SECRET WORK BY DIVERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27132, 31 August 1953, Page 9

SECRET WORK BY DIVERS

Salvage From “Flying Enterprise”

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON, August 30. Forty miles off the coast of Cornwall, and 270 ft under the sea, expert Italian divers have been working in secret this week-end on the upsidedown wreck of the Flying Enterprise, the ship which Captain Kurt Carlsen just failed to bring to port in January, 1952. As they worked, the world was beginning to wonder about the stories of British and American banknotes and antiques which men from the Italian salvage ship Rostro had found in the holds, says the “Sunday Express.” Directing the search is Commendatore Giovanni Quaglia, the man who was behind the raising of £1,000.000 in bullion from the sunken liner Egypt in 1934. British, American, and Swiss firms are investing thousands of pounds in the Flying Enterprise salvage venture. The marine agent for one. Mr Robert Meier, of the Federal Insurance Company of Zurich, said: “When the scheme for salvaging the cargo was discussed, I was told there was a big quantity of art treasures, among them a Stradivarius violin from Hamburg. . . “We insured big quantities of currency, of which £75,000 worth ha» been landed from the wreck at Ostend, but there are far more important objects than ours in the ship—insured by American companies who conceived the salvage plan/’ In Brussels yesterday, thousands of dollar and £1 notes were drying out over hot plates normally used to grill steaks in the restaurant of the Banque de Bruxelles. In the bank’s vaults are six rotting boxes, 18in long and 9in wide, which will be handed to the representatives of the United States Government next week.’ They were landed with the bundles of currency from the Rostro, three days ago, but the contents are undisclosed. A spokesman for the vessel’s owner, Isbrandtsen Lines, said there appeared to be “much more to the story” than had been disclosed, says a New York message. Officials of the line said they knew of only about 400 dollars in cash being aboard their vessel. The officials were mystified by the salvage operation, about which, they said, they had