Known as the ‘Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas’, the 891-tonne ship was traveling between Spain and Colombia in 1656 to pick up a cargo of silver when it collided with another ship of the Spanish fleet
A treasure trove of gold coins, gems and jewelry was recently discovered in a 366-year-old Spanish shipwreck, according to “Live Science.”
Known as “Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas” (“Our Lady of Miracles” in Spanish), the 891-ton ship was traveling between Spain and Colombia in 1656, to pick up a cargo of silver, when it collided with another ship of the Spanish fleet.
The ship ran aground on a coral reef and an estimated 600 of the 650 on board perished in the crash. More than three centuries later, its wreckage is scattered on the ocean floor over an area of 13 kilometers.
In an effort to preserve what’s left of the ship and its precious cargo, an international team of conservators and underwater archaeologists is working to recover artifacts from the wreck, which lies in the Atlantic Ocean, about 70 kilometers off the coast of the Bahamas .
Because historians often regard the Maravillas as “one of the great Spanish treasure galleys,” the wreck has been the target of looting. The vast majority of the treasure—about 3.5 million items—was looted between 1656 and the early 1990s, according to the Bahamas Maritime Museum.
To help protect the remaining artifacts, Allen Exploration (AllenX), an organization that specializes in finding historic shipwrecks, has partnered with the Bahamian government to recover what’s left of the ship and its cargo.
Many of the items recovered from the wreck will be displayed in a permanent collection at the Bahamas Maritime Museum.
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