[Svartalfiar]

The anchor is believed to be from the Merchant Royal, which has been described as one of Britain’s richest wrecks, carrying cargo worth around $10.5 million.
...
The merchant ship sank in 1641 carrying an estimated $1.5 billion of treasure.

So there's a big difference between $10MM and $1.5B.. Does the author know which one it is? $10MM doesn't seem like that big of a cargo, but $1.5B is a LOT for a ship from that time. Then is more than the total value of most countries from that time...

[21twelve]

I took it to mean the cargo (at the time) was worth $10MM. And the treasure today would be $1.5B. But I would think it would be worth even more now that I think about it.

Price of gold in the late 1700’s was about $20, now it is about $1,200 per ounce. So 60x more. That gets you to $600MM if it was all gold. The coins are probably worth more than 200x, silver???, etc.

[jjotto]

It’s a garbled post. The source says the $10.5 million cargo is from the ship ‘President’.

The $1.5 billion cargo is from the ship ‘Merchant Royal’.

[21twelve]

BTW, after reading the article, it sounds like these guys might just try to be hustling for investors to go after the lost treasure. In the article it talks about how this is the type of anchor that would have been used on that type of ship.

I suppose more research into the anchor might reveal some clues, but I’m guessing they didn’t number them or put the ship’s name on them. (Unlike the ship’s bell in more recent times.)

Would a ship have tried to set anchor in 300 feet of water? I would doubt it - but perhaps use it as a sea anchor?

Maybe Paul Allen’s research company can do a search for it? It would help fund further searches that they do. (Although I’m guessing they aren’t hurting for funds.)