The amazing fate of the earth and underwater treasures. Some are hundreds of years, nobody knows anything about them, and only randomly mystery unexpectedly revealed. Others, on the contrary, everything is known, the location of the treasure - not a secret, but to raise them for a long time is not possible.

Unusual map

Forty years ago, an enterprising American published a very interesting map. It depicts the Florida Peninsula and surrounding Islands. The length and breadth card painted skulls, guns, swords and telescopes. Here you can read the names of the most famous pirates. And if you look - see here and there small crosses. There are about two dozen.

"This card, " says the inscription, -shows where the richest treasures, hidden and lost Gasparilla (Black Caesar) and other famous pirates, as well as more honest people, who have left treasures, now estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars."

TIC just meant the location of treasure on land and on the sea floor. "On this island, - underlined against one of the crosses, - the treasure is buried pirate John Ruchama, who was hanged in port Royal. Treasures in the form of gold bars worth two million dollars."

Against another landmark says, "Here are the treasures pirate Edward Ticha, known by the nickname Black Beard."

The third cross with the inscription: "it is known that untold wealth pirate William Rogers, called Billy Curved Legs, lie in the area".

Gold, diamonds, pearls

Unusual card cost only a dollar and was intended mainly for tourists. How accurate it is, is unknown. And hardly it is possible with it's actually find the treasure. But the fact that seabed lie untold treasures, is the real truth. Ingots of gold and silver, jewellery made of precious stones, weapons, coins, as they were there together with the victims of the crash or sunken ships. And there were many such cases.

In 1595, not far from the Florida Peninsula sank the Spanish Caravel "Santa Margarita, in the hold which were gold bars worth (in the modern course) more than eight million dollars. Three years later, in the Caribbean sea died ship "San Ferdinando" with jewelry worth $ 20 million.

In 1628 the strongest hurricane that raged in the Florida Strait, killed eleven Spanish Galleons, while in Europe the fabulous production. The gold that was shipped to them, was estimated at one billion two hundred million pesetas!

In 1716 in Table Bay, once in a violent storm, went to the bottom of the forty-two Dutch frigate. Died at the same time the weight of the gold value of 460 million guilders.

And this list precious losses could continue and continue. Died French, English, American ships, died, taking on the seabed gold, silver, platinum, diamonds.

Of course, attempts to win back the sea stole treasures were many. But most often, these attempts ended in failure, and even tragedies. The money spent on the search for and the rise of the treasure, as a rule, did not pay off. However, there were happy times, when he managed to raise to the surface of the sea jewels seemed lost forever.

Disappeared gold

In the winter of 1917 off the coast of Northern Ireland was a tragedy. In that day the English ship "Laurentic" was sent to the canadian port of Halifax. He drove more than three thousand gold pieces as a fee Canada for military supplies.

At the exit of the Loch, Sully "Laurentic" bounced German mine exploded and quickly sank together with half of the team and its Golden cargo.

Was not yet in the long history of seafaring case that with a lost ship left on the seabed as much gold - forty-three tons! Fortunately, the ship sank at a depth of about 40 meters. From the water surface to the deck of Laurentina" was even less - only 18 meters.

Rescue work began almost immediately after the death of the ship. To manage the rise of gold, the British government commissioned an experienced diver Gibnu Demento, famous for its record slopes into deeper water.

All promised quick success. In fact, the salvation of gold "Laurentina" proved to be extremely difficult and dangerous. With great difficulty divers broke (and then only with the aid of explosives) in armored pantry, where were kept the coveted ingots. A small part of them was out of the pantry and raised up.

Because of bad weather the work had to pause. When a week later, rescuers returned to "Lauren-tick", they could not believe the sensations: the pantry was... completely empty. In vain divers groping hands in pitch darkness, checking to touch every corner of the store. Gold is gone, vanished, as if it never existed at all.

As it turned out, under the blows of the raging sea, dochodowym to the dead ship, his body severely deformed joints on it went, gold bullion fell into the hold and there is mixed with various debris, sand, silt and stones. We had to trot out the explosives. Sandy sediments divers were washed away by water jets top hoses. The hull had to be cut to pieces along and across.

By 1924, for the seven years of hard work managed to find and bring it to the surface 2186 gold ingots. Five thousand times the divers had to drop them on the seabed. And yet 25 ingots sea and has not returned. They remained as a tribute to Neptune, God of the seas.

The Tragedy Of Egipta"

This is just one example of how difficult extracted sunken treasure. And a lot of such examples. Think of the salvation of jewelry, drowned together with an English steamer "Egypt".

on may 22, 1922, this large passenger ship collided in thick fog with a French ship and received terrible damage to the hull, 20 minutes later sank.

On the disaster, the accident occurred in deep water area at Cape Finistere-re, in the Atlantic. The depth of up to 120 metres. For diving equipment that time depth is huge. And yet, despite this, the treasure was decided to save.

"Egipto" divers descended in a special Supervisory chamber. Through the Windows they could see the wreck and supervise the works. The jewels were boarded support vessel with the help of special hooks and winches.

The unique surgery lasted for six years and cost over a million dollars. But the cost of these have paid off, as they say, with a vengeance. In the end it was raised 865 gold bars (unfortunately, not everything on the ship they were more than a thousand, six tons of silver and eighty thousand gold coins.

However, the undersea treasure hunters, as already mentioned, not always so lucky. Years of grueling, hazardous work, the huge money spent on the search, but the reward is only a few coins, raised from the seabed. There were cases when divers were paid their health for trying to extract marine treasure, as it happened, for example, with the famous conqueror of the sea depths, the diver A. Lambert.

In the late nineteenth century Lambert took to raise the gold from the ship "al-fonso XII", which sank in 1885 near the Canary Islands. Deep is considerable - more than fifty meters. In such depth down then only the most experienced, the most strenuous and desperate divers.

Detonating dynamite three decks, three floors of the ship, Lambert crept in the ship pantry, where he was ten boxes of gold, and seven of them have been brought to the surface. Paid dearly brave diver for this dive. Lambert was paralyzed for life was left disabled.