Girona gold: How diver discovered 400-year-old treasure
It was the discovery of a lifetime, an audacious Indiana Jones-style story of daring diving that uncovered a 400-year-old long-lost haul of Spanish treasure. When Belgian Robert Sténuit discovered pieces of eight in the murky, freezing seabed off Northern Ireland's north coast 50 years ago he knew he'd finally found it. Gold and artefacts deposited at the resting place of one of the most important ships in the Spanish Armada - the Girona. In 1588, the ship sank beneath the harsh Atlantic waves after striking rocks at Lacada Point near Portballintrae, County Antrim. Read more
On 28 May 1588, the Spanish Armada (Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, "Great and Most Fortunate Navy") set sail from Lisbon (Portugal), headed for the English Channel. The fleet was composed of 151 ships, 8,000 sailors and 18,000 soldiers, and bore 1,500 brass guns and 1,000 iron guns. Read more