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One of the most celebrated underwater discoveries involving European maritime history is the wreck of a ship famously known as the "Black Swan," which was later identified as the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes. This vessel, believed to have sunk around 1804, was loaded with an enormous cargo of silver and gold coins valued at hundreds of millions of dollars. The ship's wreck site, located in international waters, became the center of a fierce legal dispute between treasure hunters and Spain.