@@speedmetalmassiah567 It would still be a mistake to send it all at the same time anyways. Storms happen. (And the other two ships didn't even make it as far as the battle, so definitely not enough redundancy.)
@@speedmetalmassiah567 im no pro, but if I had like 40 billion dollars worth of jewelry and gold and gems, I would send more than 3 ships to carry and protect it.
Its honestly such a shame that people only ever seem to focus on Caribbean pirates, when piracy was everywhere in history and so many epic stories get left out
Privateers were not pirates, they operated under a legal letter or marque which required them to obey strict rules of engagement. Every doubloon they seized had to be accounted for and handed over to the crown who would reward them with a percentage.
@@StuSaville Speaking as a pirate historian, thats still piracy. Just state-sponsored piracy. Which is why privateers were still charged & executed as pirates by enemy nations. It's like how Spanish, French, Maltese, Barbery & Ottoman Corsairs, despite being members of the military and not mercenaries like Privateers, were tried & hung as pirates. Just because a crime is state-sponsored doesn't change the nature of the act. That kind of moronic rationale is used to justify even worse crimes like genocide.
I've really been enjoying these episodes from the Azores. My family comes from the Azores, but there aren't many memories of the islands left with my family, and there aren't a ton of accessible resources on them on youtube or anything either. So thanks guys
It's actually a pretty well studied topic in maritime archaeology. The very clear conclusion is that treasure hunting is both a pyramid scheme and far less good for the economy of the area then preservation and proper excavation. Treasure hunting only ever makes a few rich people richer and leaves everyone else paying the cost and history permanently destroyed.
It’s a shame, so much of our worlds most amazing history demolished for the greed of one persons single lifetime when it could be preserved for countless lifetimes instead, if personal greed and pride are cast aside.
What would you say if the treasure hunting was non destructive, and the local government collected a hefty salvage tax, 50% or something like that? A few billion dollars for the local coffers could do a lot, and to be honest it's not like the treasure itself is going to end up in a museum in most cases, it's just not that noteworthy. A museum is going to be far more interested in the ship itself.
@@Croz89 The issue is that is not the practical reality. Treasure hunting is incredibly destructive inherently. A proper excavation by professional archaeologists would recover both all the artifacts and the historical data. Also most of the time the governments get almost nothing out of deals as most treasure hunters do not actually make money. At best the government gets a few million in return for an obliterated site which is worthless for archaeology or tourism. Also a bunch of shiny stuff is worthless to a museum because the treasure hunters destroyed all the context that informs the stuff but it does help attract visitors in combination with the actual data which can provide education to the public and academia.
I can't put my finger on why, but Rare Earth has such a unique way of approaching different topics. Others might just focus on the size of the treasure, on ways to extract it. Evan focusses on the human side, especially the side of the locals, which probably doesn't get much attention on a global scale. I love it!
I just hope you know that as a Portuguese who wants to visit Açores since pretty much my entire life, these collection of videos as made me love the arquipélago even more. Your videos are amazingly written and the images you've collected from its people and landscapes really make them even better, keep up the good work, I just wish some of "my people" were as interested and invested in these stories as you are!
In the Florida Keys you can find shipwrecks from the 19th 18th and 17th century but most of the wrecks from the 16th century and earlier have been covered over in coral and sand and will never be seen again
Sure Evan - Your ancestors (and mine) were thieves. However, it's not like their Portuguese victims nobly acquired those gems in a fair trade from someone who received equal value in return. They stole it too. Back in those days, theft was how great fortunes were made. Maybe it should stay on the ocean bottom simply because no one today can credibly claim to be the rightful owner.
Was going to say something similar. I wonder if it was in a great pile with its location know, how long it would take for the Portuguese narative "our ship, our coast, our treasure" to be drowned out by a stonger naravitve from India (and other nations) of "from our shores by colonial force, our treasure"
I think that's part of why they stopped hunters going in them, while many claims are levied against British plunders i don't know if Portugal has the political sway to resist them.
I think the way the background is processed there makes it look like a green screen shot even though I very much doubt it is. That makes the shot feel fake.
I'd argue that, they are worth more brought up but only if they are mostly on the island. A museum exhibit telling the history of the islands and its past as the blood soaked gateway back home. I'd see 20% as a suitable payment for the work and resources to locate and chart out where the majority of it went down. I'd also argue, that the actual retrieval should be done by government sanctioned archeologists. But that's just me
....and if I find it, you better believe I'm fighting harder than those 600 people. Those gems belong to my country. But hey we all can wonder. Excellent video, Thanks.
On these ships generally the powder magazine was seperate from the cargo.. Its most likely still in the chests it went down in. The blast would have taken the rear of the ship out and sunk it in a minute not obliterated the whole ship
The spices would have been dried and finely crushed, i wonder if they could have triggered a dust explosion, first the black powder blows then the shock wave and fire ignited the spices. Would the privateers really have let their hard fought plunder be sunk? or did an unexpected explosion (of the spices) seal the fate of the endeavour?
Depends on the location of the magazine and where the stuff was stored. As much as there was, it probably would have been stuffed into every nook and cranny. There's also the fact that a mile is a LONG way to sink. Did the ship break up on the way down? This would also scatter the wreck.
Your style reminds me of CBS Sunday morning show and that’s a compliment, I think it’s your verbal cadence that sounds like professional journalism in the best way.
Woot passed 1 million!!!!! Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 🥳. People are noticing how awesome your channel and informative ways of telling stories are. 😀 Thank you for the years of enlightenment into this marvelous world. 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁🤗
I love how both the Brits and Portuguese feel sad over treasures they pilfered from India and Indonesia, if found, return the damn stuff to our countries lmao
The flag on the moon was intentionally left there, but treasures accidentally sunk to the bottom of the ocean will be destroyed by nature and never be seen by anyone unless archeologists retrieve it after which at least it can make some tourism money and be worth historical value.
Interesting when you consider we do "mine" more recent shipwrecks from WWI and WWII for low-background steel, which is required for some radiation detecting equipment (though thanks to the test ban treaty, not for too much longer). If we apply the same moral standards to these much older wrecks, then unless it's a particularly notable wreck it should be open season on that treasure. Something like the flags on the moon is clearly fairly unique and very notable, but if there were thousands of them, would it be so bad to take one home to sell off?
I'd say the difference is that low-background steel has unique utility which can't be replicated through any other means (at least for now), while gold and gems do not. If we want to be able to make precision radiation detection systems (which I will point out you need in things like nuclear reactors, which humanity absolutely needs to be building right now), those historical sites are (or were, at least) literally the only way to make them. But one massive hoard of jewels is pretty much exactly like any other, in terms of what you can do with it: not much, as it turns out. Rubies have no industrial applications, and while gold definitely does we're already using over half of what we've ever dug up to make decorative thread. Nobody needs the contents of those historical sites. Which is why they should remain historical sites.
@@Frommerman low-background steel *can* be manufactured, but it would be significantly more expensive than otherwise mostly due to economies of scale. The bigger difference IMO is going to be in my next comment. If you'd like to know, while some contamination is from the atmosphere, which is only important in extreme-low-radiation requirements and can *still* be worked around, the majority of the contamination is actually from the testing processes, where radioactive elements are used to non-destructively measure the structure/stability of the various foundry components and lax standards means contamination happens. These measures use by-products of nuclear reactions, and so only appear in the post-atomic world. It's perfectly possible to return to old standards or at least reduce contamination in modern methods, but the foundries won't bother spending that bit of extra money to make steel in a way that only a very few users care about. This means only specialty producers in expensive small-scale manufacturing can produce new low-background steel, making it uneconomical to do so when scrap low-background steel is still accessible. Note that much of the illegally scrapped ww2 steel is not even sold as low-background steel since for obvious reasons the source of the steel is not verifiable by the buyer.
your advendures have been following me for many years now and I want to thank you for bringing me light and smiles in historical; sometimes terrible; facts. Don't stop, ever, being so curious and respectful. You; at least; earn my respect. But don't ever let the web tell you if it's right or wrong.
The quality on these azores videos is amazing! And the color on this one is beautiful! I wish all your videos had this quality. I just recently discovered your channel and instanntly became a fan! One day, hopefully soon, I want to travel and make short documentaries. You are doing something similar to what I want to do and its amazing. I just hope that my writting and naration skills are half of yours 😅 Keep going, you are important! Much love - a Portuguese guy
7:50 If you really want to question the value brought on by an auction, read Salman Rushdie's "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers" in his "East, West" collection.
Finders keepers and the only reason people give two cents is because someone else found it. Jealousy is rampant among the human race because without treasure hunters you would never have the opportunity to examine such antiquities .
My grandad wrote in his will to his children and grandchildren: "Earth's gold is heaven's mold." As I get older, it becomes more and more obvious to me, that for someone to get rich and wealthy, someone else becomes starving poor. Sad facts of life.
"for someone to get rich and wealthy, someone else becomes starving poor." Do not need to be always that way. The Portuguese traded a lot of things and have distributed wealth and knowledge through out the world, you statement is wrong in so many ways
Considering that it does nobody any good just sitting at the bottom of the ocean, and considering that it will likely just continue to sit there degrading and unseen, I think its worth it to get at that all that stuff. Anything historical belongs in a museum, and raw resources like gold bars could be incredibly useful. Its better to make use of gold that was mined and refined hundreds of years ago than it is to rip up some pristine rainforest or canyon to mine and refine more gold today. The only reason that these wrecks will be left alone is because it feels wrong to mess with them, even though the people stealing treasure for the crown or the pirates who sunk them clearly didn't care a whole lot more about the actual stuff save for its value. I think a similar philosophy applies to ancient coins. Once any historical data is gathered from them, and enough is available for everybody to enjoy in museums, its okay if collectors can get their hands on a few and appreciate them instead of just having them buried in dirt for centuries to come. Which is exactly what tends to happen, since coins don't tend to require a massive operation to dig up and often are just found by accident.
But then sooner or later during an economic emergency it might be sold since I don’t know really how much historical feelings they will have with something they stole from South/Central America.
OP, Evan said it in the video, it's due to technical and extracted value vs. risk reasons that's keeping that stuff staying down there, not some law. Ships of far less value are being stripped of their (pre-nuke) steel, so if someone COULD extract that money, they would.
Speaking of ancestry, what about the lands from which the treasure originally came from? What about the people there? They were under a ruler and their land was stripped of these riches. Were they adequately compensated? Can the descendants stake a claim for these riches?
Bro, just scroll through the comments and you'll notice that only the people who come from ethnic backgrounds where the Europeans stole all of this from are making this argument. Kind of exposes the prejudice and ignorance of the people in this community towards the rights of those exploited colonies and people that belong to those backgrounds.
@@realitycheck6384 Yup, so true. Westerners and Europeans in particular seems to have gotten mass amnesia whenever exploitation of colonialism is brought up.
Next time you’re stateside I’ve got a story you should check out. The lost silver mine outside Tionesta Pennsylvania. If you know how to find the obscure on line then you can find the little information there is. The story is a blip on the radar, but it’s an interesting story.
That closing statement was rather ridiculous, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is the worlds longest bromance dating back to 1373. The sinking of the Cinco Chagas occurred during the period of the Iberian Union when Portugal briefly lost its independence to the Spanish Habsburgs.
Even while enjoying the video, couldnt help spare a few thoughts for the labourers who worked on originally extracting those precious minerals.. who were the -men only, or perhaps women and children too? Also, in whichever lands the riches were "extracted" from did the people feel a sense of loss over it [as the Azoreans did when they stopped further recoveries]? Maybe the local elite did receive some compensation; was it fair by today's measures, did they even care? 😆 Intriguing captivating and informative as always, thank you.
Indeed, that's very true. Who were those children? (they were children) Where did they come from? Who loved them? What kind of (short, horrible) life did they live? History is built on such lives (like ours! Probably) but their stories are lost. Sad.
there is a difference between the moon landing site, and a shipwreck, for one, the moon landing site was actually INTENDED to be left there, but a shipwreck is by definition, NOT where it was intending to be. you get the treasure up, and then give it back to its rightful owners, taking a small finders fee of course, you would be doing them a favor, and a service, because THEN they would have a genuine tourist attraction, to get funds with for many years, as people would want to see that, as well as loads of funds for the treasury instantly, because well, its gold, and gems.
Eight miles out and one mile down actually sounds like something from the movie "Hedwig and the angry inch" *Six inches forward and five inches back, I got an angry inch!*
If you don't dig up the wreck it'll be gone forever slowly disintegrating more and more. People should go try and discover it and document it before it is to late.
ikr? Surprised the Indian people this treasure was likely being stolen from didn't warrant a mention. You don't acquire $40bil without robbing _someone_
@@iiiiitsmagreta1240I think generally riches are Split half and half between the "historical" owner (that would be the portuguese) and the "water rights" owner. So in this case brazil (from which all that gold probably came from) would get nothing. As a spaniard this kinda thing appears in the news from time to time. I think Colombia (or was It Venezuela?) Found a shipwreck recently and they're not digfing It Up because half of It would go to Spain per the rules previously stated. Americans are especially Notorious for digfing Up sites and then find out surprised that the treasure IS legally not theirs.
Indian treasure being stolen wasn't mentioned because it wasn't fucking stolen. The Portuguese in the XVI century were trading all over Asia, selling goods and making profit (gold and silver) which they were bringing back to Portugal. We are talking about 1500s not 1800s, at this point in history Portugal was just creating outposts and trading, and the Indian kingdoms were still very powerful, and Portugal was just filling the role of ocean trader after defeating the ottomans
@@miguelpimentel5623 Cool. Did not mention India or even the word 'stolen'. Though Portugal's Empire began in 1415 took Goa in 1510 which held the capital of the Portuguese State of India untill 1961.
@@gota7738 goa was literally just a trading post/state, the gold was mined by someone somewhere who whilingly traded that gold for something else, so they have no right to opinionate who that gold belongs to
Thanks for the video Evan :) Some things are really worth preserving I do agree. What are we without our history? Humans need these legends and tales to build our societies. Having an extra buck always seems good, but does it really worth it when we lose these things in the process and forget where we came from?
7:50 The writer Andy Weir makes that very point in his book "Artemis" which takes place in the first city (town really) on the moon. In the book, the original moon landing site is so honoured that a huge visitor's center is specially built to allow people to "look but don't touch". Visitors that have the dosh to do an EVA are prevented from getting any closer to the site than they would inside the visitor's center. It is preserved just as it was after the ascent of the Lunar Module back to Columbia. By the way, thanks for the Marvin the Martian reference. Who knew that the English pirates had an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator? Obviously the story about the powder magazine was just a cover up to hide England's highly advanced (and possibly extraterrestrial) weapons capability!🤣😂
I don't know how the law works in the Azores. But in the UK you get a finder's reward when you hand in treasure. Surely that system is reasonable for a rich archeological area as most metal detectors then mark a finds location meaning the objects don't lose their archeological context.
Store your treasure here:
www.patreon.com/rareearth
don't take anything but picture and leave nothing but footprints , is what i think we should do.
If you got an obsurd donation what would your dream topic be?
Did you get all that dive footage yourself? Massive respect if you went under the ocean I would never do that diving scares me.
@@veracious8205 Rare Moon.
@@sparklesparklesparkle6318 take my money
Pro tip: If you're moving $40b worth of treasure, don't cheap out on the shipping. Spend a little extra, have some redundancy.
They did there were 3 ships
@@speedmetalmassiah567 It would still be a mistake to send it all at the same time anyways. Storms happen. (And the other two ships didn't even make it as far as the battle, so definitely not enough redundancy.)
@@speedmetalmassiah567 3 ships for a treasure worthy being spread across dozens of trips? ehh... that's why we're learning about it's failure lol
@@speedmetalmassiah567 im no pro, but if I had like 40 billion dollars worth of jewelry and gold and gems, I would send more than 3 ships to carry and protect it.
Ok thanks! Noted
Its honestly such a shame that people only ever seem to focus on Caribbean pirates, when piracy was everywhere in history and so many epic stories get left out
Like the likely Piracy that resulted in the gold/gems shipping it back to Portugal
Privateers were not pirates, they operated under a legal letter or marque which required them to obey strict rules of engagement. Every doubloon they seized had to be accounted for and handed over to the crown who would reward them with a percentage.
@@StuSaville I'm sure that distinction was comforting to the sailors be robbed and killed.
@Caleb OKAY Zheng Yi Sao! Her rags to riches life is one hell of an epic story!
@@StuSaville Speaking as a pirate historian, thats still piracy. Just state-sponsored piracy. Which is why privateers were still charged & executed as pirates by enemy nations. It's like how Spanish, French, Maltese, Barbery & Ottoman Corsairs, despite being members of the military and not mercenaries like Privateers, were tried & hung as pirates. Just because a crime is state-sponsored doesn't change the nature of the act. That kind of moronic rationale is used to justify even worse crimes like genocide.
I've really been enjoying these episodes from the Azores. My family comes from the Azores, but there aren't many memories of the islands left with my family, and there aren't a ton of accessible resources on them on youtube or anything either. So thanks guys
I went thru the Azores in the late 80’s, sailing across the Atlantic. It was an intriguing place that I really enjoyed.
SVcDelos spent time at the Azores, they are a popular youtube sailing channel
Ditto
"Propelled into a grave so opulent, even the Pharoahs would feel jealous". That's some frigging poetry there, Evan. Great line.
For those confused - Portugal at this time was not allied with England because it had fallen into a personal union with Spain.
That was 1580-1640. Military alliances, back in the day especially, are never quite the friendly ties one might imagine.
@@mrguysnailz4907 he made a mistake, the ship sunk in 1594, so yes it was during iberian union
It's actually a pretty well studied topic in maritime archaeology. The very clear conclusion is that treasure hunting is both a pyramid scheme and far less good for the economy of the area then preservation and proper excavation. Treasure hunting only ever makes a few rich people richer and leaves everyone else paying the cost and history permanently destroyed.
It’s a shame, so much of our worlds most amazing history demolished for the greed of one persons single lifetime when it could be preserved for countless lifetimes instead, if personal greed and pride are cast aside.
What would you say if the treasure hunting was non destructive, and the local government collected a hefty salvage tax, 50% or something like that? A few billion dollars for the local coffers could do a lot, and to be honest it's not like the treasure itself is going to end up in a museum in most cases, it's just not that noteworthy. A museum is going to be far more interested in the ship itself.
@@Croz89 The issue is that is not the practical reality. Treasure hunting is incredibly destructive inherently. A proper excavation by professional archaeologists would recover both all the artifacts and the historical data. Also most of the time the governments get almost nothing out of deals as most treasure hunters do not actually make money. At best the government gets a few million in return for an obliterated site which is worthless for archaeology or tourism. Also a bunch of shiny stuff is worthless to a museum because the treasure hunters destroyed all the context that informs the stuff but it does help attract visitors in combination with the actual data which can provide education to the public and academia.
Ah yes leave I be let it rot, or do something.
Cleaning up trash dumped by governments is a human duty. Even if the trash is "historic"
"makes a few rich people richer and leaves everyone else paying the cost"
describes every economic system ever created
I can't put my finger on why, but Rare Earth has such a unique way of approaching different topics. Others might just focus on the size of the treasure, on ways to extract it. Evan focusses on the human side, especially the side of the locals, which probably doesn't get much attention on a global scale. I love it!
Anthropological perspective
I just hope you know that as a Portuguese who wants to visit Açores since pretty much my entire life, these collection of videos as made me love the arquipélago even more.
Your videos are amazingly written and the images you've collected from its people and landscapes really make them even better, keep up the good work, I just wish some of "my people" were as interested and invested in these stories as you are!
Evan, these videos are always so entertaining and informative: thank you for making such great content for us for free!
You're welcome
This channel is the real hidden treasure
In the Florida Keys you can find shipwrecks from the 19th 18th and 17th century but most of the wrecks from the 16th century and earlier have been covered over in coral and sand and will never be seen again
Sure Evan - Your ancestors (and mine) were thieves. However, it's not like their Portuguese victims nobly acquired those gems in a fair trade from someone who received equal value in return. They stole it too. Back in those days, theft was how great fortunes were made. Maybe it should stay on the ocean bottom simply because no one today can credibly claim to be the rightful owner.
They're all mine bud sorry
Was going to say something similar. I wonder if it was in a great pile with its location know, how long it would take for the Portuguese narative "our ship, our coast, our treasure" to be drowned out by a stonger naravitve from India (and other nations) of "from our shores by colonial force, our treasure"
Morons.. They traded for those gems.
"Back in those days, theft was how great fortunes were made"
Back in the days...
I think that's part of why they stopped hunters going in them, while many claims are levied against British plunders i don't know if Portugal has the political sway to resist them.
Long live the Pirate Republic!
I love this worldwide, personally delivered anthropology series. Keep up the wonderful work!
What great cinematography. I really liked the drone shot around 8:00. I love these videos please keep them coming.
That was some incredible, top notch story telling.
I think contemplating the immense riches and valiant fighting men from a windswept cafe table and warm drink is treasure enough for the modern pirate.
who's valiant here the pirates or the conquistadors?
there are much better comments already written but you rock man. love your work and humility. you are a treasure, thanks.
Great video. You guys consistently put out some of the highest quality stuff on youtube. Keep it up!
5:47 THIS is an amazing shot!
Love the story, love the socks.
I'm going to go build myself a deepwater submarine so I can find me some tray-sure.
I think the way the background is processed there makes it look like a green screen shot even though I very much doubt it is. That makes the shot feel fake.
Congrats on 1 million subs
Just a few more weeks before I can afford my submarine. They won't even know the treasure's gone until I'm far away
That's how ya do it these days.
I'd argue that, they are worth more brought up but only if they are mostly on the island. A museum exhibit telling the history of the islands and its past as the blood soaked gateway back home. I'd see 20% as a suitable payment for the work and resources to locate and chart out where the majority of it went down. I'd also argue, that the actual retrieval should be done by government sanctioned archeologists.
But that's just me
The storytelling and script for this was fantastic.
You are such a great story teller!!
Glad to see these videos coming out again!
If the experts are to be believed, the flags have bleached to unrecognizablity.
so glad to have you back. you have been missed
Evan, you are an amazing storyteller!
Loving this series! Great video
Nice storytelling! Great presentation, love it. Subscribed.
....and if I find it, you better believe I'm fighting harder than those 600 people. Those gems belong to my country.
But hey we all can wonder.
Excellent video, Thanks.
On these ships generally the powder magazine was seperate from the cargo.. Its most likely still in the chests it went down in. The blast would have taken the rear of the ship out and sunk it in a minute not obliterated the whole ship
The spices would have been dried and finely crushed, i wonder if they could have triggered a dust explosion, first the black powder blows then the shock wave and fire ignited the spices. Would the privateers really have let their hard fought plunder be sunk? or did an unexpected explosion (of the spices) seal the fate of the endeavour?
@@SToNeOwNz nar its just the poder going off.. Big bang.. But it dosnt obliterate the ship.. Just scuttles it.. But the sea is deep there
Depends on the location of the magazine and where the stuff was stored. As much as there was, it probably would have been stuffed into every nook and cranny. There's also the fact that a mile is a LONG way to sink. Did the ship break up on the way down? This would also scatter the wreck.
Well, thanks to the end credits, now I want a video of Evan singing "Barrett's Privateers"!
The moon analogy is really good! Puts everything into perspective.
i wasn’t expecting the best after credits scene in a rare earth video, but we got it
Your style reminds me of CBS Sunday morning show and that’s a compliment, I think it’s your verbal cadence that sounds like professional journalism in the best way.
Great content. Appreciate it!
These are so beautiful, and so informative.
Woot passed 1 million!!!!! Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 🥳. People are noticing how awesome your channel and informative ways of telling stories are. 😀 Thank you for the years of enlightenment into this marvelous world. 😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁🤗
I love how both the Brits and Portuguese feel sad over treasures they pilfered from India and Indonesia, if found, return the damn stuff to our countries lmao
The flag on the moon was intentionally left there, but treasures accidentally sunk to the bottom of the ocean will be destroyed by nature and never be seen by anyone unless archeologists retrieve it after which at least it can make some tourism money and be worth historical value.
perhaps the real treasure is the friendship we made along the way
Talking about british pirates, and then 5:45 socks XD. You have chosen your side Sir
Interesting when you consider we do "mine" more recent shipwrecks from WWI and WWII for low-background steel, which is required for some radiation detecting equipment (though thanks to the test ban treaty, not for too much longer). If we apply the same moral standards to these much older wrecks, then unless it's a particularly notable wreck it should be open season on that treasure. Something like the flags on the moon is clearly fairly unique and very notable, but if there were thousands of them, would it be so bad to take one home to sell off?
Good point!
I think the WW ships are used to advance human knowledge (I hope), while treasure hunting can't
@@zetijeti In the end though, those taking the steel are still doing so for profit.
I'd say the difference is that low-background steel has unique utility which can't be replicated through any other means (at least for now), while gold and gems do not. If we want to be able to make precision radiation detection systems (which I will point out you need in things like nuclear reactors, which humanity absolutely needs to be building right now), those historical sites are (or were, at least) literally the only way to make them. But one massive hoard of jewels is pretty much exactly like any other, in terms of what you can do with it: not much, as it turns out. Rubies have no industrial applications, and while gold definitely does we're already using over half of what we've ever dug up to make decorative thread. Nobody needs the contents of those historical sites. Which is why they should remain historical sites.
@@Frommerman low-background steel *can* be manufactured, but it would be significantly more expensive than otherwise mostly due to economies of scale. The bigger difference IMO is going to be in my next comment.
If you'd like to know, while some contamination is from the atmosphere, which is only important in extreme-low-radiation requirements and can *still* be worked around, the majority of the contamination is actually from the testing processes, where radioactive elements are used to non-destructively measure the structure/stability of the various foundry components and lax standards means contamination happens. These measures use by-products of nuclear reactions, and so only appear in the post-atomic world. It's perfectly possible to return to old standards or at least reduce contamination in modern methods, but the foundries won't bother spending that bit of extra money to make steel in a way that only a very few users care about. This means only specialty producers in expensive small-scale manufacturing can produce new low-background steel, making it uneconomical to do so when scrap low-background steel is still accessible.
Note that much of the illegally scrapped ww2 steel is not even sold as low-background steel since for obvious reasons the source of the steel is not verifiable by the buyer.
your advendures have been following me for many years now and I want to thank you for bringing me light and smiles in historical; sometimes terrible; facts. Don't stop, ever, being so curious and respectful. You; at least; earn my respect.
But don't ever let the web tell you if it's right or wrong.
My family is from Terceira, I'm so happy to see some amazing Azores videos from you
If I was filthy rich I would mount expedition a secret one if needed to search with best equipment possible.
incredible as always. Loving your recent video scheduling
Solid episode, my dude.
I hear the Ruby Yacht of Omar Khayyam can be found in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota!
Your channel is fascinating and complex, thank you.
Absolutely love these videos. I look forward to them every Saturday
The quality on these azores videos is amazing! And the color on this one is beautiful! I wish all your videos had this quality.
I just recently discovered your channel and instanntly became a fan! One day, hopefully soon, I want to travel and make short documentaries. You are doing something similar to what I want to do and its amazing. I just hope that my writting and naration skills are half of yours 😅
Keep going, you are important!
Much love - a Portuguese guy
7:50 If you really want to question the value brought on by an auction, read Salman Rushdie's "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers" in his "East, West" collection.
Finders keepers and the only reason people give two cents is because someone else found it. Jealousy is rampant among the human race because without treasure hunters you would never have the opportunity to examine such antiquities .
My grandad wrote in his will to his children and grandchildren: "Earth's gold is heaven's mold." As I get older, it becomes more and more obvious to me, that for someone to get rich and wealthy, someone else becomes starving poor. Sad facts of life.
"for someone to get rich and wealthy, someone else becomes starving poor."
Do not need to be always that way. The Portuguese traded a lot of things and have distributed wealth and knowledge through out the world, you statement is wrong in so many ways
You had me at “Earth Shattering Kaboom” ya beautiful pirate
I love this friggin channel!
Considering that it does nobody any good just sitting at the bottom of the ocean, and considering that it will likely just continue to sit there degrading and unseen, I think its worth it to get at that all that stuff. Anything historical belongs in a museum, and raw resources like gold bars could be incredibly useful. Its better to make use of gold that was mined and refined hundreds of years ago than it is to rip up some pristine rainforest or canyon to mine and refine more gold today. The only reason that these wrecks will be left alone is because it feels wrong to mess with them, even though the people stealing treasure for the crown or the pirates who sunk them clearly didn't care a whole lot more about the actual stuff save for its value.
I think a similar philosophy applies to ancient coins. Once any historical data is gathered from them, and enough is available for everybody to enjoy in museums, its okay if collectors can get their hands on a few and appreciate them instead of just having them buried in dirt for centuries to come. Which is exactly what tends to happen, since coins don't tend to require a massive operation to dig up and often are just found by accident.
But then sooner or later during an economic emergency it might be sold since I don’t know really how much historical feelings they will have with something they stole from South/Central America.
@@johnl.7754it's going to be lost to time, regardless. Better to be appreciated by people than the fish.
OP, Evan said it in the video, it's due to technical and extracted value vs. risk reasons that's keeping that stuff staying down there, not some law. Ships of far less value are being stripped of their (pre-nuke) steel, so if someone COULD extract that money, they would.
Impeccable story telling! 🤝
Really enjoyed the closer part about "my ancestry". Hit perfect
Love your work.
another absolute banger of a video
Speaking of ancestry, what about the lands from which the treasure originally came from? What about the people there? They were under a ruler and their land was stripped of these riches. Were they adequately compensated? Can the descendants stake a claim for these riches?
Bro, just scroll through the comments and you'll notice that only the people who come from ethnic backgrounds where the Europeans stole all of this from are making this argument. Kind of exposes the prejudice and ignorance of the people in this community towards the rights of those exploited colonies and people that belong to those backgrounds.
@@realitycheck6384 Yup, so true. Westerners and Europeans in particular seems to have gotten mass amnesia whenever exploitation of colonialism is brought up.
@@realitycheck6384 honestly yeah, just saw lmao
Next time you’re stateside I’ve got a story you should check out.
The lost silver mine outside Tionesta Pennsylvania. If you know how to find the obscure on line then you can find the little information there is.
The story is a blip on the radar, but it’s an interesting story.
Holy mixed metaphors, hyenas hunting elephants in the jungle
The spotted hyenas of the Indian jungle hunt elephant.
I like your take on it at the end.
I love your videos, even on subjects I may not have otherwise had cared about, purely becauae of your writing. Thank you, please keep making this art
That closing statement was rather ridiculous, the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance is the worlds longest bromance dating back to 1373. The sinking of the Cinco Chagas occurred during the period of the Iberian Union when Portugal briefly lost its independence to the Spanish Habsburgs.
It seems like this would definitely be worth the salvage under Maritime salvage law
Oh my gawd one pieceeee is real aint it, can we get much higherrrrr yar har
How the hell are those local resources? 😂😂😂
As a Portuguese, you can't imagine how triggered I was when this guy saying stealing from the Portuguese is his ancestry 😂
Best channel on UA-cam
8 miles out and 1 mile down - good visual
Even while enjoying the video, couldnt help spare a few thoughts for the labourers who worked on originally extracting those precious minerals.. who were the -men only, or perhaps women and children too? Also, in whichever lands the riches were "extracted" from did the people feel a sense of loss over it [as the Azoreans did when they stopped further recoveries]? Maybe the local elite did receive some compensation; was it fair by today's measures, did they even care? 😆
Intriguing captivating and informative as always, thank you.
Indeed, that's very true. Who were those children? (they were children) Where did they come from? Who loved them? What kind of (short, horrible) life did they live? History is built on such lives (like ours! Probably) but their stories are lost. Sad.
Hmm. Once I have a crew, and get me some gum gum fruit, I'm in for an adventure! Yahooooooo!
Babe wake up rare earth posted
The socks were a nice touch, LOL
If the ship exploded, its likely that it was blown to pieces, and everything is scattered
"When we return to the moon." Lol thats a good one
The Rare Pirate channel 😆
there is a difference between the moon landing site, and a shipwreck, for one, the moon landing site was actually INTENDED to be left there, but a shipwreck is by definition, NOT where it was intending to be. you get the treasure up, and then give it back to its rightful owners, taking a small finders fee of course, you would be doing them a favor, and a service, because THEN they would have a genuine tourist attraction, to get funds with for many years, as people would want to see that, as well as loads of funds for the treasury instantly, because well, its gold, and gems.
Eight miles out and one mile down actually sounds like something from the movie "Hedwig and the angry inch"
*Six inches forward and five inches back, I got an angry inch!*
If you don't dig up the wreck it'll be gone forever slowly disintegrating more and more. People should go try and discover it and document it before it is to late.
As other commenters have pointed out, the places that treasure was dug up from might also have opinions on who that treasure belongs too.
ikr? Surprised the Indian people this treasure was likely being stolen from didn't warrant a mention. You don't acquire $40bil without robbing _someone_
@@iiiiitsmagreta1240I think generally riches are Split half and half between the "historical" owner (that would be the portuguese) and the "water rights" owner. So in this case brazil (from which all that gold probably came from) would get nothing.
As a spaniard this kinda thing appears in the news from time to time. I think Colombia (or was It Venezuela?) Found a shipwreck recently and they're not digfing It Up because half of It would go to Spain per the rules previously stated.
Americans are especially Notorious for digfing Up sites and then find out surprised that the treasure IS legally not theirs.
Indian treasure being stolen wasn't mentioned because it wasn't fucking stolen.
The Portuguese in the XVI century were trading all over Asia, selling goods and making profit (gold and silver) which they were bringing back to Portugal. We are talking about 1500s not 1800s, at this point in history Portugal was just creating outposts and trading, and the Indian kingdoms were still very powerful, and Portugal was just filling the role of ocean trader after defeating the ottomans
@@miguelpimentel5623 Cool. Did not mention India or even the word 'stolen'.
Though Portugal's Empire began in 1415 took Goa in 1510 which held the capital of the Portuguese State of India untill 1961.
@@gota7738 goa was literally just a trading post/state, the gold was mined by someone somewhere who whilingly traded that gold for something else, so they have no right to opinionate who that gold belongs to
Thanks for the video Evan :) Some things are really worth preserving I do agree. What are we without our history? Humans need these legends and tales to build our societies. Having an extra buck always seems good, but does it really worth it when we lose these things in the process and forget where we came from?
love all your videos, the ones based in the azores have a special feel to em though.
great video !!
7:50 The writer Andy Weir makes that very point in his book "Artemis" which takes place in the first city (town really) on the moon. In the book, the original moon landing site is so honoured that a huge visitor's center is specially built to allow people to "look but don't touch". Visitors that have the dosh to do an EVA are prevented from getting any closer to the site than they would inside the visitor's center. It is preserved just as it was after the ascent of the Lunar Module back to Columbia.
By the way, thanks for the Marvin the Martian reference. Who knew that the English pirates had an Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator? Obviously the story about the powder magazine was just a cover up to hide England's highly advanced (and possibly extraterrestrial) weapons capability!🤣😂
The animated series Planetes also has a similar city with the first moon landing site preserved within.
@@gsurfer04 Cool!🙂
The Moon landing analogy blew my mind
Happy to see UA-cam popped this right up. Subscribed channels seem to be hit or miss these days.
I don't know how the law works in the Azores. But in the UK you get a finder's reward when you hand in treasure. Surely that system is reasonable for a rich archeological area as most metal detectors then mark a finds location meaning the objects don't lose their archeological context.
4:49 "Nobody would ever get the Treasure of the Chagas... Nobody but the waves."
I sense the ducks are involved somehow in the conspiracy theory!
what a title, man
If it works it works
Skeletons dissolve in the ocean water over time, so I guess nobody would reap gems from the deathly heads of drowned sailors, that's for certain.
Doesn't make pilfering a site of mass death any less fucked up
So you are assuming the way the Portugese got the treasure was all up to modern standards? ;)
Nothing like stumbling home drunk, throwing yourself onto the bed, and watching a new Rare Earth video.
Thank you for the info.