A sunken British frigate rumored to be carrying gold to  pay the troops? Sounds a lot like the HMS Hussar which sunk in New York in 1780.  This more recent discovery is the British storeship  Prince, which sank in the Black Sea in a heavy storm in 1854 during the Crimean War.   Like the Hussar, the rumors of gold are likely no more than rumors.  The HMS Prince has been often confused with the steamer Black Prince. The steamer did carry gold, while there is no record that the Prince ever did.

Storm-sunken “treasure ship” found in Ukraine

Remains of the British frigate “Prince”, which was sunk by a heavy storm in 1854 during the Crimean War, have been discovered in the Black Sea. The vessel is rumored to have a cargo solid gold.

HMS “Prince” was a storeship hired by the Royal Navy among some 200 private vessels to be used for delivering supplies. On November 8, 1854, it anchored in the sea off the town of Balaklava in Crimea.

Five days later, a mighty storm hit the area, sinking four ships of the allied British-French fleet, including the Prince, and killing more than 500 men. But by the end of the war a rumor spread that, in addition to sleeping bags and woolen socks, the vessel had something much more interesting – barrels of gold intended as payment for the troops.

The treasure legend lured hunters of different nationalities to try to discover the sunken freighter and its allegedly-valuable cargo. As the maritime gold rush unfolded, reports of the prize waiting for brave adventurers also grew in size, reaching 6 million pounds sterling in some reports.

Numerous failures to find the treasure among the wreckages dotting the seabed of Balaklava Bay did not discourage would-be bounty hunters, and only the start of World War II put the search on hold.

Now Ukrainian media report that a diving expedition has found the Prince, a century-and-a-half after its sinking. They have lifted a plate from the seabed with the logo of the owner of the Prince on it. Since the company had only two ships near Balaklava during the 1854 storm, and the other one survived it, researchers say their find must be from the legendary vessel. The divers have also discovered cannon balls and medical supplies.

The expedition however is not expecting to discover any gold now, as most historians now believe that the Prince had none on board. The treasure rumor was apparently instigated by the similarity of the Prince’s name with another British vessel, the steamer “Black Prince”, which was indeed used to transport payment for troops. The sunken freighter had been referred to as Black Prince by many authors in both historical books and numerous works of fiction.

Above all, if there had been gold on the Prince when it left Britain, it would have been unloaded in Istanbul, where the British Chief Quartermaster’s headquarters were located.

Thanks to Alaric Brown for passing the article along.