An American deep-ocean shipwreck exploration company is in for a major windfall after making the historic discovery of more than $200 million worth of silver which went down aboard a World War II British cargo steamer torpedoed by a German U-boat as it headed for the safety of Galway harbour to refuel.
Odyssey Marine Exploration was awarded the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of SS Gairsoppa by the UK government department for transport in early 2010. The SS Gairsoppa was a British cargo steamer enlisted in the service of the UK for the ministry of war transport during World War II. In February 1941 the steamer had been on its way from India to Britain with a cargo of silver ingots, pig iron and tea when it began to run out of fuel off the coast of neutral Ireland. As the steamer headed away from the convey to the safety of Galway harbour where it was to refuel, it was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U101 on February 17. The steamer sank within 20 minutes and her last report position was 300 miles southwest of Galway Bay. A total of 32 crew members managed to get into lifeboats, however, all perished except for one survivor, who reached the UK 13 days later.
This week, the wreck has made history again, hiding its treasure until the American exploration firm Odyssey Marine announced the discovery of about 200 tonnes of silver, worth $236 million, making it the largest haul of precious metal ever found at sea.
Odyssey Marine Exploration has this week confirmed the location and identity of the shipwreck site of the SS Gairsoppa located nearly 4,700 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic sea. Under a salvage agreement with the UK gover,ment the exploration firm will retain 80 per cent of the net salved value of the silver bullion recovered from the 412-foot steamer.
"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. 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," said Andrew Craig, Odyssey senior project manager.
Odyssey has begun the process of specifying and assembling the tools and equipment for the salvage, and anticipates that operations will begin in the spring as soon as the weather window begins to open up in the North Atlantic.
