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On December 3, 1746, the Prince of Conty was shipwrecked on a stormy night near Belle-Île-en-Mer, in Morbihan. almost three centuries more later, part of the treasure that was in the holds was rendered to France.
On December 3, 1746, during a storm, the ship of the Prince of Conty runs aground on the reefs. The sailboat was returning from China with 229 sailors on board. Among goods, treasures, whose five gold bars stolen by looters of wreckage. They were returned on Wednesday June 15, 2022 to France. “These are rare remains“, recalls Olivia Hulot, curator of the underwater archaeological heritage of Brittany and Loire-Atlantique. “The ships of the Compagnie des Indes are a special page in our maritime history and we have only one ship whose remains have been found on our coasts, and this ship is the Prince de Conti“, she completes.
The gold bars, worth 220,000 euros, were found four years ago in the United States. They were going to be offered at auction. Their signature, Chinese ideograms, made it possible to identify them. Three French people, a couple and a woman, suspected of having looted the wreckage, are currently being prosecuted. The five gold bars will join the other vestiges of the Prince of Conti at the Compagnie des Indes museum in Lorient (Morbihan). The wreck rests about fifteen meters of background, in an area that is difficult to access.