In the entire age of sail, this was the most valuable single prize taken by anybody, anyplace. Only a third of her captor's crew shared in the loot because the rest died during the expedition, but each of the ordinary crewmen received in cash the equivalent of sixteen to twenty-two years wages, depending on whose account one reads, and the commander received over two hundred times that amount.
The Gang-i-Sawai. Taken by the pirate Captain Henry Every (or Avery) of the Fancy in 1695.
The Gang-i-Sawi is legendary, but the actual value of the prize is unknown. I suspect it is one of those tales that has improved much with repeated telling. Avery was famously cheated of his share by the merchants through whom he tried to fence his share of the treasure, and died "not being worth as much as would buy him a coffin."
The ship that is the correct answer was rigorously inventoried when it was gotten home, and the figures published widely due to lawsuits associated with the adventure.
The Queen, captured by the General Armstrong, of New York. She carried sixteen guns, and was not taken without a stubborn fight, in which her captain, first lieutenant, and nine men were killed. She was valued at nearly $500,000, but on her way into port was wrecked off Nantucket.
The Queen, captured by the General Armstrong, of New York. She carried sixteen guns, and was not taken without a stubborn fight, in which her captain, first lieutenant, and nine men were killed. She was valued at nearly $500,000, but on her way into port was wrecked off Nantucket.
The ship that is the correct answer was rigorously inventoried when it was gotten home, and the figures published widely due to lawsuits associated with the adventure.
Even though this sounds like freebooter job from your description:
How about the Hermione taken in 1762 by the frigate Active and the sloop Favourite of the royal navy.
Captain Kidd's Quedagh Merchant is another one of those "one that got away" legends from the heyday of pirates. The Hermione of 1762 (there were a surpising number of Hermiones that brought profit to British captors) is closer. One of my references specifically says it was almost as great a prize as the one which is the answer to the question.
The Madre de Dios of 1592 was very probably a greater prize than the ship that is my answer. The problem is that the ship was plundered at the dock in Dartmouth before Sir Walter Raleigh could take posession in the name of the crown. The inventoried value afterwards was £140,000; great, but not a match for the correct answer or even for the Hermione.