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Treasure hunters eye huge silver haul from WWII ship

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Published : Sept. 27, 2011 - 10:23

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MIAMI, Sept 26, 2011 (AFP) -- When the SS Gairsoppa was torpedoed by a German U-boat 70 years ago, it took its huge silver cargo to a watery grave. US divers are working to recover what may be the biggest shipwreck haul ever, valued at some $210 million.

Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration on Monday confirmed the identity and location of the Gairsoppa and cited official documents indicating the British ship was carrying some 219 tons of silver when it sank in 1941 in the North Atlantic some 300 miles (490 kilometers) off the Irish coast.

Valued then at 600,000 pounds, the silver today is worth about $210 million, which would make it history's largest recovery of precious metals lost at sea, Odyssey said.

"We've accomplished the first phase of this project -- the location and identification of the target shipwreck -- and now we're hard at work planning for the recovery phase," Odyssey senior project manager Andrew Craig said in a statement.

"Given the orientation and condition of the shipwreck, we are extremely confident that our planned salvage operation will be well suited for the recovery of this silver cargo."

Recovery is expected to begin next spring.

After a competitive tender process the British government awarded Odyssey an exclusive salvage contract for the cargo, and under the agreement Odyssey will retain 80 percent of the silver bullion salvaged from the wreck.

The 412-foot (125-meter) Gairsoppa had been sailing from India back to Britain in February 1941 bearing a cargo of silver, pig iron and tea, and was in a convoy of ships when a storm hit. Running low on fuel, the Gairsoppa broke off from the convoy and set a course for Galway, Ireland.

It never made it, succumbing to a German torpedo in the contested waters of the North Atlantic. Of the 85 people on board, only one survived.

The Gairsoppa came to rest nearly 15,400 feet (4,700 meters) below the surface, where for decades it was lost to the world. A previous effort to locate the shipwreck failed.

Odyssey found it relatively quickly, and insists the depth of the site won't prevent a full cargo recovery.

"We were fortunate to find the shipwreck sitting upright, with the holds open and easily accessible," Odyssey chief executive Greg Stemm said.

"This should enable us to unload cargo through the hatches as would happen with a floating ship alongside a cargo terminal."

Odyssey is a world leader in deep-ocean exploration and has numerous shipwreck hunting projects in process around the globe.

In May 2007, it announced it had found half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects from a ship they code-named the "Black Swan," which went down in 1804 in the Atlantic off the Strait of Gibraltar. The find is being contested by Spain, which claims the trove.

In the latest operation, the firm recently conducted remotely operated vehicles from its main ship, the Odyssey Explorer, to inspect the Gairsoppa wreck. It acquired still and video imagery from the site which were used to confirm the identify and evaluate the condition of the ship.

Photographs released by the company show clear details of the Gairsoppa, including a ladder leading to the forecastle deck, a waist-high compass used by the helmsman, even the hole in the steel hull blown open by the torpedo.

The find highlights the influential role that modern technology has come to play in the business of finding shipwrecks, with vastly improved sonar equipment, global positioning systems and of course more advanced deepwater robots that scour the world's oceans for booty.

"Technology is opening up a very big door," Peter Cope, a former British submariner who researches shipwrecks for Odyssey and other firms, told The New York Times.

"Think of how many ships were sunk in the First and Second World Wars.

There are millions of ounces of silver... down there."

 

<한글 기사>

'2천억원대 은괴' 적재한 英 화물선 발견

2차 세계대전 당시 은괴 200t을 싣고 가다 독일 잠수함에 의해 격침된  영국 화물선이 발견됐다.

BBC는 26일(현지시간) 지난 1941년 독일 잠수함 U보트의 공격을 받아 침몰한 영국 화물선을 미국 탐사업체가 찾아냈다고 보도했다.

증기 기관으로 움직이는 이 화물선은 U보트의 어뢰를 맞아 아일랜드 서쪽 300마 일 지점에서 침몰했다.

공격을 받은 뒤 85명의 선원 가운데 32명이 구명보트를 타고 아일랜드 해안으로 향했으나 모두 숨지고 13일뒤에 1명만 생존해 영국 웨일스 남부 해안에 도달했다.

이 배는 인도에서 은괴 200t을 싣고 영국으로 향하던 중이었다.

배에는 현재 가격으로 1억5천만 파운드(한화 약 2천775억원)의 가치가 있는 은이 그대로 실려있다고 탐사업체 측은 밝혔다.

탐사 업체는 수심 4천700m 밑에 가라앉은 은괴를 심해 탐사가 가능한 로봇 잠수 정을 이용해 인양할 계획이다.

영국 교통부와 맺은 계약에 따라 탐사 업체는 화물 평가액의 약 80%를 가져가게 된다.

BBC는 "귀금속을 싣고 침몰했던 화물선 가운데 가장 큰 규모"라며 "화물선에 실렸던 은괴에 금이 2.5% 함유돼 있다는 당시 서류가 남아있어 평가액은 늘어날 수 있다"고 전했다. (연합뉴스)