Riejgersdall

Reijgersdaal sunk in 1747 off South Africa

This typical East Indiaman was carrying eight chests of silver coins (nearly 30,000 coins) when she sank on October 25, 1747, between Robben and Dassen Islands. After four and a half months at sea, the crew had anchored there to fetch rock rabbits ("dassies" for which Dassen Island was names) and other fresh food to relieve massive illness on board the ship, on which some 125 had died and 83 were incapacitates out of 297 people; but in the face of gale, the anchor-line snapped and the ship foundered on the rocks. Only 20 survived the sinking, and only one incomplete chest of coins was recovered. The area was deemed too dangerous to attempt further salvage. 
A great majority of the coins from this wreck are Mexican pillar dollars in excellent condition, but there were also a few hundred New World silver cobs, including Guatemala cobs, which are rarely seen from shipwrecks.