48 Tons of Silver Found in North Atlantic

[Kurr]

96,000 pounds of Silver, possibly the largest discovery in history, was found in the North Atlantic

Deep-sea explorers have pulled up 48 tons of silver treasure from three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic in what may be the deepest, largest precious metal recovery in history.

The haul was retrieved from the S.S. Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship that sank in February 1941.

The expedition, by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company specializing in shipwreck exploration, recovered 1,203 bars of silver, totaling 1.4 million ounces. Viewers will have the chance to follow the pursuit of the lost treasure on an upcoming Discovery Channel special produced by JWM Productions.

http://refreshingnews99.blogspot.in/201 ... rgest.html

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Looks like they found someone's bugout stash, lol!!

[CuNation1]

Looks like they found someone's bugout stash, lol!!

Ahh man... looks like I'll have to find a better location next time to have a boating accident.

[NHsorter]

Why were they boating around loads of silver like that with U-Boats everywhere? The only thing that I can think of is that maybe they were trying to get it out of the country and maybe to the US before a potential German invasion?

[JadeDragon]

Attached to convoy SL-64 under master Gerald Hyland, she was returning from India to Britain in 1941 with a cargo of silver ingots, pig iron and tea.[5][6] Joining the 8 knot convoy in Freetown, Sierra Leone,[7] while in a heavy storm and running low on coal off the coast of neutral Republic of Ireland, Gairsoppa split off from the convoy and set course for Galway harbour.

She was circled by a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 aircraft at 08:00 on 16 February, and at 22.30 was spotted by U-101, under the command of Ernst Mengersen. Torpedoed on the starboard side in No. 2 hold, she sank within 20 minutes (Note: German logbooks kept in German time state she sank at 00.08 hours on February 17, 1941).[7] Her last reported position was 50°00′N 14°0′WCoordinates: 50°00′N 14°0′W, 300 miles (480 km) southwest of Galway Bay.[5] The wreck lies 4,700 metres (15,400 ft) below the surface.[8]

It was thought that three lifeboats launched, but only that in the charge of the second officer R.H. Ayres with four Europeans and two Lascars on board made it away; the rest of the crew was lost. Ayres and his boat reached the Cornish coast two weeks later at Caerthillian Cove. Two died trying to get ashore; they are buried at St. Wynwallow, Church Cove, Landewednack.[7] Ayres was made an MBE for his attempts to rescue his fellow sailors, and lived until 1992.[5]

[NHsorter]

Cool, thanks Jade.

[Rosco]

Cool, thanks Jade.

+++yes Jade your factoids bring a lot of extras to complete the story told

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Wow Awesome find of a lifetime, and an awesome story, too!

[ScottyTX]

Wow, there saying the 48 tons is approx. only 1/4-1/5 of the total amount they "may" recover....... up to 7 million total ounces of silver may lie beneth....Wow

[Numis Pam]

Hmmm I would say this is both good and bad news... good for the finders, but...... What might all that silver put back on the market do in the short term to the price of silver? I do not have a clue but I would love to hear some of you guys thoughts about what, if anything, might happen to the market?

[SilverDragon72]

I would think the silver would be so badly corroded by now, in all that seawater over the decades. I guess silver is quite resilient I take it?

[SilverDragon72]

Gotta say though, those bars look quite nice! Or did they clean them up using some type of chemicals?

[Robarons]

Did it say these bar were going to hit the market or sit in a museum some where?

And because its sunken treasure who gets the silver? The finders or the owners who ship sunk in the first place?

[avidbrandy]

Did it say these bar were going to hit the market or sit in a museum some where?

And because its sunken treasure who gets the silver? The finders or the owners who ship sunk in the first place?

My understanding was that the group who found it gets 80% of this lot, and the other 20% goes to someone else. I don't remember who financed it but I think they get the other 20%