THE EGYPT’S GOLD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 227, 25 August 1932, Page 2

THE EGYPT’S GOLD

RECOVERING THE TREASURE, THE ARTIGLIO’S SUCCESS. The first of the bullion from the sunken P. and 0. liner Egypt was safely landed on the deck of the salvage ship Artiglio on Wednesday of last week (wrote the representative of the London Times on board the Artiglio on June 30 last). It came up unobtrusively in the sharp-toothed grab that had been busy all the morning clearing away the upper layer of blackened rnl>bish from the port end of the bullion room. Two golden ingots, gleaming yellow through their coating of slime, dropped from the steel jaws in a litter of broken wood and sodden rupee notes. They lay there for a moment, solid, undeniable witnesses of success, before the shout of ‘’Gold!” rang out. Then with what a shouting and a cheering the long-tried men of the Artiglio crowded round them 1 They cheered and cheered, handing the precious bricks of yellow metal one to another, swinging them aloft, testing their weight. Four years of effort, patience, tragedy—and reward at last. When the first excitement had died down Commendatoro Quaglia called the men together round the gold. He called for silence and asked them to think of their dead comrades of the old Artiglio who had lost their lives in paving the way for their successors’ triumph. A DELUGE OF GOLD. The two ingots had been preceded by two British sovereigns, one dated 1901, the other 1912, which came up in the last shot before the midday interval. The deluge began at 2.30. First the two already noted, then with every shot the ingots came thick and fast. The third shot raised 17, together with a sprinkling of sovereigns. In an hour we had a good sum in sovereigns and a rising pile of gold bars stacked for weighing. The divers knocked off work soon after 5 p.m., partly because of the current, partly for' a well-earned rest. Captain Beck, representing the Salvage Association, then began the task of weighing the day’s haul of gold and sealing it up in sacks —an intricate job in which he had willing helpers. Contmendatore Quaglia looked on benignly, faith justified, fears behind him. He stipulated that every man aboard must have one sovereign for himself. On Thursday and Friday the salvage of the Egypt’s bullion continued with astonishing success. The divers and crew of the Artiglio warmed to the task and improved the pace of work, although conditions were not very favourable. The grab went up and down, sometimes at five-minute intervals. Since the announcement of the initial success telegrams of congratulation have poured into the Artiglio and the Sorinia headquarters from salvage experts and others all over the world. At the present rate, and seeing the working of the apparatus, there is no reason to doubt the successful, rapid, completion of the salvage. SIGNOR MUSSOLINI’S INTEREST. When the first gold was on deck Commendatore Quaglia immediately informed Signor Ciano, the Italian Minister of Communications, by wireless. Signor Ciano in his reply conveyed “the warmest congratulations of Signor Mussolini to yourself and all of youi crew.” This message was read to the crew on deck. The divers began again, using the special treasure-grab. The sea was less smooth, there being a long swell from the west which made it impossible for the grab to fall each time in the exact place where the first gold was found. Instead we made a general attack on the port half of the bullion room, lor a time the grab brought up only rupees and wreckage, but soon struck gold at the new point, and the yellow stream reflowed. The grab came up thrice in one quarter of an hour, each time with gold—once with 11 bars and. over 50 sovereigns. The outer shell of the grab, designed to catch any bullion from falling on the way up, does its work well. There are generally a few sovereigns and sometimes bars of gold in it when it reaches deck. On Sunday the Artiglio brought her first cargo of gold to Plymouth. Soon after her anchor had dropped in English waters, two motor-boats ran out from Mill Bay to the salvage vessel, bringing Mr Peter Sandberg, the originator of the Egypt salvage, and Count Buraggi, the representative of the Sorima Company in London, to welcome Commendatore Quaglia and his men. Another boat brought out Sir Percy Mackinnon, the chairman of Lloyd’s, Sir Joseph Lowrey, director and secretary of the Salvage Association, Mr do Rougemont, and other members of the British organisations concerned in the enterprise. The officers and crew of the Artiglio were obviously delighted bv their reception. I erliaps they realised for the first time that they were the heroes of an adventure which has set a new mark in the annals of their profession. FRENCH COMPANY’S CLAIM.

But a blow which seemed staggering at first, though it was soon to be reduced to its true proportions, awaited the treasure-seekers. A French fisheries company, which had taken part in one of the several attempts to locate the Egypt sonic years ago, is making a claim for a share in the bullion on the ground that it was instrumental in the success of the salvage and a representative of this firm had obtained a warrant for tiro arrest of the gold in consideration of its claim. Accordingly, the British Customs officials were obliged to inform Captain Carli in the midst of the general rejoicing that they must put an Admiralty writ on the mast of his vessel and hold the bullion under seal pending a legal decision. Tho writ was duly fixed on the mast and later transferred to the hold where the gold is stored. But there is no reason to suppose that this incident will interrupt the work on the Egypt. The writ does not apply to the Artiglio herself, and the fact that it was served in England has the effect putting the case under English jurisdiction. Permission was given on Monday for the discharge of the gold into a strong room. If the Italian divers err on the side of modesty, there has been no lack of appreciation of their achievement in the outside world. On Thursday the divers took 73 gold bar.s and 35G4 sovereigns, a total value of about £40,000; on Friday the value recovered was’ something' over £52.000, with G 8 gold bars and 4315 sovereigns. On Saturday morning the divers struck a thin patch and found little for the first two hours, but there were four gold liars and a handful of sovereigns in tlicir last haul. But there are always surprises in store; soon afterwards the first bar of silver, a blackened oblong block, about lOin. long by sin square, tumbled out of the grab. The silver, once it is fairly tackled, should bo easier to salve than tho gold bars, since it is clear of wreckage. Of the value of about £1.000,000 represented by five tons of gold and over 40 tons of silver sunk in the Egypt, the gold alone accounts for about five-sixths. The divers have therefore made a good beginning with their task already, since they have taken about one-fifth of the

gold. They are as imperturable as ever in their dangerous work. COMMENDATORE QUAGLIA’S MESSAGE.

Tho Times’s Milan correspondent telegraphs : —The announcement of the raising of tho first gold from the Egypt was conveyed by Commendatore Quaglia to Signor _ Ciano, the Minister of Communications, in tho following message: The first note of victory from our wireless is for the ear of Your Excellency, a leader in daring exploits at sea. At this moment, to the cry of “Long Live Italy,” the first bars of gold 'snatched from the Egypt at a depth of 130 metres have been raised to the deck. Against the opinion of the experts and of all who had in vain made the attempt before us, we have attained success with personnel and means exclusively Italian, working tenaciously and dangerously for four years, two of which to find the wreck, dragging over 100 square miles in the open ocean, 45 miles off Brest, and another two to open in the wreck itself, by exploding over 5000 kilograms of tritol, a gap 30 metres long, 16 wide and 10 deep; a hard path leading to the bullion room situated below four decks. While ardently desiring to do so, we do not dare to communicate the news directly to tho Duce, but we shall ho grateful to you and shall fool proud if Your Excellency, considering it opportune, will do so on our behalf—Quaglia, also in the name of the crew of the Artiglio.