THE ROYAL MERCHANT
The True Story
Overview
The El Dorado of the seas. The hit Netflix show Outer Banks tells the story of a ship that sank off the coast of North Carolina in the 1800s and now John B and his crew of Pogue’s are on a mission to find the $400 million in sunken treasure. However, the real story of the Royal Merchant is perhaps even more incredible.
The ship more formally known as the Merchant Royal was a merchant ship which sank in 1641 off the coast of Cornwall, England carrying a staggering 1.5 billion in gold, silver, and coinage. To this day the shipwreck remains elusive to treasure hunters despite massive search efforts over the years.
Poster For The Netflix Show Outer Banks.
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The Legend
Ship In Storm Painting By Robert Salmon 1828.
The Royal Merchant also known as the Merchant Royal was an English merchant ship that met an ill fate off the coast of Land’s End in Cornwall, England in 1641.
The Royal Merchant spent two years in the West Indies between 1637 and 1640 when England was at peace with Spain trading with Spanish colonies before heading home to London with her sister ship the Dover Merchant. Along the way home they made a stop at Cadiz to make some quick repairs on the Royal Merchant which was at the time leaking quite badly.
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The Treasure
While docked in Cadiz a Spanish ship set to carry treasure to Flanders to pay for the 30,000 Habsburg soldiers stationed there caught fire.
Captain Limbrey of the Royal Merchant saw an opportunity in the loss of the Spanish ship by offering to carry the treasure to Antwerp for the Spanish on their voyage home to England of course making a little extra money for his good deeds.
Ship On Fire At Night Painting By Charles Brooking, 1756.
Silver coins hoard from around 1700, England – U.K. at the British Museum.
The Royal Merchant was now carrying in its cargo an astonishing amount of gold and silver.
It is believed it carried at least 100,000 pounds of gold, 400 bars of Mexican silver and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins which would put the total value of this find at a staggering amount of over $1.5 billion USD!
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The Clues
The long voyage home and perhaps the extra burden on the ship caused by the additional treasures didn’t bode well for the Royal Merchant as the leaks continued to persist and when their pumps broke down the Royal Merchant met a watery grave about 10 leagues or 34 miles off the coast of Land’s End on September 23rd 1641 during a storm.
While Captain Limbrey and 40 of his crew were able to escape the sinking ship, 18 men drowned in the sinking along with a legendary amount of treasure. Limbrey and the survivors were picked up by the sister ship, Dover Merchant to continue their journey home.
A Ship On The High Seas Caught By A Squall, Known As ‘The Gust’ Painting By Willem Van De Velde The Younger, 1680.
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Conclusion
The Anchor Which Was Found By Cornish Fishermen Matching The Type The Royal Merchant Would Have Used.
Many treasure hunters have gone in search of the lost Royal Merchant over the years. The Odyssey Marine Exploration company has been tracking down the Royal Merchant for many years and in 2007 they recovered an estimated $500 million in silver and gold coins from a shipwreck.
Many believed this to be from the Royal Merchant but it is now believed that this treasure was a part of the treasure lost when the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish vessel sunk in 1804 off the South coast of Portugal.
In March 2019 an admiralty patterned long shank anchor matching the one that would have been used by the Royal Merchant got tangled up in fishing nets and dredged up by Cornish fishermen aboard the Spirited Lady from the seabed about 20 miles (32km) from Lands End and about 300ft below sea level.
To this day the Odyssey Marine Exploration company and many others continue their efforts to find the 1.5 billion of treasure aboard the Royal Merchant, lost to the raging seas off the coast of Cornwall in 1641.
Map Showing An Area Between 20 Miles From Lands End Where The Anchor Was Found And 34 Miles From Lands End Wher It Is Believed The Merchant Royal Sank.
Sources & References
Information for this article has been provided by various sources and are referenced here:
Primary Source: Merchant Royal – Wikipedia
REFERENCES:
- “Merchant Royal Galleon 1627–1641”. wrecksite.eu. 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- Leonard, Tom (19 May 2007). “Hoard of treasure ‘found on wreck off Cornwall'”. The Daily Telegraph. London: TMG. ISSN 0307-1235. OCLC 49632006. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- “WHM: The sinking of the Merchant Royal”. WBEZ. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
- Kramer, Jeffrey (2012). “Treasure Ships Around The World”. treasurelore.com. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- “Record wreck ‘found off Cornwall'”. BBC News. London: BBC. 19 May 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- “Black Swan – Project Overview”. shipwreck.net. 2012. Archived from the original on 15 November 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
Other sources of information:
History Channel: The ship of gold: The ‘£1 billion’ lost treasure of the Merchant Royal – History.co.uk
Daily Mail: Anchor from ‘most valuable shipwreck in history’ the Merchant Royal which sank in 1641 – Daily Mail
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Written By
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ADAM L C
Director of Areas Grey
Adam is an avid treasure hunter, seeker of adventure and the creator of Areas Grey. After travelling for almost half his life and cataloguing over 100 treasure legends along the way. He decided this was simply far too much treasure for one person to chase! As a result he created Areas Grey so he could share his stories, connect with other treasure hunters and put a little more adventure in the lives of the treasure hunting community.
Adam is a Private Investigator and former Wilderness Guide with a passion for history and archaeology. With the skills, knowledge and gear, Adam is always eager to go on the next fortune seeking adventure and connect with fellow treasure hunters along the way.
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