Treasure hunters target Hull ship HMS Kingston
- On 30/01/2017
- In Treasure Hunting / Recoveries
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From Hull Daily Mail
An Argentinian treasure hunter is hoping to strike a £1 billion gold haul by bringing a 300-year old Hull-built ship to the surface.
The HMS Kingston was built in Hull in 1697 but now lies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, off the Uruguayan coast where it was sunk in 1763. But Ruben Collado hopes to resurrect the ship, which was renamed the Lord Clive, believing it to hold £1 billion in gold bullion on board.
Next month he will be begin his exploration of the ship renamed after Clive of India.
Collado told The Times: 'The imperial vessel could contain €1,200m in gold coins. 'And that is without considering goods such as rum, opium and silk stored in lead pipes.
'The important thing is to get these ships because they will give us the true magnitude of the story, This is the history of Latin America and the Spanish.'
The 64-gun vessel, which was built in Hull, sailed to South America for the East India Company to bring funds and personnel for British military campaigns. But the ship was sunk by cannon fire during the Seven Year's War in an attempt to retake Colonia del Sacramento, a former colony of British ally Portugal, after it was seized by the Spanish.
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