According to historical records it was carrying 16 chests of silver and four of gold when it went down in the area of Cape Lookout during a 1750 hurricane. A conservative estimate would put the value at $124 million in today's money.
That makes El Salvador one of the richest shipwrecks to be found along the American East Coast.
"North of Florida, there's nothing like El Salvador," Phil Masters, president of Intersal, another research company that has been looking for the shipwreck said.
The Spanish merchant ship was one of a fleet of vessels traveling from Colombia to Spain when it was pushed ashore between North Carolina and Maryland during the August 1750 storm.
Some historical references say the El Salvador went down near Topsail Inlet (Beaufort Inlet was known as Old Topsail Inlet at the time), and other accounts put the wreck near Cape Lookout.
The other ships sustained varying degrees of damage, but their crews and most of their treasures were saved, according to Intersal's Web site. That was not the case for El Salvador.
Of the more than 30 people on board, only three sailors and a boy survived, according to Intersal. Within a few days, the shipwreck had been covered by sand.