Page 84 - All About History 55 - 2017 UK

Lost Treasures

Lost

treAsures

From Nazi gold to King John’s jewels, these are
history’s greatest prizes still waiting to be found

Written by Ben Gazur

t some point, everyone feels the longing to throw down their humdrum lives
and set out on an adventure for pirate gold. For most people, this lust for buried
treasure disappears at about the same time that their letter from Hogwarts fails to
materialise. And while you may never get your wand, there really are lost hoards
Ajust waiting for the right person to find them. Here are eight of the most tantalising.

2 nazi gold of Lake toplitz
1 1715 spanish

treasure fleet During World War II, the picturesque Lake Toplitz in Austria was used by German troops
as a testing ground for naval weapons. The mountains echoed the sounds of explosive
detonations. As the war drew to a close, troops were seen taking boxes to the water and
From the 16th century onwards, the Spanish Empire sinking them into the murky depths.
extracted vast fortunes from the New World. In 1715, What were they hiding? No one is certain, though of course the mind leaps immediately
a fleet packed with gold, silver and emeralds left to the idea of looted gold. Searches have turned up bundles of counterfeited British currency
Havana, Cuba, and entered the dreams of treasure that was to be used to destabilise the pound. Unfortunately, conditions in the lake make
hunters when a storm wrecked the fleet, sending its treasure hunting difficult, and submerged floating logs wait to snare anyone who does
cargo to the seabed off the Florida coast. descend into the depths looking for fabulous wealth.
We know about this treasure not only because of
Lake Toplitz was used as a weapons
historical records, but also because divers regularly training ground in 1943-44
chance on some of the Spanish swag. A family of
divers found $1 million-worth of Spanish gold in 2015,
while another venture came up with $4.5 million LAst Known
in coins. There are even reports of gold coins found LocAtion
washed up on beaches.
Lake Toplitz,
Austria

LAst Known
LocAtion
The Spanish fleet was Florida coast,
wrecked off the coast USA
of Florida in a storm

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