10th July 1633

Crown jewels lost when ferry sinks in the Firth of Forth

There’s a large horde of royal treasure at the bottom of the Firth of Forth. It sank in 1633 on the Blessing of Burntisland, a ferry that plied the five-mile crossing between Burntisland and Leith. The ferry had been caught in a storm, in which 33 of the 35 onboard drowned. As it went down, it took with it not only the passengers, but up to five tons of silver and gold belonging to Charles I, which would today be worth the equivalent of half a billion pounds.

With so much treasure waiting to be found, there has naturally been interest in locating the wreck and its cargo and, in October 2011, The Independent reported that marine archaeologists believed they had found it. “The archaeologists say that they are now poised to confirm publicly that the vessel is the Blessing of Burntisland, a royal ferry which sank during a storm in 1633 while carrying Charles I’s possessions across the Firth of Forth after he had been crowned King of Scotland.”