Most Valuable Shipwreck Treasures Ever Discovered

Oceans have long hidden the remains of ships that never completed their journeys. Many went down with vast amounts of cargo. Some of them were intended for trade, while the rest were looted in war. These wrecks, scattered across the globe, have revealed fortunes in gold, silver, ceramics, and rare artifacts.

Here are some of the most valuable shipwreck finds ever recorded, based on both the financial and historical worth of their contents.

Merchant Royal

The Merchant Royal, built in 1627, sailed trade routes connecting England to the Spanish colonies. In 1641, while returning to London, the ship began leaking and eventually sank off Cornwall’s coast. It had just taken on a massive shipment of silver and gold, intended to pay 30,000 Spanish soldiers.

San José

The San José had more than 200 tons of gold, silver, and emeralds when it drowned during a battle in 1708. The ship exploded off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, after British forces attacked the Spanish fleet. Though a U.S. company claimed discovery in the 1980s, Colombia announced its own find in 2015.

Bom Jesus

A team prospecting for diamonds stumbled across the remains of Bom Jesus in Namibia in 2008. The ship dated back to 1533 and likely sailed toward India when it vanished. Archaeologists found thousands of coins bearing the faces of Spanish monarchs, along with copper ingots, muskets, and ivory tusks.

Flor de la Mar

After the capture of Malacca in 1511, Flor de la Mar left port with treasure seized from the Sultan’s palace. A storm hit a short while following the departure and broke the weakened vessel on coastal shoals. Though it is submerged in relatively shallow waters near Sumatra, no confirmed wreckage or cargo has ever been located by search teams.

Nanhai No. 1

The Nanhai No. 1 stayed hidden for more than 800 years. In 1987, a British-led team searching for another ship stumbled upon it off China’s southern coast. Authorities decided to lift the entire ship and place it in a climate-controlled museum tank. Inside, researchers continue to examine ceramics, gold, coins, and silver bars from the 12th century.

Black Swan

In 2007, a U.S. company announced the recovery of nearly 17 tons of colonial-era coins from the Atlantic Ocean. They refused to share the wreck’s location and called it the “Black Swan Project.” Spain also filed suit by claiming the treasure came from the warship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. Following years of litigation, the treasure was returned to Spain.

Palmwood Wreck

Divers found the Palmwood Wreck off the Dutch coast in the Wadden Sea. Its cargo wasn’t gold or coins, but luxury items belonging to European elites. Among the artifacts were velvet garments, silk dresses with silver thread, and finely bound books. A silver grooming set and imported carpets were also recovered.

Santo Cristo de Burgos

This Spanish galleon likely ran aground off the Oregon coast in 1693, while carrying porcelain and beeswax from Asia. Locals have found marked wax blocks and ceramic fragments washing up on beaches for centuries. Recent findings of wooden timbers matching the period support the connection to the Santo Cristo de Burgos.

SS Central America

Legal battles followed for years once salvagers recovered gold from the SS Central America in 1989. The ship had gone down in an 1857 hurricane on its way to the Eastern banks with three tons of California gold. News of its loss helped trigger a financial crisis as investors panicked. The lead diver vanished for years with much of the wealth.

Belitung Wreck

Archaeologists believe a ninth-century Arab dhow found off Belitung Island was part of a major maritime trade network connecting China, the Persian Gulf, and East Africa. The wreck contained Tang dynasty items, which changed historians’ views on early sea trade through the scale and sophistication of the routes.

Nuestra Señora de Atocha

In 1622, a hurricane tore through the Spanish fleet sailing from Havana, scattering ships across the Caribbean. The Atocha sank near the Florida Keys with gold bars, Colombian emeralds, and silver coins. Mel Fisher spent 16 years searching before he finally found the wreck in 1985.

Gairsoppa

Over 100 tons of silver ingots were moving in the direction of colonial India on Gairsoppa when a German U-boat sank it in 1941. Resting at 15,000 feet deep, it was among the world’s deepest wrecks. But years later, Odyssey Marine obtained nearly 48 tons and completed one of the most successful deep-sea salvage operations ever.

SS Republic

The discovery of the SS Republic gave researchers a rare view of commercial life in the Reconstruction-era South. The ship had left New York in 1865 but eventually took a hit from a hurricane. In 2003, individuals found thousands of artifacts, including medicine bottles, dishware, and other everyday merchandise.

De Liefde

While De Liefde didn’t carry treasure in the typical sense, it arrived in Japan in 1600 with books, weapons, and navigational tools. Only a few crew members survived the Pacific crossing, like William Adams, who became an advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the powerful shogun who unified Japan under his rule.

Tek Sing

One of the largest ceramic salvage efforts ever recorded came in 1999 with the recovery of the Tek Sing. The ship had left China in 1822, transporting over 1,600 passengers and a massive cargo of porcelain bound for Southeast Asia. It struck a reef in the South China Sea, which led to the loss of most people on board.