ON A TALE OF SUNKEN TREASURE

X MARKS THE SPOT

Here's a story that appeals to the kid in all of us that grew up on stories of sunken treasure ships and long ago naval lore.  The LA Times reports:

"American salvagers say they have discovered the long-sought wreck of HMS Victory, the mightiest and most technologically advanced warship of its time, which sank during a violent storm in the English Channel in 1744.
Armed with as many as 110 massive bronze cannons and carrying a crew of 900 men and 100 supernumeraries, the Victory was lost with all hands and reportedly with a treasure of gold bullion whose value is estimated at $1 billion..."
"This is the naval equivalent of the Titanic, perhaps even more important than the Titanic," said marine archaeologist Sean Kingsley, director of Wreck Watch International, who consulted with Odyssey on the find. "It's the only intact collection of bronze guns from a Royal Navy warship in the world.
The ship, he added in a telephone interview, "was the equivalent in its day of an aircraft carrier armed with nuclear weapons. . . . When it disappeared off the face of the Earth, there was a collective gasp in the establishment and the general public."

The ship has an amazing history, having taken 11 years to build, and been in service for 7 years before she sunk:

"Like the Titanic, the Victory had flaws that rendered it vulnerable to its fate: Its three-deck design was unusually top-heavy, making it susceptible to excessive rolling, and its timbers were not aged properly, leading to premature rot.
Those flaws were corrected when its successor, the sixth and last British warship named Victory, was designed and built three decades later for Admiral Lord Nelson.
By that time as well, the massive bronze cannons had given way to lighter, cheaper cannons made of steel, marking the end of an era."

The whole story is a fascinating read, including the ups and downs of publicly traded treasure hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration (OMEX).  Especially is interesting is how the company went about finding the HMS Victory,.

"The Victory site was discovered in May during Odyssey's extensive surveying of the English Channel area with ships carrying sensitive magnetometers and other instruments. The location has been kept a closely guarded secret ever since.
Researchers used the company's 8-ton remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Zeus to explore and photograph the site."

Can't wait to see what James Cameron can do with this story if he so chooses.