A SHIPWRECK holding silver worth £150million has been discovered in the Atlantic – the largest amount of precious metal ever found at sea.
A SHIPWRECK holding silver worth £150million has been discovered in the Atlantic – the largest amount of precious metal ever found at sea.
About 200 tons of the bullion sank off Ireland with British cargo steamer the SS Gairsoppa when it was hit by a German torpedo in 1941.
But it has now been found by US treasure hunters awarded a contract to conduct a search by our Department for Transport.
They will now attempt to salvage the silver and will have to hand 20% of its value to the British Treasury.
The US team lowered a robot 2.9 miles to the seabed and it found a gaping hole in the side of the ship where the torpedo had struck 70 years ago.
Greg Stemm, chief executive of underwater archaeology and salvage firm Odyssey Marine Exploration, said: “We were fortunate to find the shipwreck sitting upright, with the holds open and easily accessible.
“This should enable to us to unload cargo through the hatches, as would happen with a ship alongside a cargo terminal.”
The 412ft SS Gairsoppa had set sail from India carrying silver, iron and tea and was headed for Liverpool.
But it was forced to break away from its military convoy as weather deteriorated. Running out of fuel, the captain tried to make it to Galway in Ireland but was attacked by a German U-boat 300 miles south-west of the harbour, with the loss of all but one of the 85 crewmen.
Of 32 survivors who managed to clamber on to lifeboats, Second Officer Richard Ayres was the only one who made it to the Cornish coast alive.
He was awarded an MBE for his attempts to rescue his fellow sailors and lived until 1992.
Odyssey said it was “highly unlikely” any human remains would be found, given the age and depth of the wreck. But chief marine archaeologist Neil Dobson said: “By finding this shipwreck and telling the story of its loss, we pay tribute to the brave merchant sailors who lost their lives.”
The Florida-based company said it had confirmed the shipwreck’s identity from evidence including the number of holds, the anchor type, the scupper locations and red-and-black hull colours.
Although none of the precious metal has yet been found, the shiny tin linings of the tea chests were initially mistaken for silver bars.
The Odyssey team is expected to begin the recovery stage of the operation when the weather improves next spring. Because SS Gairsoppa, which was owned by the British Indian Steam Navigation Company, settled upright on the seabed with its cargo holds open, the firm is confident that remote-controlled robotic submarines should be able to retrieve the bullion.
Senior project manager Andrew Craig said: “We’ve accomplished the first phase of this project – the location and identification of the target shipwreck SS Gairsoppa.
“Now we’re hard at work planning for the recovery phase. Given the orientation and condition of the shipwreck, we are confident that our planned salvage will be well suited for the recovery of this silver cargo.”
