Odyssey Marine announces shipwreck silver trove
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. says it has recovered approximately 48 tons of silver bullion from a British cargo ship sunk during WWII off Ireland's coast.
The Tampa-based company said Wednesday that the silver was recovered from the SS Gairsoppa, a British cargo ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in February 1941. The ship sits nearly 15,420 feet (4,700 meters) below the surface of the North Atlantic, about 300 miles (500 kilometers) off Ireland's coast. Records say it was carrying silver valued in 1941 at approximately 600,000 British pounds.
The find totals 1,203 silver bars, or about 1.4 million troy ounces of silver. It's been transported to a secure facility in the United Kingdom.
Odyssey says the operation has produced the heaviest and deepest recovery of precious metals from a shipwreck.
