1782 8 reale salvaged from the wreck of the Spanish Brigantine El Cazador. The ship set sail January 11, 1784 from Vera Cruz, Mexico going to New Orleans. It was carrying 450,000 silver pesos. It sunk with out a trace. The money was meant to redeem by King Carlos III Spanish paper money in Spanish owned Louisiana. Spain was facing a financial crisis at the time the ship sank and King Carlos IV of Spain was forced to sell Louisiana to the French in 1800. Three years later Emperor Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States (~1,000,000 square miles) for fifteen million dollars, about 3 cents per acre. The sinking of the ship and it contents changed the face of the U.S. On August 2, 1993 Captain Jerry Murphy of the fishing vessel Mistake found the wreck.