Merchant Royal was a ship that carried lots of gold but unfortunately sank into the sea and has never been found.
On September 23, 1641, the Merchant Royal, an English galleon carrying a cargo of gold and silver, sank off the coast of Cornwall, and its location remains a mystery to this day.
While believed to contain a significant amount of treasure, some sources and media outlets have exaggerated its value as the “billion-pound wreck.”
Built at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Deptford in 1627, not much is known about the ship’s captain, John Limbrey, except that he resided in Limehouse, London after the sinking.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, England and Spain had a tumultuous relationship, with periods of peace followed by war. Captain Limbrey took advantage of a lull in hostilities in the 1630s to engage in trade with Spanish colonies in the New World, including the Caribbean.
According to historical records, the Merchant Royal, a 700-ton ship, had a crew of “80 seamen, besides passengers.” Captain John Limbrey was on his way back to England from a successful trading mission when he stopped in Cadiz, Spain for an extended period. While there, he struck a deal with Spanish authorities to transport silver and gold to Antwerp for payment to the Habsburg garrison there.
The ship had been experiencing leaks and underwent repairs in Cadiz, but they were ineffective, and the hull sprang another leak after leaving port. With stormy seas and malfunctioning pumps, the vessel took on water, eventually sinking on 23 September 1641, off the west coast of Cornwall, about 34 miles from Land’s End.
Despite 18 crew members being rescued by another ship, the valuable treasure was lost, and Captain Limbrey was reportedly left a broken man. Various sources speculate on the value of the lost treasure, with estimates ranging from £250 million to £20 billion. One commonly cited estimate is £1 billion, likely because it is an exciting amount but not excessively high.
The estimated value of the sunken treasure from the Merchant Royal wreck being £20bn is unsupported by surviving information about the ship. The error lies in the misinterpretation of contemporary sources.
A pamphlet from 1641 held in the British Library describes the shipwreck with “300000 in ready boliogne” (bullion) and “100,000 pound in gold and as much value in jewels”. This corresponds to a section of Charles’s state papers of 30 September 1641, which describes the loss of the cargo as “worth 400,000l. [£400,000] at least”. Some have interpreted these sources as referring to pounds in weight, which would make the treasure trove incredibly valuable. However, it is clear that they are referring to pounds in currency.
Assuming a conservative value of £400,000 for the haul, the value of the trove would be around a billion pounds. According to the UK’s National Archives currency converter, £400,000 in 1640 is equivalent to just over £47m in 2017. Considering the changes in the price of gold, the £100,000 of gold mentioned in the pamphlet would weigh approximately 26,809 troy ounces, which would be worth just under £35m at today’s prices.
In addition to the cargo, each crew member had their own personal haul of goods, possessions or money. Taking into account the changes in the prices of silver and gold, different interpretations of the sources, and the unknown full extent of what is down there, a liberal estimate would put the valuation of the treasure between £150-300m.
To date, the wreck of the Merchant Royal has not been found. In 2007, a valuable shipwreck was discovered in the northeast Atlantic, which was initially thought to be the Merchant Royal, but was later identified as a Spanish ship from the 18th or 19th century.
However, in March 2019, fishermen off the coast of Cornwall found a large anchor that matches the type that would have been used by the Merchant Royal, raising the possibility that it may have been from the lost galleon. Nonetheless, as the 380th anniversary of the sinking approaches, the search for the Merchant Royal’s treasure continues.