The Merchant Royal was an English Naval vessel that sank in 1641 with 36 bronze canon and over 500,000 pieces silver bullion and a handful of gold pieces, from trade with Mexico.
The rush for gold in this period in Mexican history meant that all gold that the settlers and traders found was melted down and made into ingots and coins for the western merchants. This has resulted in only a handful of items of gold jewellery remaining intact today. One experienced historian has said that he has only ever seen one remaining piece.
The wreck was found in May 2007 off the Scilly Isles in the Atlantic, less than 40 miles from the town of Lands End in Cornwall, the southern most point of England.
The search was by a carefully planned and secret operation using advanced underwater exploration equipment including marine robots by a professional treasure hunting company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, based in the United States.
It is claimed that the find was in international waters, not under jurisdiction of any one country, and that under international salvage law, the finders have the rights over any country to keep the treasure.
The ship itself is of interest not least for it's revelations about colonial life in the mid 17th Century, as very few specimens of this era in such good condition have been found. It is also one of a number of ships that have been thought to have sunk off the infamously dangerous rocky shores off Cornwall.