The Gold Ship
Skeiðarársandur. Hornafjörður
On September 19th, 1667, during a violent storm with strong southern winds, a Dutch merchant ship loaded with valuable cargo and carrying about 200 crew members and passengers was wrecked on Skeiðarársandur. Most, if not all, managed to get off the ship, but only about a quarter survived the sands. The cold and the heavy surf claimed the rest. The sea buried the ship in the sand, but for about a hundred years the masts protruded above the surface until they were sawn off and used for timber. After that the wreck was lost, and many attempts have been made to find it again and the valuables that might still lie within it.