Videos: Odyssey Discovery of HMS Victory Shipwreck

News is abound with Odyssey Marine Exploration’s claim to have discovered HMS Victory, the legendary British warship that disappeared in the English Channel following a 1744 storm.

Odyssey, a deep-sea exploration and treasure-hunting firm, announced their findings last Monday in London. The warship may have been carrying up to 100,000 gold coins weighing four tons before it sank to the sea-floor.

"The money is not as important as the cultural and historical significance of the discovery," Greg Stemm, chief executive officer of Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration said.

"HMS Victory was the mightiest vessel of the 18th Century and the eclectic mix of guns we found on the site will prove essential in further refining our understanding of naval weaponry used during the era."

While the artifacts alone appeals to the adventurous mind and feeds the pulse of history, video of the shipwreck site — to include enormous brass cannons — is nothing short of amazing.

Viewers of the Discovery Channel TV series “Treasure Quest” were able to watch on Thursday Odyssey bring up two gigantic canyons, and identify the HMS Victory. The techniques and technology used to haul up the several ton guns was captivating.

For an overview of the find and footage of the shipwreck site, watch the above embedded CNN video with commentary by Josh Levs.

A Discovery video highlights the HMS Victory and its finding:

http://dsc.discovery.com/video/?playerId=203711706&categoryId=3125043001&lineupId=3857608001

[Firefox users: The CNN embed video option has problems with Firefox. View the top video directly at: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2009/02/07/levs.ship.treasure.cnn]