16th-century shipwrecks with treasures worth millions of dollars found off the US coast

Three 16th-century Spanish shipwrecks have been discovered off the US coast, containing looted French artefacts that can be estimated to be worth millions of dollars.

The wrecks include three ornate bronze cannons, two being three meters long and one being two metres long, along with a marble monument which has the coat of arms of the king of France engraved on it. The monument has been identified from the manifest of a 1562 expedition to Florida by the French navigator Jean Ribault.

The cannons and monument were installed at Fort Caroline, which was an early French Huguenot colony on the St Johns River, and is now called Jacksonville, Florida.

Robert Pritchett, CEO of the US-based Global Marine Exploration told LiveScience that the cannons and monument were seized in a Spanish raid in 1565. Global Marine Exploration is the company behind the exploration of these wrecks.

In addition to these cannons and the monument, 19 iron cannons, 12 anchors, a stone grinding wheel, and scattered ballast and ammunition were also discovered.

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