200 Tons of Silver Found on WWII Ship

[namvet]

saw this on CNN last night. billed as the biggest find in Maritime history. or so they say



A Florida company finds buried treasure worth an astounding amount of money. Odyssey Marine says it has located a World War II era ship that may have almost a quarter-of-a-billion dollars worth of silver on board.

It sits nearly three miles under water - deeper than the wreck of the Titanic. The S.S. Garisoppa has been at this resting place for 70 years.

"It was sunk by a U-boat, early in 1941 during WWII," Mark Gordon with Odyssey Marine said.

It was a stormy Second World War night when, on February 17, 1941, three lifeboats abandoned the SS Gairsoppa, a 412 foot-long British cargo ship en route from India to Liverpool, England.

In service of the Ministry of War Transport, the Gairsoppa was laden with tea, iron and tons of silver. Because of bad weather and insufficient coal, she was forced to break away from the military convoy off the coast of Ireland.
As the captain re-routed in emergency for Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, the merchant steamship and its crew of 86 men were hit by a torpedo from a Nazi U-boat. She sank in icy seas within 20 minutes.

Left at the mercy of the winds and waves, two lifeboats soon disappeared. A third boat managed to sail for 13 days, with only one person, second officer Richard Ayres, surviving the long journey to shore.

source

it was sunk by U-101. the records were found from this Uboat which gave the exact position of the sinking.

U-101 service record
http://www.uboat.net/boats/u101.htm

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[djones520]

There is some primal "fear" in me that just makes thinking about depths like that unsettling. I do not like deep water stuff.

Cool find though. Makes one wonder just what other treasures did they sink that would have been better served capturing?

[SarasotaRepub]

Cool!!!

[namvet]

There is some primal "fear" in me that just makes thinking about depths like that unsettling. I do not like deep water stuff.

Cool find though. Makes one wonder just what other treasures did they sink that would have been better served capturing?

you mean capture the ships instead of sinking them??? all the Nazi's wanted was to send it all to the bottom. a capture would involve great risks. but im sure the oceans of the world have undiscovered wrecks like this. some containing a kings ransome. they'll never be found.

[SaintLouieWoman]

There is some primal "fear" in me that just makes thinking about depths like that unsettling. I do not like deep water stuff.

Cool find though. Makes one wonder just what other treasures did they sink that would have been better served capturing?

Good strategic thought. You would have thought someone back then would have perhaps decided to capture the boat.

Where I volunteer at Mote Marine here in Sarasota, the woman who has the deepest dive on record, Dr. Sylvia Earle, still is on the board and recently came to visit and give a talk to the volunteers. Many of the staff (like Dr Eugenie Clark who is in her mid 80's and still diving and coming to work every day) participate in those deep dives.

Dr Earle said that there's a whole world out there yet to be explored. She talks about the deep with such enthusiasm.

That much silver would make anyone seem enthusiastic. :D

[namvet]

Good strategic thought. You would have thought someone back then would have perhaps decided to capture the boat.

Where I volunteer at Mote Marine here in Sarasota, the woman who has the deepest dive on record, Dr. Sylvia Earle, still is on the board and recently came to visit and give a talk to the volunteers. Many of the staff (like Dr Eugenie Clark who is in her mid 80's and still diving and coming to work every day) participate in those deep dives.

Dr Earle said that there's a whole world out there yet to be explored. She talks about the deep with such enthusiasm.

That much silver would make anyone seem enthusiastic. :D

sounds good in theory. but if they capture it who tows it to safety ??? Uboats and their surface ships were under constant attack. still I dare say they considered it. question is in a large convoy which one has the mother load????

[djones520]

sounds good in theory. but if they capture it who tows it to safety ??? Uboats and their surface ships were under constant attack. still I dare say they considered it. question is in a large convoy which one has the mother load????

Yeah, it's definitely not a plan without risks. I guess they'd have had to move on targets of oppurtunity. Lone ships, done a quick boarding action. Offered to spare them if they turned over things of such value, etc...

I can't seem to find any easy info on this ship, so don't know if it was in a convoy or anything like that. I'm sure $250m woulda gone a long way towards Germany's war effort though. Or... the crew woulda shanghai'd it, and made of South America. Then think of the shipping that wouldn't have been lost from later sorties.

Lots of what if's.

[namvet]

Yeah, it's definitely not a plan without risks. I guess they'd have had to move on targets of oppurtunity. Lone ships, done a quick boarding action. Offered to spare them if they turned over things of such value, etc...

I can't seem to find any easy info on this ship, so don't know if it was in a convoy or anything like that. I'm sure $250m woulda gone a long way towards Germany's war effort though. Or... the crew woulda shanghai'd it, and made of South America. Then think of the shipping that wouldn't have been lost from later sorties.

Lots of what if's.

Uboats were small and there be no room for a cargo this large. the freighter CO would have time to get him men off and scuttle the ship. these ships also carried war supplies as well.

she was part of a convoy. but strayed away because of bad weather and low fuel. she was a sittin' duck.

The SS Gairsoppa was a British steam merchant ship that saw service during the Second World War. She sailed with several convoys, before joining Convoy SL 64. Running low on fuel, she left the convoy and headed for Galway, Ireland, but was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat.

[djones520]

I just looked it up, back then the cargo was only worth 600,000 pounds. Really wouldn't have been worth the effort.

But the ship was sailing solo, it had broken off from it's convoy to try to escape a storm. Would have been relatively safe to try to board and loot her.

Edit: guess you found some info as well.

[fettpett]

I just looked it up, back then the cargo was only worth 600,000 pounds. Really wouldn't have been worth the effort.

But the ship was sailing solo, it had broken off from it's convoy to try to escape a storm. Would have been relatively safe to try to board and loot her.

Edit: guess you found some info as well.

only? dude...you realize was 600,000 pounds was equal to more than the whole of the spending of the US War Department in 1940? exchange rate was $4.03/ 1 pound and we only spent about 1.5 mil in 1940 :eek:

http://usgovernmentspending.blogspot...-spending.html
http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/dollhist-graph.htm