Shipwrecks USA Salvage Projects

Tiger

British frigate, flagship of Sir Richard Grenville, foundered June 29, 1585, in twelve fathoms, in Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina, with an estimated $1,000,000 in Gold bullion and specie.

Three Spanish Galleons

Three treasure bearing galleons sank August 18, 1750, in depths ranging from four to ten fathoms, of General Juan Manuel de Bonilla’s fleet. The flagship El Salvador foundered on reefs of Topsail Inlet. The Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, in Ocracoke Inlet! And the Nuestra Senora de la Soledad, in Drum Inlet, North Carolina. Estimated total treasure loss exceeded $2,000,000 in Gold bullion, silver plate, and specie.

Central America  (Salvaged 1990s)

American steamer foundered September 12, 1857, in fourteen fathoms, four miles of Eastern tip of Diamond Shoals, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with $2,400,000 in Gold bullion, Gold ingots and dust consigned to New York banks. The vessel was the first ship from the California goldfields to carry Mother Lode bullion to the Eastern ports. (Note) This vessel was located and salvaged by Tommy Thompson & crew in the 1990s (Recovered treasure value was estimated to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of US $400,000,000 due to the rare antiquity of the coins and bars of Gold.

Republic  (Salvaged 2003)

British steamer foundered January 23, 1909, in thirty eight fathoms, twenty miles southwest of Nantucket South Shoals Lightship (latitude 40  25  30 north, longitude 69  40 west) with a consignment of Gold bullion and Silver amounting to approximately $3,000,000. This was the first ship to use radio calls at sea during an emergency. (Note, due to the antiquity of the Gold coins and bars the treasure recovered was reputed to have a value of $75,000,000 in today’s market.

Merida

American steamer collided with the Admiral Farragut, May 12, 1911, forty two miles offshore the Virginia Capes, with some $5,500,000 in Gold and Silver bullion, jewels and other treasure such as a cargo of Copper Ingots, mahogany logs etc. Numerous salvage attempts have been made to locate the wreck, but all have failed.

Arundo

Dutch steamer foundered in 1942, in thirteen fathoms, fifteen miles due East of Shark River Inlet, New Jersey, with $100,000 in Gold and Silver specie. (latitude 40  10  25 North,  longitude 73  40  56 West.)

U-853

German submarine U-boat, commanded by Captain Helmut Sommer, foundered eight miles off Sandy Point, May 5, 1945, in twenty -one fathoms. The treasure rests off Point Judith, Rhode Island, consisting of some $750,000 in jewels and United States currency, taken from the vaults of the American Travelers Express Company, in Paris, France, when that city was seized during World War II, and $1,000,000 in mercury aboard the sub.

Delaware

American steamer burned to the water’s edge July 10, 1898, in eleven and a half fathoms, one and a quarter miles off Bayhead, New Jersey, with $250,000 in Gold bullion stored in ships safe.

 

Photo- Permission from Kevin M. McCarthy "Thirty Florida Shipwrecks"