Q: What is the story behind the Louisa shipwreck coins that you feature?

One can`t help but marvel at the dangers 17th century mariners must have faced.  With scant navigational aids, leaky wooden vessels, and the likelihood of pirate attacks, they sailed over uncharted seas in the quest for untold treasure.

Sporting 30 cannons on two decks, the Princess Louisa stood over 120 feet long.  Named after the eight year old daughter of King George II, this three-masted sailing vessel was the pride of the British merchant ships.  Designed to make the difficult passage around the Cape of Good Hope, it would call on far off ports in Arabia, India, and China.  In today`s world of instant travel it is difficult to imagine that the voyage took 17 months to complete.  Under Captain John Pinson, the Princess Louisa set sail in 1743 for Persia on its ill-fated fourth voyage.

With a crew of 115 men, the ship`s manifest listed an interesting cargo.  Among the goods were 822 elephant tusks, gunpowder, and woolen textiles, all items of great value in trade with the Far East.  But by far the most precious cargo was the over 69,000 ounces of silver bars and coins, divided into 20 treasure chests.  The return cargo of precious silks and spices would have been worth a king`s ransom.

On April 17th, 1743 the voyage ended when the Princess Louisa hit a coral reef near the Island of Maio off the coast of Cape Verde.  The ship broke up in the middle of the night.  Clutching to floating pieces of wood, 41 of the crew managed to make it to shore.  Nothing was saved from the sudden sinking, and the survivors were set upon by the local islanders who stripped them of all their valuables. 

The treasure of the Princess Louisa lay undiscovered for the next 256 years. Numerous attempts were made to locate the ship`s graveyard over the centuries, but none were successful until the Dutch archaeological recovery team, Arqueonauta, located and brought the treasure to the surface in 1998. 

Although crudely struck, the silver cob coins recovered after two and a half centuries on the sea floor still feature the bold cross symbolizing the union of Church and State and the pillars and waves design, patterned after the Pillars of Hercules.