By chance, an amazing treasure was discovered!

A chance encounter with a Dominican fisherman led treasure hunters to the find, which is believed to be the oldest wreck found in the Caribbean

-- Advertisement --

After just diving down and reaching the bottom, Deep Blue Marine divers, came across a treasure of very high calibre. After counting the find, Captain Billy Rawson and his crew determined that they had unearthed 700 silver coins that could be worth millions! The treasure also includes jade figurines and a special mirror stone, which was probably used for shamanic rituals. All the objects are in excellent condition, even though their origin dates back to the 16th century.

“We didn’t start diving until last fall and didn’t do a lot of descents as winter started,” – said Randy Champion, vice president of Utah-based Deep Blue Marine.

“We barely exposed the top layer of sand and immediately came across objects hidden just below the surface,” he said.

Although it has not been established which wreck the Deep Blue Marine team is diving on, R. Champion says they have a strong guess as to what the vessel is and are almost certain how the ship sank. However, he wished to remain silent on the matter for the time being. According to the most likely theory, the ship was returning to Spain with a cargo of freshly minted coins.

As for the vessel itself, R. Champion believes it was 15-18m long, with a crew of 25-45 men.

“Traces indicate that several dignitaries were most likely on board and let’s be honest, no one would set off on a return trip to Spain with a cargo of just 700 silver coins, there must be thousands on the bottom.”

Most of the coins, do not have a date stamped on them, so the team took care of their thorough cleaning and paging through catalogues to identify the find.

“Coins can be worth as little as $1,000, but some time ago one similar to ours sold for $132,000, so they can be worth millions, but they’re not really worth anything until someone buys them.”

As it turns out, one complete set of coins may be worth as much as 1 million dollars, however, it will be possible to determine whether the discoverers are in possession of such a set only after the find has been cleaned. On the other hand, pre-Columbian carved jade figurines, 5-7cm high, may be even 500 years older than the wreck itself!

“Some of them have holes, so it is likely that they were part of a larger whole,” Champion says

However, as the explorers convince us, their aim was not only to find treasure and extract the most precious things from the sea bed.

“We’re not just looking there for money and things that represent material value, we’re trying to establish what was the vessel and what happened to make it sink?”

The company Deep Blue Marine, has been contracted by the Dominican Republic to find the wreck and excavate the treasure. Their compensation is half the value of the find.

In search of the vessel, they combed 42 nautical miles along the coast using high-end surveying equipment, but without any results. The breakthrough came when a local fisherman sold them a coin he had caught during a dive. This was the turning point when they were sure they had found what they were looking for. The fisherman, who pointed out the place where he had fished for the coin, found employment with treasure hunters and became one of the members of the expedition.

More dives are planned over the next few weeks, but the work is a very arduous process, as everything is covered in a layer of sand and coral. The vessel they are moving can stay in the water for a week, but this is dangerous because, as in the past, there are many pirates around.

The crew have already experienced the risks and dangers when they were mistakenly shot at by the military, who thought they were pirates, or when they were robbed in the middle of the night. However, the danger does not only come from humans, it is not difficult to come across sharks nearby, and the strong waves and many coastal rocks can also prove deadly when diving. But everyone agrees that it’s better than being stuck behind a desk all day, and all the effort and fatigue disappears the moment you discover a treasure such as this.

More photos in the gallery: Treasure off the coast of the Dominican Republic

Source: dailymail.co.uk
Photo: allbluedeep.com