DetectingWales.com

By Daniel Miller

£23m payday: U.S. company recovers 48 tons of silver from British wartime shipwreck off Irish coast

SS Gairsoppa was hit by torpedo from a German U-boat in 1941
Wreck lies 300 miles off Ireland's coast in British waters, 15,420ft down
This is the heaviest and deepest recovery of metals from a shipwreck

Odyssey Marine Exploration is under contract with British Government
The company will get to keep 80 per cent of the haul after expenses
 
A US deep-sea exploration company says it has recovered about 48 tons of silver from a British cargo ship that was sunk by a torpedo during World War II.

The haul comes from the SS Gairsoppa, which was hit by a torpedo from a German U-boat about 300 miles off Ireland's coast in 1941. It now sits 15,420ft deep.

Salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration said it is the heaviest and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck ever made.

Booty: Salvage workers inspect silver bars as they are recovered from the wreck of the SS Gairsoppa torpedoed in a German U-boat attack 300 miles off the south-west coast of Ireland

Doomed: On February 17, 1941, a single torpedo sank the SS Gairsoppa, killing all 85 crewmen except one 
 
Haul: Forty-eight tons of silver bullion has been recovered from the SS Gairsoppa and returned to the British Government but salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc will keep 80% after expenses

So far, workers have brought up more than 1,200 silver bars, or about 1.4 million troy ounces, worth about £23.7 million (about $37 million).

The company is under contract with the British Government and will get to keep 80 per cent of the haul after expenses. The remaining 20 per cent will go to the Treasury.

SS Gairsoppa was steaming home from India in 1941 while in the service of the Ministry of War Transport when she was torpedoed by a Nazi U-boat.

She sank in British waters about 300 miles off the south west coast of Ireland. Only one of her 84 crew members survived.

The 412-ft steamship has remained sitting upright on the seabed with its holds open, nearly three miles under water.

SS Gairsoppa was heading for Liverpool but was forced to break away from its convoy and was sunk

Pick-up: Odyssey crew used remotely operated vehicles to get to the wreck and unload its precious cargo

The ship, recognisable by the red-and-black paintwork of the British-India Steam Navigation Company and the torpedo hole in its side, was sailing in a convoy from Calcutta in 1941.

Buffeted by high winds and running low on coal, the captain decided he would not make it to Liverpool and broke from the convoy to head for Galway.

A single torpedo from U-101 sank her in 20 minutes, on February 17, 1941. Three lifeboats were launched, but only Second Officer Richard Ayres made it to land, reaching the Cornish coast after 13 days.
Well preserved: A brass part of the Gairsoppa is in good condition, suggesting that the cargo is also undamaged by its time beneath the waves


In an earlier statement Odyssey said the UK government was ‘desperately looking for new sources of income’ and was urging it to find more British wrecks.

It was also investigating HMS Sussex, lost off Gibraltar with 10 tons of gold in 1694, and HMS Victory, a precursor to Nelson’s flagship.

In 2008 a US judge ordered the firm to hand back gold and silver coins worth £300million to Spain, which said the treasure was taken from a frigate that sank in 1804.

Odyssey said the wreck’s identity was unclear and had been found in international waters.

intresting read ,,, 48 tons of silver eh? ,,need a big finds pouch for that lot ,,as for thu u.k goverment looking for more income {whats new?} start hiding your hammys under the matress ;D

ooh look at that what a haul :o.nice read niel cheers

Good read. cheers for posting Neil