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| Richest Shipwreck Ever Found |
 Divers have found what is believed to be the world's richest ship wreck near the coast of Cornwall, England. The wreck, the newest in a succession of rich wrecks lying around the United Kingdom, including warships from the Spanish Armada that was defeated in 1588, lies 40 miles off of Land's End, England, in international waters. Because it lies in international waters, the salvage company that found the wreck.
Seventeen tons of gold and silver, worth an estimated $490 million, have been brought up from the wreck so far and experts believe that there could be hundreds of millions of pounds of bullion still on the ocean floor.
While it is the richest wreck ever found, the HMS Sussex, a warship somewhere off the coast of Gibraltar in British waters, sank in 1694 and is believed to have $5 billion on board.
While the Sussex remains a mystery, the ship near Cornwall, codenamed the Black Swan, was found using undersea robot technology by the Florida based Odyssey Marine Exploration. Odyssey is not yet disclosing the exact location or true identity of the Black Swan and will not do so until throughly examining the artifacts. "The remarkable conditiong of most of the first 6,000 silver coins conserved has been a pleasant surprise and the gold coins are almost all dazzling, mint-state specimens," Odyssey co-founder Greg Stemm told the Daily Mail.
"We are excited by the wide range of dates, origins and varieties of the coins and we believe that the collecting community will be thrilled when they see the quality and diversity of the collection," Stemm continued. Each silver coin is believed to be worth many thousands of dollars.
"It is believed that this recovery constitutes the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a historical shipwreck site," said John Morris, Odyssey co-found and chief executive officer. "Our research suggests that there were a number of Colonial period shipwrecks that were lost in the area where this site is located, so we are being very cautious about speculating as to the possible identity of the shipwreck.
"Nevertheless, we have treated this site with kid gloves and the archaeological work done by out team out there is unsurpassed. We are thoroughly documenting and recording the site, which we believe will have immense historical significance."
The previous richest wreck ever found was the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane off of the Florida Keys in 1622. It was found in 1985 by Mel Fisher and had $400 million in coins on board.
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