Cazador

El Cazador sunk in 1784 off New Orleans, Louisiana

"Shipwreck That Saved the World"

On 2 August 1993, the trawler Mistake, under Captain Jerry Murphy from the home port of Pascagoula, Mississippi, was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico fifty miles south of New Orleans. As it fished, Mistake's net hung on a snag. When the crew hoisted the net and dumped the contents on the deck, they found the net was filled with silver coins. The coins bore markings from the Spanish mint in Mexico, along with the date 1783.

The El Cazador was a Spanish brigantine that sank in the Gulf of America in early 1784 while  transporting roughly 450,00 silver pesos from Veracruz to New Orleans. Discovered in 1993, the wreck is known as the "Shipwreck that led to the Louisiana Purchase," as its loss crippled Spain's ability to manage its Louisiana colony, leading to its return to France and subsequent sale to the U.S..