Seoul, South Korea (CNN) A massive Russian ship with a potential fortune in gold on board has been discovered at the bottom of the ocean more than a century after it sank, a South Korean company said Thursday.

The 5,800-ton Dmitri Donskoii, a first class armored cruiser, first set sail in 1885, according to the Shinil Group, the company which announced its rediscovery this week. It was scuttled during the 1905 Battle of Tsushima in the waters between present-day South Korea and Japan, during the Russo-Japanese War, which Moscow eventually lost.

A picture supplied by the Shinil Group shows a cannon on the Donskoii.

Since its sinking, there have been numerous attempts to explore the remains of the ship and hunt for its purported treasure.

It is believed to have had a large amount of gold coins on board -- money that was part of the Russian war fund. The now bankrupt Donga Construction company previously attempted to explore and salvage the ship in the early 2000s.

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