Piece of Eight

[DThomasTreadwell]

Treasure hunters have recovered gold and silver worth an estimated US$500 million from a shipwreck off Cornwall, UK.

Salvage companies have spent years looking for the wreck of the Merchant Royal, known as the 'Eldorado of the seas', which sank in bad weather near the Isles of Scilly in 1641.

Florida based Odyssey Marine Exploration three salvage ships have been working to find the wreck site for two years, yet it was only last Wednesday that a US federal judge in Tampa granted the firm exclusive salvage rights.

Odyssey has refused to confirm the source of the treasure was the Merchant Royal, they've been using a code name 'Black Swan' for their lucrative treasure wreck. However they did say ‘The artifacts recovered from the site include over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts.

All recovered items have been legally imported into the United States and placed in a secure, undisclosed location where they are undergoing conservation and documentation.

Read More: http://www.sail-world.com/index_n.cfm?nid=33857
_________________
Teach me to hear mermaids singing