A team of deep-ocean explorers, which includes St Andrews marine archaeologist Neil Cunningham Dobson, has secured the largest and deepest recovery of precious metal from a shipwreck in history.
The team from Odyssey Marine Exploration in Florida has recovered more than 55 tons (61 US tons) of silver bullion, worth £23 million at today’s silver prices, from a depth of nearly three miles almost a mile deeper than the wreck of the Titanic.
The bullion has been recovered from the wreck of the SS Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship that sank in February 1941 in the North Atlantic off the Irish coast.
The bullion consists of 1,574 silver ingots weighing about 1,100 ounces each or almost 1.8 million troy ounces in total and sets a new record for the deepest and largest precious metals recovery from a shipwreck.
The silver has been transported to a secure facility in the UK.
Including the silver recovered in 2012, Odyssey has now salvaged 2,792 silver ingots from SS Gairsoppa or more than 99% of the insured silver reported to be aboard the vessel when it sank.
Under the terms of Odyssey’s contract with HM Government, Department for Transport, which follows standard commercial practices, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net salvage value of the cargo.
Sources, including Lloyd’s record of war losses, indicate additional uninsured Government-owned silver may have been aboard the SS Gairsoppa, but to date no uninsured silver has been located.
Odyssey’s chief executive officer Greg Stemm said: “This was an extremely complex recovery which was complicated by the sheer size and structure of the SS Gairsoppa as well as its depth nearly three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic.
To add to the complications, the remaining insured silver was stored in a small compartment that was very difficult to access.
“The recovery of more than 99% of the insured silver cargo under these adverse conditions is a testament to the skill and ingenuity of the offshore team.”
The recovery operations were conducted from the 291-foot Seabed Worker mobilised with 5,000-metre depth-rated remotely-operated vehicles and heavy launch and recovery systems.