Gold rush shipwreck offers up treasures off Welsh coast after 150 years

From The Telegraph: Gold rush shipwreck offers up treasures off Welsh coast after 150 years

For more than 150 years it has lain tantalisingly close to the shore. Now the ship that sank in a storm in 1859, claiming 450 lives, is giving up its most precious secret: gold.

But this treasure trove is not in a distant tropical lagoon – it is near the Welsh ferry port of Holyhead, in the remains of an ironclad steam clipper called the Royal Charter.

A team of explorers diving to the ship, which sank off Anglesey while returning laden with riches from the Australian gold rush of the 1850s, has brought gold coins and nuggets to the surface and expects to retrieve more.

The ship foundered on rocks just yards from the shore after a hurricane hit on the final leg of its journey from Melbourne to Liverpool, on Oct 26, 1859. On board were gold prospectors returning with their fortunes.

By daybreak the ship had sunk and about 450 passengers and crew, along with the gold, had been lost.

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Vincent Thurkettle, a full-time gold planner who is
leading the expedition, said: "We have got some gold dust, nuggets and coins, as well as about 200 artefacts. And there is more gold down there."

The finds have all been reported to the Receiver of Wreck, who administers all shipwrecks. People connected to the passengers can claim ownership – although claims are thought to be unlikely. The gold will then be returned to the team or sold to a museum, with a fee passed to the explorers.

The treasure has yet to be valued and the team have declined to say how big their haul is. However, the value, particularly of the coins, will be inflated because of where they were found.

Mr Thurkettle said: "To have a coin from the Royal Charter will probably be worth double or treble what it would otherwise be worth."

His team of about 12 divers and gold planners have been visiting the wreck for the past seven summers, but only now have they agreed to reveal details. They estimate there's another two years' worth of exploring left.

The wreck lies just off the village of Moelfre, on
Anglesey's east coast, in clay beneath about 15ft of water, and sand. To search for gold, the team blow away the top sand. They then use a machine to suck up sand and clay to be sifted for gold fragments. Mr Thurkettle has been to
Melbourne to find out how much gold was on board. He said: "But you find yourself getting absorbed in the story. These people were coming home having struck gold and were only two to three hours away from Liverpool.

"And yet they go from such hope to such disaster, yards from safety."

The tale of the ship's loss gripped Victorian Britain. Her captain had tried to anchor in Moelfre Bay to escape the storm but the vessel's chain broke and her engine was not strong enough to keep her off the rocks, where she was battered by 60ft waves and 100mph winds. The ship snapped in two while less than 50 yards from the coast.

A Maltese seaman made it to shore with a lifeline, allowing a few survivors to reach land. But only 39 of the estimated 490 on board were saved. Many of the dead were killed by being dashed on to the rocks. Others drowned, weighed down by the gold in their money belts.

The storm was one of the worst of the 19th century and became known as the "Royal Charter gale" with about 200 vessels lost around the British coast. Charles Dickens, at the height of his fame, went to north Wales to report on the aftermath.

At least 79,000 ounces of gold were on the boat – worth £77.6 million today. Soldiers and coastguards salvaged some before many of the bodies had been recovered. The press upset villagers by accusing them of stealing the gold.

About 80 per cent of the haul was recovered, leaving the tantalising prospect that, even after the latest find,
millions of pounds' worth of gold remain on the sea bed.