1940's shipwreck yields 61 tons of silver

An oceanic exploration company has recovered 122,000 pounds of silver from a shipwreck 300 miles off the coast of Galway, Ireland—the heaviest amount of precious metal ever retrieved from a shipwreck.

The recovered silver was insured at $1.3 million in 1941; today it's worth about $75 million
[Credit: Odyssey Marine Exploration]

In February 1941, the S.S. Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship with stockpiles of tea, iron, and silver, was weathering a storm when it was struck by a Nazi torpedo. The ship sank within 20 minutes; only one person survived.

At the time, the silver that ended up on the seafloor was insured at $1.3 million. Today it's worth about $75 million.

Going Deep

The silver was retrieved about two weeks ago by Odyssey Marine Exploration, which used a remotely operated vehicle to access the shipwreck. The vehicle descended about three miles and explored several rooms in the ship until it found the silver in two locations. 

A remotely operated vehicle was used to explore the wreck, three miles below the surface
[Credit: Odyssey Marine Exploration]

Mark Gordon, president of Odyssey Marine Exploration, said the process of uncovering the silver at that depth was complex and difficult.

"It's pretty amazing to think that, first, it can even work in those depths. And then to be able to use the various saws and tools to get inside and then look around, it's just really staggering to think what our technical teams have accomplished," he said.

What's Next

This recovery of the 122,000 pounds of silver is actually the second load obtained by Odyssey Marine Exploration. The first recovery took place in the summer of 2012 and extracted approximately 96,000 pounds of silver from the seafloor.

That makes a total of 218,000 pounds of silver and is all of the insured silver the cargo vessel was known to be carrying. However, the S.S. Gairsoppa could have held still more silver—uninsured and undocumented. Next summer, Odyssey Marine Exploration may return to the ship again, though a further search would involve sawing through the ship's rusty steel hull.

In addition to finding silver, Odyssey Marine Exploration also recovered several other artifacts from the ship, including insurance documents, newspapers, and personal letters. After conservation of these documents, the team hopes to send the letters to the friends and families of the sailors who perished in the wreck.

"It would be neat if we could reunite, if not the recipients, then the descendants of the intended recipients with those little pieces of history," Gordon said.

Author: Harmony Huskinson | Source: National Geographic News [August 02, 2013]