On the roadstead of Balaklava

The waters and seas that are more accessible to our compatriots hold many mysteries. For example, Black. Expeditions of treasure hunters have been unsuccessfully trying for almost 150 years to find at the bottom of the Black Sea the British frigate "Black Prince", which sank on November 14, 1854 during a severe storm off Balaklava. According to documents, the frigate brought warm clothes to Crimea, but even before the end of the Crimean War, rumors appeared from nowhere that there was gold on board, intended to pay salaries to the troops.

The search began immediately after the peace was concluded. In 1875, French divers searched the bottom of Balaklava Bay and all the approaches to it, but the Black Prince was not among the more than ten sunken ships.

In 1901, the inventor of the deep-sea diving suit, Giuseppe Rastucci, managed to find the iron hull of a large ship. From the bottom they lifted a metal box with lead bullets, a telescope, a rifle, an anchor and much more, but not a single coin. Two years later, the Italians discovered another iron ship at the other end of the bay, but again they did not find gold.

In 1922, an amateur diver from Balaklava retrieved several gold coins from the bottom of the sea at the entrance to the bay. Interest in “The Black Prince” flared up with renewed vigor. A year later, a Soviet expedition took place, but it also turned out to be unsuccessful.

In 1927, the Japanese diving company Shinkai Kogyossio offered its services for searching and recovering treasures. The Japanese claimed that they had found the ship itself, but there was no gold on it. They were sure that the barrels of gold, if they existed, were raised by the British themselves shortly after the storm.

By the way, the French, Italians, Americans, Norwegians, Germans and our divers were searching for the remains of the “Prince”. But for some reason the British never looked for their gold. It is possible because there was nothing to look for.

Semyon UGLOV