Chapter eight hundred and forty first visible wealth
In fact, even if a large number of Spanish shipwrecks were not discovered, Chen Wenzhe was still interested in cooperating with the local maritime department or the navy.
Otherwise, he would not have decided to report it immediately after discovering the sunken ship.
Even if some gems were allocated later, it was just to test everyone's reaction.
He wouldn't mind if the staff of the maritime department strongly demanded to hand it over.
However, cooperation matters need to be carefully considered.
Now that I have met an officer who is smooth and not rigid, that would be great.
If the cooperation is good, he might be able to get a group of people through these people to help him go to South Vietnam.
Therefore, treasures on the sea have never been Chen Wenzhe's goal. What he always thinks about is the batch of pottery figurines, bronzes and goldware.
Of course, there is no shortage of gold artifacts among the sunken ships, but those are gold artifacts from South American civilizations, which are different from domestic gold artifacts inherited from China.
"Can you tell me what kind of shipwreck it is?" After thinking for a while, the officer asked.
"A large sailing ship from the seventeenth century, a treasure ship!" Chen Wenzhe said directly without being cryptic.
"Treasure ship?"
"Spanish treasure ship?"
"you sure!"
"How is it possible? We have a Spanish treasure ship sunk here?"
...
When Chen Wenzhe said this, not only the officers were surprised, but Zheng Yu and Zhang Yijie were even more surprised.
Isn't it true that Zheng Yu is the most active member of the group? Why is Chen Wenzhe now a vanguard?
The most important thing is, when did he know the information about the sinking of the Spanish treasure ship?
"Yes, it's a Spanish treasure ship from the 17th century!" Chen Wenzhe affirmed.
"How much gold and silver can a Spanish treasure ship carry? One hundred million?" At this time, another official asked.
Chen Wenzhe glanced at him. He didn't believe that this person didn't know the value of the Spanish treasure ship. By asking like this, did he not believe him?
One hundred million? This is too much to underestimate the treasure ships at that time.
Why did all the European powers later go to the colonies? Why did Spain and Portugal eventually decline? It was all because the treasures were transported too much and in a high-profile way.
According to British media reports, a submarine salvage company in the United States recently discovered a Spanish sunken ship in the waters of Florida.
Judging from the size and location of the sunken ship, it is believed that it is the Spanish treasure ship "La Liberation" that is "famous" in the international salvage community more than 200 years ago.
As soon as the news came out, the whole world was shocked, because the "Goddess of Liberation" was recorded in history as carrying gold and silver jewelry worth 2 billion to 3 billion U.S. dollars, making it the sunken ship with the highest "gold content" ever discovered!
Now that the treasure ship has not yet surfaced, the beautiful country, Spain and France have already launched a fierce battle to seize the treasure. All three parties claim that they are the legal owners of the ship.
In fact, Chen Wenzhe knew that the treasures in the ship were not worth that much money, because many of the gold and silver jewelry had been salvaged.
And those treasures that were fished out of the water appeared in the Pacific Ocean again, or sank to the bottom of the sea.
"As long as a complete treasure ship is salvaged, its value will not be less than two billion US dollars!" Chen Wenzhe said.
What he said is actually quite conservative.
The real Spanish treasure ship, without any loss, is worth not billions, but tens of billions.
Such shipwrecks are not the only ones that Chen Wenzhe encountered. There are many in other sea areas, and even some have been salvaged from the water.
For example, the sunken ship in the waters of Colombia, an ancient Spanish shipwreck, is said to contain treasures worth US$17 billion.
However, the local Colombians worked hard to salvage it, but they may not be able to own it.
If the hidden dangers were not too great and he had little maritime strength, Chen Wenzhe would not easily make up his mind to cooperate with the national power.
Besides, if you ask for too much money, what’s the use?
When there is too much money, it becomes just a bunch of numbers and has no meaning.
Chen Wenzhe threw a sinking ship simply to cooperate with the country.
Depending on the situation, if possible, he might be able to safely transport the large number of cultural relics buried in South Vietnam back to the country.
If there are indeed a lot of gold, silver and jewelry in the sunken ship, then he doesn't mind and builds a museum directly in Dahai City or in his hometown. By then, the large number of cultural relics he has collected can be directly sent to the museum for preservation.
This saves a lot of trouble. Not only is it safe, but it can also be maintained by professionals. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone.
"Is it really a Spanish treasure ship?" The officer still didn't believe it.
Chen Wenzhe smiled slightly and said: "I am in great benefit by lying to you? How about this, you help me hire a salvage fleet, which is more reliable, and I will pay for the cost. If it is not discovered, the losses will be all mine."
If there is a discovery, you are responsible for helping me fish out the water, and then our two families will share the harvest equally. In this way, all troubles from the outside world will need to be dealt with by you."
The officer fell silent. After a while, he stood up and said, "I'm going to make a phone call."
Chen Wenzhe smiled and watched the officer walk to the deck in the distance.
It is right to hesitate. Faced with a Spanish treasure ship, even the national leaders dare not say that they are all indifferent.
However, the ownership of this kind of treasure ship is still a very sensitive topic. As long as it is exposed, it will definitely be a trouble.
Or is it that the ancient shipwreck previously discovered in Colombia has not yet been debated clearly.
The ancient shipwreck said to be worth $17 billion is the San Jose, a Spanish galleon that was sunk by a British ship 300 years ago.
The ship was said to be transporting gold, silver and precious gems collected in the South American colonies.
These treasures were given to King Philip V of Spain to help the Spanish win the war.
The sunken ship was first discovered in Colombia in 2015, somewhere off the coast of Cartagena.
Recently a team of marine archaeologists, with the help of underwater robots, began investigating and released new information discovered so far.
This may be the most valuable shipwreck in history, worth billions of dollars, and this may be the most authentic data.
But even so, the wealth on it is extremely astonishing.
You know, these are visible wealth, not paper wealth like equity.
These treasures can be easily converted into cash as long as they come out of the water.
In the world today, except for some super large companies, which company can spend billions of dollars in cash at once?
And San Jose is one of thousands of shipwrecks around the world.
So, who has the right to own this sunken ship?
There has been a lot of controversy in recent years regarding the ownership of items sunk at sea.
Especially in foreign countries, if a shipwreck company salvages a treasure ship, the country where the treasure ship is located will also claim ownership.