From the Island Owner to the King

The Spanish galleon had a tonnage of around 500 tons and was a common size during colonial times until the end of the galleon era in the mid-17th century.

It can be determined that this is a Spanish galleon.

Arguably one of the most legendary sailing ships in history, these ships epitomize Spain's maritime hegemony in the 16th and 17th centuries, often conjuring images of treasures, pirates, conquistadors and armadas.

This type of boat has a huge hull and load capacity. The famous Spanish treasure fleet is composed of such ships.

Discovering a Spanish galleon like this on the bottom of the sea has not been boarded by other treasure hunters. As long as it is not too bad luck, there will be a great harvest. Why not make Chen Rui excited.

Chen Rui turned on the underwater infrared video recorder and started recording.

Chen Rui took some time to clean up the sediment on the boat.

Soon, the whole picture of the Spanish galleon was revealed, because the hull was covered under the sand and was preserved in an isolated environment for a long time, and the book was well preserved.

The oak treated with special methods has been soaked in seawater for hundreds of years and corroded, and there is no sign of softness and rot.

Chen Rui swam into the cabin with an underwater infrared video camera and began to record the scene inside the cabin.

It was dark in the cabin.

Under the strong light of the miner's lamp, the scene in the shiphouse can be seen at a glance.

Chen Rui found a lot of corpses, which looked gloomy, and the image of the ghost of a sunken ship appeared in Chen Rui's mind.

The ghost of the shipwreck echoed day and night in the empty and cold shipwreck, with footsteps, sighs, and wailing.

From the appearance of these bones in the ship's warehouse rather than the deck, it can be inferred that the ship was not attacked by pirates, but sank in a sea storm.

Chen Rui put all the valuable items that could be seen on the upper deck of the ship warehouse into the pregnant sea beads.

These include gold and silver coins on the crew, decorations on the ship, silver cutlery in the dining room, and bronze cannons on board.

The main event is yet to come.

A place to store supplies at the bottom of a ship's hold.

Chen Rui swam over carefully.

The door of the warehouse is closed and locked, but after being soaked in seawater for a long time and corroded, the lock has been stained with rust.

Chen Rui twisted his hand lightly, and the lock was twisted open.

Pushing open the door, in an instant, Liang blinded Chen Rui's eyes.

This is a treasure ship that transported gold and silver jewelry plundered from the South American colonies to the Spanish mainland, very sure.

There are hundreds of large boxes in the warehouse.

Some boxes have been soaked in seawater for a long time and have been corroded, revealing gold and silver coins and gems inside.

Of course, this scene was also captured by an underwater infrared video camera.

Chen Rui put the box into the Pregnant Haizhu space.

Next, I searched again to make sure that nothing was missed.

Finally, the ship is also taken into the pregnant sea beads, and a shipwreck museum may be established in the future.

Such a well-preserved, very representative and symbolic Spanish galleon. Seeing this Spanish galleon will remind people of the era of sailing in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Armada, the golden treasure ship, the pirates... ...

This Spanish galleon also symbolizes Spain's maritime supremacy.

And associated with a huge treasure.

I believe many people are interested in this Spanish galleon.

Three days later, Chen Rui counted the harvest.

There are 300,000 Spanish gold and silver coins, 300 catties of precious stones, 6 artillery pieces, silver tableware and some decorations. The preliminary estimate is that the value is more than 200 million US dollars.

How to deal with this treasure has become Chen Rui's next thing to do.

There are two ways.

First, the gold and silver coins, silver tableware, and decorations are melted into gold and silver ingots, which are sold at the current gold and silver prices, and the gems are sold to jewelry stores in batches.

This is the safest way to not reveal his secrets, and there is no need to worry about the Spanish government and government chasing Chen Rui for this huge sunken treasure.

However, by melting gold and silver coins into gold and silver ingots and selling them at the current price of gold and silver, the ultimate wealth is greatly discounted, and the ultimate gain may only be more than 100 million US dollars.

The wreck treasure is valued at $200 million, which includes the cultural value of Spanish gold and silver coins.

Second, entrust the auction company to auction, so as to obtain greater benefits.

However, Chen Rui is likely to be sued by the Spanish government and the government to recover the treasure of the sunken ship from Chen Rui.

In the end, Chen Rui chose to entrust an auction company to auction for two reasons.

First, the wreck is located on the high seas, and Chen Rui can keep at least 90% of his treasure.

Second, this is a merchant ship, and the transport of coins is a commercial act, not a state act. In this case, the International Salvage Convention is to protect the interests of the salvagers, that is, the commercial sunken ship belongs to the salvagers.

There is a lot of precedent for this.

For example, Michael Hatcher, a British professional treasure hunter, salvaged the wreck of the Qing Dynasty, the 'Godmarsen' in the South China Sea, and quietly pulled them to the high seas. A year later, with the help of 'unclaimed wrecks allowed to auction', he took the ships The goods were entrusted to the auction house Christie's in the Netherlands.

In September 1998, the owner of a cement factory in Germany, Tilmann Wertfa, organized a professional team to salvage a sunken ship "Black Stone" in the Tang Dynasty in the name of "Exploring the Sea". After buying the exhibition rights of the salvaged cultural relics for several years, the organization "Turning the Sand" raised $30 million in 2005 to buy them in bulk.

Based on the provisions of these two International Salvage Laws alone, Chen Rui believed that the Spanish government and government had a 90% chance of losing in a lawsuit against him.

Therefore, in order to maximize profits, Chen Rui decided to entrust the auction to an auction company. Chen Rui has enough confidence to fight with the Spanish government and government, and there are many lawyers who are willing to fight for Chen Rui, the future billionaire.

half a month later.

The news that the 'Lucky Asterisk' was salvaged immediately shocked the world.

'Lucky Asterisk' is the name Chen Rui gave to the Spanish galleon.

This Spanish galleon is indeed Chen Rui's 'lucky star'.

Stacks of Spanish gold coins, silver coins, precious stones and high-resolution pictures of the very well-preserved Spanish galleons appeared in the world's major media newspapers, TV news, and the Internet.

Everyone who saw this news was shocked, and in addition to being shocked, they were envious.

Immediately, experts in the area will appraise this batch of shipwreck treasures.

The final estimated value is more than 250 million US dollars, which is 50 million US dollars more than Chen Rui's valuation of 200 million US dollars.

The owner of the treasure, Chen Rui, who was standing next to the Spanish galleon, also became the focus of the world for a while.