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Treasure hunter tries to haul warship from ocean
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MORE than 250 years after Spanish forces sank the British warship Lord Clive off the coast of Uruguay, treasure hunter Ruben Collado is working to raise it from its watery grave.
Collado believes the ship may have been carrying 100,000 gold coins when Spanish cannon fire sank it in 1763, as Britain and Portugal tried to seize the city of Colonia del Sacramento during the Seven Years’ War.
The Argentine adventurer spent 14 years searching for the wreckage before finding it by accident in 2004, when the propeller of his boat struck a sunken mast as he trolled around the River Plate estuary.
After waiting more than 10 long years for authorization from the Uruguayan authorities, Collado is finally set to fulfill his dream: to haul what is left of the wreckage to the surface, repair its cracks and bring it to shore.
The 78-year-old bursts with energy as he discusses his plans, although skeptics have doubts about its cargo.
“I’m a professional treasure hunter. If the ship doesn’t have any treasure, investors don’t put up any money,” he said, his eyes alight as he looked out over the water from a bar in Colonia del Sacramento.
Collado says he has not managed to locate the ship’s manifest to confirm its cargo.
But he believes it was carrying the gold from a Uruguay-bound cargo ship it had captured. And he has convinced investors to fund him.
He estimates his haul will total hundreds of millions of dollars — half of which will go to the Uruguayan government.
The ship will also be a “fabulous historical treasure for research on period weaponry,” he said.
It will take two years to clear the rocks and mud covering the ship, run a huge metal lattice under it, raise it, patch it up and bring it to shore.
He and his team have already found cannon balls, rum bottles, a part of the main-mast and shoes made with iron nails.
Collado is confident about what lurks beneath the surface
“You have to get out there and search to have good luck,” he said.
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