The Príncipe de Asturias, a Spanish ocean liner dubbed 'the Spanish Titanic', sank off Ilhabela, Brazil in 1916 with hundreds of lives lost. It carried vast quantities of gold, paid by the British government to Argentina for wartime food supplies. Rumours persist that several tonnes of undeclared gold may also have been stashed in the hold, according to Spanish newspaper El País.

Some speculate that the ship was deliberately sunk for insurance fraud, adding intrigue to one of South America’s most tragic maritime disasters. Though divers have explored the wreck, no confirmed treasure has ever been recovered.

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