In 1641, the Merchant Royal reached the Western Approaches to the English Channel. Captain John Limbrey and his crew of 80 were nearing the end of a long voyage across the Atlantic from Mexico. Their cargo was reported as “£300,000 in silver, £100,000 in gold and as much again in jewel”, pirated from the Spanish and presumably previously liberated from the undeserving pagan natives of the New World.
However, the ship ran into heavy weather. The Merchant Royal sank in the vicinity of the Sicily Isles, its final resting place unknown.
This week, an American maritime salvage company called Odyssey Marine Exploration have announced that they have located and salvaged £253 million worth of coins from an unnamed wreck, including 17 tons of silver. They aren’t revealing the location of the wreck, but rumour says that it is located about 40 miles off Land’s End - which just happens to be pretty much where the Western Rocks of the Scilly Isles are.
It just so happens that we’re going to the Isles of Scilly next week. I think we’ll take our snorkels.
I have subsequently learned that the coins were recovered from at least 800 feet under water. We’ll have to take our bigger snorkel …
Perhaps I will come to the scillys?!
A few more inaccuracies in my telling of the tale are outlined in the report below … clearly the newspapers which I took my facts from didn’t check their details …
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From http://www.sail-world.com/cruising/index.cfm?nid=33857&rid=11
The 700-ton Merchant Royal was built in Deptford, London, in 1627.
Owned by English merchants, she set sail from the Spanish colonies of San Domingo, in the West Indies, captained by John Limbrey.
In January 1637, armed with 32 bronze canons, she arrived successfully in Cadiz, southern Spain, where she rested until 1640.
But during that time she began to leak badly and underwent extensive repairs.
The following summer, a ship employed to transport Spain’s colonial loot - silver coins, ingots and gold - caught fire.
The bullion had been put aside to pay for Spain’s 30,000 strong army, which were stationed at the time in Flanders.
Captain Limbrey volunteered to take the gold to Antwerp, on his way back to London. The Merchant Royal set sail in late August 1641, trailed by her sister ship, the Dover Merchant. But during the journey she began to leak and rescuers were unable reach her in time.
Eighteen men drowned and 40 crew, including Capt Limbrey, had to be rescued by the Dover Merchant.
The loss of the treasure made headlines. Back in 1641, the ship’s hold was equivalent to one-third of the national exchequer. Samuel Pepys refers to the event in his diary and proceedings in the House of Commons were interrupted for the news to be announced.
Several salvage teams have sought to recover her treasure over the years but all have failed until now.
There was confusion as to where she had actually gone down, with conflicting eyewitness reports. Original papers relating to her final resting place state that witnesses on another ship calculated that it sank ten leagues (around 35 miles) from Land’s End. But experts insist they would have been too far out to actually see land.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0518072ship1.html?link=eaf
- gives the location of the wreck. A little out of sea kayak range…