GOLD FROM NIAGARA

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4554, 26 February 1942, Page 3

GOLD FROM NIAGARA

EPIC STORY OF SALVAGE j TEN TONS RECOVERED j Probably the greatest story associatj eel with the salvage of treasure from I the sea was released on Sunday last I with the official announcement that j an expedition has succeeded in retrieving ten tons of gold bars valued at £2,397,000 from the wreck of the , trans-Pacilic liner Niagara, which sank near the Hen and Chicken group oli ! the entrance to Whangarei harbour after striking a mine on June 19, 1940. The Niagara was located in 438 feet of water and the depth at which operations were carried out is a world’s record. The previous record was in respect of the recovery of the Egypt’s gold, when Italian divers of the Sorima Company were occupied for over four years at a depth of 390 feet and recovered just over £1,000,000 worth of bullion.

The Niagara salvage operations which occupied twelve months rank as an epic of the sea. They have been one of the best kept secrets in the his-

Tory of the Dominion. Immediately after the sinking of the Niagara investigations were made in Australia with the object of securing the services of a salvage company, and within a few weeks of the disaster the Commonwealth Bank had completed a contract with the United Salvage Proprietary Limited, of Melbourne, which on December 2, 1940, began the unprecedented task.

As the first step the Claymore, well known on the North Auckland coast for many years but then lying in Auckland's “rotten row" rusting and inhabited by seagulls, was secured as the companys flagship. The hulk was put in the hands of engineers and shipwrights and under the direction of Captain J. P. Williams, managing director of the salvage company, she was converted into a serviceable salvage vessel.