1. Flor de la Mar. The Holy Grail of shipwrecks said to be the 'richest vessel ever lost at sea', is a large 16th-century Portuguese ship. One of the finest vessels of its time, it was put to use across the Indian Ocean.
The San José was a 62-gun, three-masted galleon that was sunk by the British with 600 people on board in 1708 in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) before being found in 2015 laden with gold and valuables now thought to be worth $17 billion.
The San José wreck and its valuable contents are at the center of an international legal row. The Colombian government claims ownership of the shipwreck and all the treasures it contains, and the Colombian navy is monitoring the site on the seafloor, which rests near the Barú peninsula, south of Cartagena.
Atocha Motherlode — $450 million
All passengers on board perished, minus three sailors and two slaves. In 1985, Mel Fisher (a famous treasure-hunter) discovered the shipwreck, along with it a mother lode of gold, silver, copper and emeralds, thus the name.
Evidence. According to HIMA, the Cycladic pottery evidence is dated to around 2200 BC, which makes the Dokos wreck the oldest known underwater shipwreck yet discovered.
The Abandoned Shipwreck Act, passed in 1987 to protect historical shipwrecks from treasure hunters, gives U.S. states ownership title of all shipwrecks found within U.S. territorial waters up to three miles from the coastline.
The wreckage of the San Jose galleon, a ship sunk off the coast of Colombia in 1708, can be seen in this handout from Colombia's Culture Ministry after it was discovered in 2015.
The Black Swan
The Black Swan or The Black Swan Project, is believed to be the greatest recovery of gold treasure in history. The treasure was found on the remains of the Spanish warship Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes which sank off Portugal in 1804.
MV Wilhelm Gustloff
Of the estimated 10,000 people on board the Gustloff, only around 1,000 survived, making it the deadliest sinking in wartime maritime history.
The USS Destroyer Escort Samuel B. Roberts, sunk by the Japanese Navy in a battle in the Philippine Sea in 1944, was discovered at a depth of 22,523 feet, making it the deepest shipwreck ever found.
According to an analysis by Unesco, there are over three million resting undiscovered in the world's oceans. These elusive relics are unlikely to be evenly distributed.
Looking for treasure? there are an estimated three million undiscovered shipwrecks; We've detailed four of the most valuable – with billions of pounds just waiting there.
While the Cataraqui shipwreck is Australia's largest civilian maritime disaster, Australia's largest ever maritime disaster occurred during the Second World War on 19 November 1941, when HMAS Sydney was sunk in a battle with the German ship, Kormoran, killing all 645 Royal Australian Navy personnel onboard.
Around 20 million tonnes of gold can be found there! According to estimates by the US National Oceanic Service, the gold from the depths of the oceans is so diluted that there is only one gram of this precious yellow metal for every 100 million metric tons of water.
According to the National Ocean Service, our oceans hold some 20 million tons* of gold, suspended in normal seawater.
Most shipwrecks and all old Dutch Shipwrecks, including all artefacts removed from these shipwrecks, are owned by the Commonwealth of Australia under the Commonwealth Navigation Act 2012 and the 1972 Agreement Between the Netherlands and Australia Concerning Old Dutch Shipwrecks.
If your find can't be considered a treasure, you are legally required to take it to the police. It will go into their custody and be handled like any other case of lost property. However, if you've got a bonafide treasure trove you're probably in luck.
The El Dorado of the sea
On 23 September, 1641, an English galleon named the Merchant Royal, loaded with gold and silver, sank off the coast of Cornwall. The wreck remains lost to this day. Within her soggy hulls is thought to be one of the most valuable shipwreck treasures in history.
The sinking of Titanic is today one of the most well-known maritime disasters in the world. This is thanks in part to James Cameron's Oscar-winning 1997 film of the same name, but also because the event was – and remains to this day – one of the deadliest peacetime sinkings in history.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed.
Launched in 1797, the USS Constitution is the oldest ship still floating in the entire world. Docked near Boston, Massachusetts, this ship is an important vessel in the history of the United States. Also called Old Ironsides, the ship has witnessed several wars including the War of 1812 and the American Civil War.
How Much Treasure is Down There? The short answer, Sean Fisher says, is $60 billion. Fisher is a shipwreck hunter at Mel Fisher's Treasures in Key West (Sean is Mel's grandson), and he gives this figure based on his company's historical research.