Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes

The Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes (Spanish for Our Lady of Graces ) was a Spanish frigate.

She sank on October 5, 1804 off the coast of Portugal. Even before the Spanish declaration of war on Great Britain on December 12, 1804 attacked four British frigates four Spanish frigates, who came from South America, to. In the battle of October 5, 1804 a Spanish ship exploded and the other three were captured. In the Naval Chronicle of 1805, the event is described in detail in English.

Discovery and return the treasure to Spain

The Spanish government suspected that the U.S. company Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered the shipwreck and its treasure was salvaged secretly. In September 2011, a U.S. appeals court in Atlanta upheld this view, saying the salvaged gold to Spain.

On February 25, 2012 was the treasure, which consists of more than 500,000 gold and silver coins, flown by two transport aircraft of the Spanish Air Force to Madrid. The coins whose value is estimated at more than 350 million euros, will be distributed to several museums and collections.

Also claims to the treasure raised in Peru, because the coins were coined in 1796 in the then Spanish colony.