Princess Louisa

The final voyage

Princess Louisa was built in 1732–33 at Deptford for the English East India Company trade, a 30-gun, roughly 500-ton three-decker named for the youngest daughter of George II. Company shipping records (compiled in the East India Company Ships database) document four full voyages under Captains Richard Pinnell and John Pinson between 1733 and her loss. On her fourth voyage, bound for Persia and Bombay, she left the Downs on 4 March 1743 under Captain Pinson.

On 18 April 1743 she struck a reef off Maio (also called the Isle of May) in the Cape Verde archipelago and was lost. Her documented cargo included twenty chests of Spanish and Spanish colonial coin — a total the numismatic trade literature puts at some 69,760 ounces of silver — intended for trade in silk and spices at Bombay and in Persia. The wreck lay undiscovered for over 250 years until a salvage operation in the late 1990s.

What was aboard

The ship's East India Company voyage record is well documented in the Ships of the East India Company database; the specie cargo is documented in the numismatic trade literature describing the 1998–99 recovery, though this report treats trade-catalogue figures as commercially sourced rather than as an institutional archive record.

Spanish colonial silver coin: Twenty chests of Spanish and Spanish colonial currency, reported at a total of approximately 69,760 ounces of silver, chiefly for the Bombay and Persian silk and spice trade.

Two-reales cobs: The bulk of recovered coinage is reported as Spanish colonial pillars-and-waves two-reales cobs, the denomination most commonly offered in the collector market from this wreck.

Ship's armament: The vessel carried 30 guns as built for East India Company service, per contemporary ship records.

Ship's company: A crew of about 99 is documented for her 1733 voyage; a specific crew figure for the final 1743 voyage was not located.

How to collect

Confirm the correct recovery date: Material should be traced to the documented 1998–99 salvage rather than an earlier, undocumented decade.

Expect Spanish colonial two-reales cobs predominantly: The bulk of the recovered specie is reported as this denomination; unusual denominations claimed from this wreck warrant extra verification.

Request the salvor's export and certification paperwork: Legitimate 1990s-era recoveries from Cape Verde waters should carry salvage and export documentation from that operation.

Treat the exact silver total as a trade-catalogue figure: The often-cited 69,760-ounce total originates in commercial coin-dealer literature rather than a cited institutional archive; it should be presented as reported, not as an audited figure.