How much is a shipwreck worth?

According to the IMO, there are an estimated 1,300 potentially hazardous shipwrecks on coastlines around the world, which have been abandoned by owners trying to avoid responsibility for removing them. International Maritime rules are basically finders keepers.

The richest shipwreck in the world, so far, rang in around $500 million and some change. Don't quit your day job yet. A find like this comes only in many life times. This particular find was perpetrated by Tampa based Odyssey Marine Exploration early May 2007.

Shipwreck yields historic riches -- $500M worth
• 17 tons of colonial-era coins netting roughly $500 million
• Salvage project dubbed "Black Swan" in Atlantic Ocean (covert mission)
• Court records show coins might be from a 400-year-old ship found off England



However, under the terms of a historic law, Odyssey will have to share any finds with the British government. The company will get 80 percent of the first $45 million and about 50 percent of the proceeds thereafter.

So far, the richest shipwreck find in history was yielded by the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622. Treasure hunting pioneer Mel Fisher made this find in 1985 and retrieved a reported $400 million in loot.

Untold riches amounting in the hundreds of billions lie beneath the sea. This find will definitely entice some treasure hunting fold into quitting day jobs and taking up this hobby / career.