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Boat with £4billion treasure shipwrecked in Cornwall – but there's 3 ways to recover it
Access to airlift and suction devices, Remotely Operated Vehicles, salvage cranes and lifting bags could be the key to getting your hands on the fortune from the Merchant Royal
Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cornwall, lies an immense treasure worth four billion pounds – and Artificial Intelligence knows how to find it.
To this day, the exact location of the 700-tonne ship, nicknamed the "El Dorado of the seas", remains unknown.
Called the Merchant Royal, she was built in 1627 in London. Owned by English merchants, she sailed around the West Indies and Spain. It is said that the ship started to leak heavily by 1640. After undergoing repairs, it was decided that she would transport Spain's colonial loot to Antwerp, Belgium, before going back to London.
According to reports, the treasure included 500 bars of gold bullion, 400 ingots, half a million coins, jewellery and countless gems and pearls. Today, it is believed the load is worth £4billion.
The Merchant Royal left for the expedition in August 1641, trailed by the Dover Merchant. But on the way she started leaking again and nothing could be done to save her.
Eighteen men perished, while 40 others including the captain, were rescued by the Dover Merchant. The treasure, which is believed to have been worth one-third of England's public funds at the time, was lost to the sea.
Google's Artificial Intelligence bot Gemini reckons there's three main ways the wreck could be found. The first method, Gemini says, is to use airlift and suction devices.
"For shallow wrecks, compressed air can lift objects and suction devices can clear debris to reveal buried valuables," it told Daily Star.
A second ploy might be to use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Gemini added. "These robotic vehicles with cameras and manipulators can navigate tight spaces and retrieve artefacts in deep wrecks," it said.
A third method could be to use salvage cranes and lifting bags: Gemini said: "For larger objects like chests or anchors, cranes on barges can be used for retrieval. Lifting bags filled with air can provide buoyancy."
It comes as former commercial fisherman and diver Nigel Hodge, with a team of 11 from Multibeam Services, a company specialising in locating lost wrecks, said he is setting out on a search next month.
He told Metro: "There’s thousands of shipwrecks down there and the Merchant Royal is just one of them," he said. "So we’ve got to literally pick through a lot of wrecks as we’re doing them and then identify them.
"It’s not straightforward. If it was straightforward, it would have been done."
Daily Star Sunday
Access to airlift and suction devices, Remotely Operated Vehicles, salvage cranes and lifting bags could be the key to getting your hands on the fortune from the Merchant Royal
Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cornwall, lies an immense treasure worth four billion pounds – and Artificial Intelligence knows how to find it.
To this day, the exact location of the 700-tonne ship, nicknamed the "El Dorado of the seas", remains unknown.
Called the Merchant Royal, she was built in 1627 in London. Owned by English merchants, she sailed around the West Indies and Spain. It is said that the ship started to leak heavily by 1640. After undergoing repairs, it was decided that she would transport Spain's colonial loot to Antwerp, Belgium, before going back to London.
According to reports, the treasure included 500 bars of gold bullion, 400 ingots, half a million coins, jewellery and countless gems and pearls. Today, it is believed the load is worth £4billion.
The Merchant Royal left for the expedition in August 1641, trailed by the Dover Merchant. But on the way she started leaking again and nothing could be done to save her.
Eighteen men perished, while 40 others including the captain, were rescued by the Dover Merchant. The treasure, which is believed to have been worth one-third of England's public funds at the time, was lost to the sea.
Google's Artificial Intelligence bot Gemini reckons there's three main ways the wreck could be found. The first method, Gemini says, is to use airlift and suction devices.
"For shallow wrecks, compressed air can lift objects and suction devices can clear debris to reveal buried valuables," it told Daily Star.
A second ploy might be to use Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Gemini added. "These robotic vehicles with cameras and manipulators can navigate tight spaces and retrieve artefacts in deep wrecks," it said.
A third method could be to use salvage cranes and lifting bags: Gemini said: "For larger objects like chests or anchors, cranes on barges can be used for retrieval. Lifting bags filled with air can provide buoyancy."
It comes as former commercial fisherman and diver Nigel Hodge, with a team of 11 from Multibeam Services, a company specialising in locating lost wrecks, said he is setting out on a search next month.
He told Metro: "There’s thousands of shipwrecks down there and the Merchant Royal is just one of them," he said. "So we’ve got to literally pick through a lot of wrecks as we’re doing them and then identify them.
"It’s not straightforward. If it was straightforward, it would have been done."
Daily Star Sunday