THE LAURENTIC’S TREASURE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 257, 29 September 1932, Page 7

THE LAURENTIC’S TREASURE.

ONE MAN SEEKING £1,000,000. A stirring record of unwavering hope in the face of overwhelming difficulties lies behind the Announcement that a bar of gold worth £20,000 has been recovered from the wreck of the 14,000 ton White Star liner Laurentic, which was torpedoed by a German submarine off Lough Swilly, Donegal, Ireland, in 1917. Admiralty divers recovered £5,000.000 worth of her gold cargo of £6,000.000 by the end of 1919. The work of salving the remainder is now being undertaken by a tiny salvage boat with a crew of only ten men and one diver. The boat' is the Estoy, a tug of 101 tons, owned by the Malet Salvage Syndicate, of London. She is more than 60 years old. Her diver has to contend with enormous odds, for even in fine weather the currents are so strong off Lough Swilly that he can only remain below a few moments.

The boxes in which the gold was packed have been broken, and every tide changes the position of the sand and wreckage in which the loose bars of gold are embedded. From June to September last year the diver worked at every opportunity, but without result, and the operations were then suspended until a few weeks ago. The work was again at a standstill on July 14, because some of the ship’s gear had been damaged, but the salvage of the £20,000 ingot had .put new energy into the crew, and they were hoping to resume operations in a day or two. “Unbounded patience must be shown if we are to succeed,” one of the crew said. “The gold is scattered about everywhere, and it is necessary to poke about .for days to uncover any of it. Gales make it impossible for us to work more than a few months each year, and in the intervals of diving much of the progress we make is undone, by the currents.”

The wreck lies in 120 ft of water, and the sand in which it is embedded has been compressed to the hardness of cement by the swirling waters.