HMS Sussex sank off the coast of Gibraltar on 1st March 1694, as the British fleet was battered by a severe storm. Most of the 500 crew members on the 80-gun ship lost their lives on that fateful night, when the pride of the Royal Navy went down on her maiden voyage.
The mystery surrounding the hidden treasure believed to be on the ship continues, as the British, American and Spanish governments remain embroiled in a legal wrangle regarding the ownership of the ship and her contents.
Battle at Beachy Head
The story begins back in 1690, at the time of the Seven Years War, when Spain and Britain were allies against Louis XIV of France, who had plans to expand his nation. Meanwhile, other leaders across Europe were anxious to curb his ambitions.
Despite France going it alone against allies including Holland, Portugal, Germany and Sweden, Louis XIV (known as the Sun King) sent his fleet to capture the English Channel on 10th July 1690.
A combined fleet of English and Dutch warships was defeated and had to retreat off Beachy Head, losing 12 ships between them. No French vessels were lost.
New warship
There was panic in England, as it seemed little could stop the French from invading Britain. Allies gathered 90 warships in the English Channel, but the Battle of Beachy Head had proven that Britain needed to bolster its fleet.
A new warship, HMS Sussex, was built at Chatham Dockyard - the flagship of the Royal Navy and the pride of Admiral Sir Francis Wheeler, who had survived the Battle of Beachy Head.
She was launched with great aplomb on 11th April 1693, beginning her maiden voyage to escort a large fleet of 40 warships and 166 merchant ships to the Mediterranean.
What many people didn't know (and this included a large number of the crew) was that aboard HMS Sussex was a secret cargo of gold coins and bullion. It was a very expensive bribe intended for the Italian Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, to persuade him to be Britain's ally in the War of the League of Augsburg.
Disaster strikes
The voyage went to plan initially, and the fleet made a short stopover in Cadiz, before sailing into the Mediterranean, but the flotilla encountered a dangerous storm on 27th February 1694, near the Strait of Gibraltar. Sir Francis attempted to change course and move the flotilla back behind Gibraltar for protection.
Water flooded into the open gun ports and HMS Sussex sank on the third day of the storm, with only two crew members surviving. Admiral Wheeler went down with his ship and his body was later found on Gibraltar's eastern shore.
It spelled total disaster for the English fleet, as 12 other ships also sank, leading to the loss of 1,200 lives. It remains one of the biggest tragedies in the history of the Royal Navy.
An investigation in the aftermath of the disaster led Royal Navy chiefs to conclude that an 80-gun ship with only two decks was too unstable.
Bank of England
Back in England, a decision was made by the king and the government to try again to bribe Savoy. However, before the British ships could make it back across the Mediterranean, he had already accepted an offer from the French and changed his allegiance. This effectively created stalemate, finally bringing the war to an end.
The war in general and the sinking of HMS Sussex spelled financial disaster for Britain. The Bank of England was set up on 27th July 1694, in London, as a private institution to raise money as a result of the funds pumped into the war effort.
The original Royal Charter, signed by King William III, said that the bank had been founded to "promote the public good" and to "benefit our people".
Meanwhile, the gold that sank with HMS Sussex remained lost on the ocean bed for more than three centuries - until modern diving expeditions, with state-of-the-art equipment, were able to begin search and recovery efforts.
Recovery bid
In 1998, the American company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, began searching for HMS Sussex, having an approximate idea where the vessel had sunk. In 2001, Odyssey claimed she had been located, at a depth of 800 metres.
A deal was negotiated between the ship's owner, the British government and Odyssey to share any treasure found, should the shipwreck be recovered. The recovery operation was scheduled to commence in 2003.
However, it was delayed initially after various archaeologists protested about the terms of the recovery, claiming it would set a dangerous precedent, should the shipwreck be legally "ransacked" by a private company, under the umbrella of carrying out an archaeological expedition.
An organisation called the Sussex Archaeological Executive was set up to study the recovery plans in detail, amid claims the British government had a "treasure hunt" approach to the recovery.
Territorial rights
Following further discussions, the British government and Odyssey drew up a new strategy for the recovery operation in 2005. It was the first time a private sector firm and the government had reached such an agreement to salvage a sovereign warship.
It became known as the Black Swan Project and was set to go ahead - until a further diplomatic wrangle caused the project to be halted again.
The Spanish government became involved in August 2005, when officials from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a diplomatic note to the US Embassy. The Spanish government ruled that Odyssey could search for the Sussex only if the company permitted a representative from the regional authorities to accompany the mission.
Odyssey responded to the request, but didn't receive a reply from the Junta de Andalucía, the regional government body. The US government believed international law was on their side regardless and decreed the recovery project should begin in December 2005, with or without the regional authority's representative.
The US government insisted the site was in international waters. However, the Spanish government said it was in Spanish waters. Due to a lack of clarity regarding the wreck’s location, the recovery project didn't go ahead as planned.
South-east of Gibraltar, the site is in an area marked "High Seas" on the atlas, with complex territorial rights, as the Spanish territory of Ceuta is on the African mainland and the UK territory of Gibraltar is on the Spanish mainland.
According to the Council for British Archaeology, because the waters are disputed as being either international or Spanish, the salvage operation has been unable to go ahead - leading to an ongoing, lengthy dispute between the nations involved.
Led by the government of Andalusia, Spanish authorities have so far prevented the salvage operation from commencing to this day, almost 20 years after HMS Sussex's final resting place was pinpointed - hence the $500 million treasure remains in its watery grave.
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