The Top 12 Most Incredible (& Profitable) Underwater Finds Ever

7. The Central America Ship

Current Estimated Value: $100 million* Date of Disappearance: 1857 Discovered in 1988 The sailors of old had a very difficult time. It was not for the faint of heart, with little to no safety precautions and the open sea's ravages in front of them. There was a chance that we would sink. When the SS Central America crew set out on their journey and passed through South Carolina, they would have been fully aware of this.

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Twitter.com/@BluelineSocial/The SS Central America Tonnes of gold from the Gold Rush were among the valuable cargo on board. Tommy Thompson eventually located the ship in 1988 and brought $50 million worth of treasure home with him. It wasn't his to keep, though. Thompson went on the run for nearly thirty years in a conflict worthy of an NLX documentary before being apprehended.

8. The Gairsoppa Ship

Estimated Current Value: $200 million* Disappeared Year: 1941 The Year Found: 2011 For two key reasons, the SS Gairsoppa is probably one of the most valuable wrecks ever found beneath the seas. When the Nazis learned that the ship was carrying more than $190 million from India to the British during World War II, they moved quickly to assault her and successfully sent it to Davy Jones' Locker in 1941.

The SS Gairsoppa on Twitter.com/@PetrosGhazaryan 2011 saw the discovery of a cache of letters sent by crew members to their families in addition to the coins. Surprisingly, despite the possibility that the saltwater would damage them, they fared better in preservation than a can of supermarket pickles.