DATELINE :- 4th September 2000
GROSVENOR DIVED
£5m treasure ship uncovered off South Africa
The wreck of the long-lost East Indiaman Grosvenor, laden with treasure believed to be worth nearly £5 million at today's prices, and sunk in 1782 on South Africa's Eastern Cape, has been discovered and dived, writes Kendall McDonald.
Cape Town archaeologists led by Jonathan Shaftman, with a team of Hungarian divers, secretly excavated the wreck for some months. Proof that it was the Grosvenor was provided by their discovery of a brass plaque bearing the name of Col Edward James, who was on the original passenger list. The South African National Monuments Council has officially accepted Shaftman's site as that of the Grosvenor.
Minutes after news of the find broke, claims to a share of the gold and silver coin aboard poured in. First in was Mpondombini Sigeau, King of Pondoland, where the ship broke up on offshore reefs. He is demanding that all recoveries be handed over to his kingdom.
Among other claimants are a couple who hold a certificate issued in 1921 by one of the dozen earlier treasure-hunting expeditions, entitling them to a share.
The Grosvenor, a square-rigged frigate of 729 tons, was carrying 150 passengers and rich cargo from Ceylon to England. Though 138 people survived the wrecking, only six made it on foot to Cape Town after attacks by natives.
The cargo included 720 gold ingots, 19 chests of diamonds, rubies, emeralds and sapphires, gold, silver and copper coins worth over £1 million. The rumour later grew that the gold- and ruby-studded Golden Peacock Throne of Shah Jahan, the Mogul emperor, had been aboard, though this is nowadays discounted.
The exact spot where the vessel disappeared under the sand had long been debated. Admiralty salvage divers in 1840 were said to have reached it and tried to get into the holds before being driven back by the huge surf.
Many expeditions tried unsuccessfully to beat the surf, digging tunnels, using dynamite, dredgers and divers (at least one of whom was killed), building a mole and sinking a cement-filled ship as a breakwater. They raised only a few cannon and 800 little gold coins, most of those picked up along the beach.
Now divers have found 12 of the original 26 cannon under feet of sand in water only 5m deep, and only 70m from a tunnel dug in 1921.
Using a modified diamond dredge, they have already sucked up Spanish gold and silver coins minted in Peru, Indian coins, musket trigger-guards, buttons and a brass hairbrush. Half of this and other material has been sent to the East London Museum, which under the terms of an excavation permit from the South African Natural Heritage Resource Agency allows the other half to be retained by archaeologists. There is already talk of a world tour to exhibit the finds.