Tamal Kundu
‘Outer Banks’ is a popular Netflix teen mystery-adventure drama series that explores the time-tested treasure hunting trope through the 21st-century lens. The story is set in the eponymous barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina, USA, and depicts the stark economic contrast between the wealthy inhabitants and summer vacationers of Figure Eight, known as the Kooks, and the working-class locals of the Cut, known as the Pogues.
When John B (Chase Stokes), a young adult Pogue, realizes that his father discovered the legendary sunken ship Royal Merchant before he went missing, he and his friends embark on an incredible journey to find the ship and the gold it was supposedly carrying at the time of its sinking. The search for the gold serves as the primary plot device in the first season. In season 2, the focus shifts to the Cross of Saint Domingo, but the gold continues to be an important part of the story. If you are wondering about its current location and who has it, this is what you need to know.
Where Is the Gold from the Royal Merchant Now in Outer Banks?
In the 1800s, the Royal Merchant allegedly sunk with 400 million dollars worth of British gold on board. However, when John and his friends find the ship, they discover that the gold is not there. They later realize that there was a survivor from the shipwreck, a former slave named Denmark Tanny, who served as the cook on the Royal Merchant. Tanny brought the gold to the shore and used a portion of it to buy the Tannyhill plantation and then used the revenue from the plantation to free members of his family and other slaves.
John and his friends find the rest of the gold underneath the house belonging to a woman in her 80s. However, before they can retrieve it, Ward Cameron (Charles Esten), John’s former employer and the father of his crush Sarah (Madelyn Cline), takes it and sends it to his home in Nassau, Bahamas. At the end of the first season, John and Sarah head toward Nassau, hoping to get the gold back. Unfortunately, things don’t turn out according to their plans.
They team up with a local crew led by Captain Terrance, but their heist turns into a disaster when Sarah gets shot. Ward and his son Rafe (Drew Starkey) reacquire the gold with the help of the local police and send it to a Swiss bank. After Ward seemingly kills himself by exploding his yacht, his wife Rose (Caroline Arapoglou) informs Rafe that she doesn’t know where the gold is. She tells him that Ward left no record about the bank and accounts where he had put the gold, sending the latter into another violent outburst.
This is probably a lie, considering Rose is later revealed to be the only person who has known that Ward is alive. Rose and Ward appear to be equal partners in all of Ward’s activities. She doesn’t tell Rafe the truth because she justifiably doesn’t trust the unstable and violent young man. As the second season concludes, the Cameron family has both the Cross and access to the accounts where they have stored the gold as they head toward their private island near Guadeloupe.
