 When Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492, one of his aims was to find
gold. The first precious metals to be carried across the Atlantic were looted
from the Aztecs and Incas. Gold was quickly replaced by silver as the main
cargo, and soon the mines of Peru and Mexico were producing thousands of
silver coins and bars. The Spanish silver "piece of eight" became
a standard currency all over the world.
Spanish Treasure Fleets regularly crossed the Atlantic in great convoys,
making Spain the richest power in the world. Most ships made it back safely
to Spain, but those that were sunk along the way acted as a giant store
of sunken treasure and lost information about our past.
This exhibition lets you discover two worlds: the world of the Spanish
sailors 350 years ago, and then the modern world of the people who search,
find and dig up the sunken treasures of the Spanish Treasure Fleets. | 
