Three million shipwrecks may exist, says UNESCO, a number that could be much higher. With 31,000 ships sunk in the UK and only 6,000 found, historians and archaeologists believe there could be many more. The more shipwrecks there are, the more treasure could be found. Gold, silver, porcelain, many riches lie dormant in our seas. Between historians, treasure hunters and the law, shipwreck treasure is highly controversial.
“There is more gold in the sea of the Bahamas than in the bank of Madrid”.
The 16th century is considered the “golden century” for the Spanish peninsula because of the exploitation of gold and silver in the Americas. Historians haAs a matter of fact the “in situ” convention, protecticting the cultural underwater patrimony restrict treaseaure hunter’s exploitation but it’s also preserving ship wreck. ve estimated that 200 kilos of gold and 16 million of silver may have passed through the bay of Havana, representing 4,000 ships per year. In fact, the port of Havana was one of the main ports used by Spain, as it gathered the ships for the way back across the Atlantic to Spain. The Bahamas were considered one of the most difficult regions to navigate because of the climate and storms, but also because of the confrontation with the British.
As a result, many ships carrying valuable carriages were lost in this area. Ovidio Ortega Pereira, director of the Underwater Archaeological Cabinet of Cuba, believes that there could be 50 million to 1 billion dollars down the sea oh Havana.
In 2015, the galleon San José, which sank in 1708 near Cartagena in Colombia, was discovered by the Colombian authorities. This discovery raised a number of questions, both ethical and historical. Although the Colombian government said that it would “bring together the best team of experts”, a private team of treasure hunters from the United States was called in to carry out the research, far from the habits of the scientist and the conservation methods of UNESCO.
Archaeologists and historians have denounced the fact that private groups are collecting goods from the wrecks and want to study the life of the crew on board.
From an ethical point of view, this treasure, estimated at 17 billion dollars and containing 200 tonnes of gold and emeralds, is now being reclaimed by several actors. As far as Colombia is concerned by the discovery of the San José, others such as Bolivia and private groups such as Sea Search Armada claimed to be the first to find it. As for the ship, it is flagged in Spain and belongs to its national patrimony. However, the wealth found in the shipwreck is known to be the result of the forced labour of indigenous people such as the Peruvians, the Bolivians (Qhara Qhara) and the African slaves. In addition, this gold also comes from the plundering of the graves by the Spanish colonists.
In fact, in the 80’s, the Armada de la Señorita del País claimed to have identified the wreck of the San José and signed an exclusive agreement with Colombia, which should have led to the sharing of the treasure. However, the location identified by the naval armada was inaccurate. In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of Colombia. In relation to Spain, it has renounced any return to the treasure to the condition that a museum should be created and not “end up in the hands of international antique dealers”.
The treasure of Lava
In 1985, in Corsica, in the Gulf of Lava, on a private beach, Felix Biancamaria, his brothers and their friend are about to go fishing for sea urchins. Nothing could have prepared them for what they were about to find. While moving a small rock, they are suddenly attracted by a bright colour, a golden and small object. That day in 1985, the three men found between 400 and 600 gold coins, jewellery, rings, a golden plate and a golden statue of a child, in an area of only 20 metres to 6 metres deep. The faces of the emperors represented are numerous, Gallien, Claude II, Quintille and Aurelien all ruled during the III century.
This treasure is estimated to be worth millions of euros and testifies to the wealth of an important figure in the Roman Empire who had accumulated a large amount of gold during his reign. Although this discovery is an astonishing historical event, no shipwreck has yet been found, despite the research carried out by the DRASSM (the French V) with the André Malrieux. However, Felix Biancamaria has been praised for hijacking the wreck, as any treasure found in the territorial waters of France belongs to the country and can’t be a private property and sold, which is what happens.
This set of coins are new to historians who denounced the loss of a huge amount of pieces sold in auctions by private numismatists.
A precious porcelain
Michael Hatcher didn’t discover one shipwreck, but two: the Tek Sing and the Geldermalsen. He has specialised as a marine salvager in the South China Sea. In 1973, this British explorer began to study the wreck of a Second World War submarine and sell its steel.
In 1990 he discovered something quite different from steel, a treasure of porcelain. Unaware of the value of his find, Michael went to Amsterdam to Cristie’s, a luxury and antique auction house. Michael said “Cristies wouldn’t stop calling me” as the porcelain was valuable, what Cristies didn’t know was how much of this porcelain Michael Hatcher had found. When he asked how much of it they were prepared to buy, Cristies replied “because there’s more? “.
In fact, Hatcher found 250,000 pieces of porcelain, sometimes whole sets. This blue and white porcelain was made in the 18th century in the Chinese town of Dehua and was intended for export to other countries in Asia, not Europe, so the style is very different from that usually known. Never before has such a quantity of porcelain been discovered in the sea and it’s now known as the Hatcher Collection, sold for 50 million dollars.
As for the San José, some historians and the Indonesian government tried to outdo the sale of the recovered cargo of the Teik Sing, since it was illegally exported to Australia and the porcelain was found in Indonesian territorial waters. Archaelogists criticised the stripping of archaeological sites of their value; indeed, the TekSing is to date the largest Chinese wooden sailing ship ever discovered.
State versus treasure hunters
As these examples have shown, and as amazing as treasure can be, there are many controversies between treasure hunters and institutions (state and archaeologists). Treasure hunters, or private explorers such as Odyssey Marine Exploration, consider themselves to be the only ones capable of finding this treasure on an economic and ecological level.
On the other hand, institutions see this activity as destructive, as the collection can be spread around the world for private sale rather than in a museum. For archaeologists, shipwrecks must be studied and all scientific conditions must be reunited to begin any exploration to preserve history and conservation methods should be essential, all this to prevent looting.
In 2007, the Odessey Marine Exploration, a private company based in Florida, after 10 years of searching, found a shipwreck of the Nuestra Senora de la Mercedes in the Spanish territorial waters. The company filled under the United-Sates Federal Court more than 500 million coins. From this point, the Spanish claim the discovered of the treasure as the ship is under sovereign immunity, as it is a military one. However, Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Panama (because it was flagged there) also claim ownership. At the same time, the American authorities didn’t recognise Odessey Marine Exploration, saying it was “morally and legally unrecoverable”. Finally, in 2012, after five years of litigation, the Spanish treasure was returned to Spain. In fact, the “in situ” convention for the protection of underwater cultural heritage restricts the exploitation of treasure hunters, but it’s also the preservation of shipwrecks.
