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Story: Shipwrecks

Salvaged coins

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Salvaged coins

The gold that sank with the General Grant has long attracted treasure seekers. However, the wreck has never been positively identified. In 1996 Bill Day, a Wellington treasure hunter, found anchors, cannons, crockery, gold and silver coins. He decided that the coins were unlikely to be from the General Grant as they were too old.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/1996/1329/12

by Phil Reid

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Gerard Hutching, Shipwrecks – Underwater history, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/7313/salvaged-coins (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Gerard Hutching, published 2 March 2009.