-ji]

Finders keepers casper! Our ancestors too were once slave, and they fought for our freedom so that we the futire generation will be slave no more. And they succeeded in doing so. Therefore, those $500M coins belongs to those who searched and found it. WHy don't you start searching your own, you might find one.

[phoenix1218]

In 1860 there were at least 6 Negroes in Louisiana who owned 65+ slaves. The largest #, 152 slaves, were owned by the widow C. Richards & her son P.C. Richards, who owned sugar cane plantation. Another Negro slave magnate in Louisiana, Antoine Dubuclet (with over 100 slaves), a sugar planter. His estate was valued at (in 1860 dollars) $264,000. That year, the mean wealth of southern white men was $3,978. In Charleston, SC in 1860 125 free Negroes owned slaves; 6 owned 10 . Of the $1.5 million in taxable property owned by free Negroes in Charleston, more than $300,000 represented slave holdings. In NC 69 free Negroes were slave owners.

[a-ji]

Finders keepers Casper! Our ancestors too were once slave, and they fought for our freedom so that we the future generation will be slave no more. And they succeeded in doing so. Therefore, those $500M coins belongs to those who searched and found it. Why don't you start searching your own, you might find one.

[phoenix1218]

In 1860 William Ellison was SC's largest Negro slaveowner. He was given the name April. A at birth, acommon practice of the period was to name a child after the day/month of his/her birth. Between 1800 & 1802 he was bought by a white man named William Ellison. Apprenticed at 12, he was taught the trades of carpentry, blacksmithing & machining, as well as how to read, write, cipher & do basic bookkeeping. On June 8, 1816, his owner appeared before a magistrate to gain permission to free him, now 26 years of age. In 1800 the South Carolina legislature had set out in detail the procedures for manumission. To end the practice of freeing unruly slaves of "bad or depraved" character & those who "from age or infirmity" were incapacitated, the state required that an owner testify under oath to the good character of the slave he sought to free. Also required was evidence of the slave's "ability to gain a livelihood in an honest way." Although lawmakers of the time could not envision the incredibly vast public welfare structures of a later age, these stipulations became law in order to prevent slaveholders from freeing individuals who would become a burden on the general public.

[phoenix1218]

Ellison was so successful, due to his utilization of cheap slave labor, that many white competitors went out of business. Such situations discredit impressions that whites dealt only with other whites. Where money was involved, it was apparent that neither Ellison's race or former status were considerations.

[phoenix1218]

For example, Richard Holloway, Sr., a free black of Charleston City, bought a slave named Charles Benford in order that the slave might enjoy his freedom. Yet at the same time, he owned other slaves who were not treated so kindly. In 1834, for instance, he purchased a Negro woman named Sarah and her two children, Annett and Edward, from Susan B. Robertson for $575. Within three years after the purchase, he apparently became dissatisfied with the slave family and sold them for $945. Even though Richard Holloway, Sr., allowed a trusted servant to enjoy a greater degree of freedom, he was still a slaveowner for profit. So he sold and purchased slaves as an investment even while he held other slaves for benevolent reasons. To consider him a benevolent master would be erroneous because he also exploited other slaves for his own benefit.

[phoenix1218]

Many black masters were faced with the dilemma of controlling their slaves when they exploited the labor of their servants. The black masters believed that punishment was a necessary instrument to control their slaves and preserve a sense of authority. Like white slaveowners, the black masters placed disobedient slaves in the city jail or the workhouse and contemplated further punishment for their servants. In 1851, Elizabeth Collins Holloway, a colored woman, placed her servant Celia in the city jail after her slave had run away. In 1852, Hollowayo?=s servant Peggy was confined in the workhouse for disciplinary reasons. Such a confinement usually lasted from five to thirty days, depending upon the disposition of the slave masters. After the slaves were released from the workhouse, it was not unusual for their masters to give them a flogging for their disobedience. . . .

[whytgrlzrule]

Nice plagerizing Phoenix1218, great, you can cut and paste - and who GIVES a rats a$$ about all this cr@p you're boring us with?? Get the fu(k out of here and go bother someone else....MORON.

[randalds]

Phoenix1218 are you enjoying talking to yourself?? Fu(k dude, give us a break and shut the he11 up, you're BORING man.
Posted by shutUPfreak at 03:16 PM : May 18, 2007

Speaking of boring! This has to be didntinhale under a new name to be as lame of a troll as this guy. Shoo troll, shoo!

[phoenix1218]

I may be boring but i'm making a point....there WERE black slaveowners and they were NOT always slaveowners in order to free their relatives. If you don't like what I post, don't read it, plain and simple. I think I've made my point though.

And just so you know, and don't think I am racist, my family helped free slaves through the Underground Railroad.

[a-ji]

Phoenix, so why did'nt you say it in as plain as simple as your last post? And just a reminder this is about a sukne treasure not about slavery.

[phoenix1218]

...and who GIVES a rats a$$ about all this cr@p you're boring us with?? Get the fu(k out of here and go bother someone else....MORON.
Posted by whytgrlzrule
...Fu(k dude, give us a break and shut the he11 up, you're BORING man.
Posted by shutUPfreak

WOW, I am SO impressed with your apparent knowledge of the english language. You could have at least used more interesting lexicon. You must make your Mother very vainglorious.

[a-ji]

Phoenix, so why didn't you say it in as plain as simple as your last post? And just a reminder this is about a sunken treasure not about slavery.

[phoenix1218]

A-JI,
I am not the one who made it about slavery, Casper is ...

BELONGS TO WHO? All of this money should be given to the descendents of slaves, as it was procured during the COLONIAL period when SLAVES were doing all the WORK and gettin no benefits at all. This money must be placed in banks for DESCENDENTS of Slaves to draw from each year a certain amount ? 500 dollars each, to help settle the books. Posted by CASPER10X

[a-ji]

Phoenix we know Casper did mention it first, but yours is too much. Where you last post says all your point, plain and simple and nice to hear theat your family once helped to free the salves.

"I may be boring but i'm making a point....there WERE black slaveowners and they were NOT always slaveowners in order to free their relatives. If you don't like what I post, don't read it, plain and simple. I think I've made my point though.

And just so you know, and don't think I am racist, my family helped free slaves through the Underground Railroad."

[whytgrlzrule]

Oh WHO gives a cr@p??? OoooOOOO my great grandpappy frEEEEEEEd dem slaaaaves! Oh really? REALLY?? Who ARE you anyway? Huh? What's your name, let's look this alleged HERO up!!!!

[a-ji]

Phoenix we know Casper did mention it first, but yours is too much. Where your last post says all your point, plain and simple and nice to hear that your family once helped to free the salves. All the other that you and Casper posted were applicable if the news is about slavery. But sad to say its about the $500M sunken treasure. Just don't get me wrong...

[phoenix1218]

Oh WHO gives a cr@p??? OoooOOOO my great grandpappy frEEEEEEEd dem slaaaaves! Oh really? REALLY?? Who ARE you anyway? Huh? What's your name, let's look this alleged HERO up!!!!
Posted by whytgrlzrule

Did anyone notice your name...whytgrlzrule...sound it out, white girls rule...Gee, would you happen to be a member of a certain group that mainly populates the south?

[phoenix1218]

YES!!! Shut the FU(K UP about slavery phoenix you BLOWHARD!!!! Posted by whytgrlzrule

Wow, your knowledge of the english language astounds me. Where did you go to school so I know where NOT to send my children because I do not want them to learn about hatered such as you have, if your name is anything to go by.

Phoenix, so why didn't you say it in as plain as simple as your last post? And just a reminder this is about a sunken treasure not about slavery. Posted by A-JI

A-J1, I'll apologize to you because you seem to be a genuine person who does not spew hatred like whytgrlzrule. I'm sorry if you thought my posts were too long or too many. But whytgrlzrule need some anger management classes.

[phoenix1218]

whytgrlzrule,
If you would like to know how my family helped go here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmington,_Massachusetts ...There is only a little blurb (Wilmington is also home to the Col. Joshua Harnden Tavern, which served as a stop on the underground railroad and now houses the Wilmington Town Museum.) but it state the facts. Unlike some people (whytgrlzrule) I have fact behind what I state.

[a-ji]

No problem Phoenix, just continue your family's good deeds in helping others. Not all treasure are made of silver and gold. (Except for this news.) Hvae a great day people!

[zootallures2]

That's good. First time all year a company got rich without cheating, plundering, or killing anyone...LOL! No need to go back to the colonial era and slavery and ruin such an achievement.

[cfin5]

Finally! A story with some good interesting news for a change. Congratulations on your reward for taking a great financial risk!

[thgdriver]

They ain't rich yet by a long shot. When they found the SS Central America in 1985 that had sunk during a hurricane back in 1857 insurance company's laid claim to the millions in treasure. The folks that found it fought in the courts for over 10 years before it was settled and the ins. co. got plenty.