SUNKEN GOLD

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 3, 3 July 1926, Page 20

SUNKEN GOLD

WONDEBFUL SALVAGE WOEK.

According to a report"in the "Daily Mail," Mr. J. C. C. Davidson, Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, announced in Parliament that the cost of recovering the £4,958,000 from the White .Star liner, Laurentic, which sank in 1917 off the west coast of Ireland, while being used an an aiixiliary cruiser in the war, was only £138,000, including a bonus of £6739 to the officers and men concerned.

The -work o£ the divers was begun in 1917. But the Laurentic, a vessel of 14,000 tons, -which liad been acting as an auxiliary cruiser, was lost in a spot exposed .to the • full fury of the Atlantic, in 20 fathoms (120 ft) of water. Poi months at a time the work of the divers was stopped by storms, and much of the treasure had to bo literally snatched away during a lull in the gales. The work was done from the Admiralty salvage vessel, Eacer, 1000 tons. Lieut-Commander E. L. B. Damant, 8.N., himself a diver, was in charge. Commander Damant has since received the thanks of the Admiralty for his work, while several members of his crew of about BO have been decorated. It is interesting to recall the loss of the P. and O. liner Egypt, which sank off TJshant after a collision in May, 1922. Sho carried gold and silver valued at £1,054,000, an attempt to recover which is probable this spring.