LAURENTIC SALVAGE OPERATIONS RESUMED

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6625, 11 August 1931, Page 7

LAURENTIC SALVAGE OPERATIONS RESUMED

A Million in Gold to be Recovered

TORPEDOED DURING WAR

United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. LONDON, Aug. 9.

After an interval of seven years, the Admiralty has re-commenced operations with a view to salvaging the remaining £1,00u,000 in geld aboard the Eaurcuti', which was torpedoed off Donegal during the W'ar, and from which j,o,OOU,UUu nas alreauy been recovered.

H.M.S. Laurentie, torpedoed by a German submarine in January, 191':, on the north coast of Ireland, took down with her 3211 bars of gold, each valued at £ISOO and a considerable sum in silver specie, packed in tins. Tho total value of this was about £6,000,000 and in 1923 and 1924 the recovery of it furnished the world with one of the most brilliant feats of salvage ever performed. In February, 1923, orders were given for tho Admiralty salvage ship Racer to leavo Portsmouth in order to tako up the work of salvaging tho gold bullion from the ship which lay on the sea floor in Lough Bvvilly. Owing to the exposed position in which tho wreck lies, operations were very difficult, and work had then been proceeding ever since 1918. Each summer tho salvage gang had been operating, and a considerable quantity of gold had been recovered. At that time gold worth £3,817,232 was already salvaged, and in August it became known that the divers had met with singular success and that without a single casualty, in spite of tho hazardous nature of the work, the heavy swells and unprotected position of the wreck. In April, 1924, at the time of the announcement of distribution of the salvage award, it was reported that tho Racer was leaving for the spot again and that all the gold, with the exception of about £240,000 worth, had been recovered. When the divers began work that spring there were known to be. 154 bars of gold in the wreck, and within a month 56 had been sent to the surface. Each of these bars wag 9 inches by 2 inches thick and 4 inches broad, and the strongroom in which they were held had long since gone to pieces. The divers discovered twenty-four smashed plates of the vessel lying where the bullion was known to be, the damage having been done since the previous year, and the metal had to be removed before work could proceed. The only mishap in that year was the blowing out of the observation glass of tho recompression chamber, which injured tho face of a petty officer, who was taken to Dunree Fort, Lough Swilly, where ho quickly recovered. In tho season’s operation a total of £172,000 in specie was recovered. In all, that year, ‘The Times’ reported, 119 bars of gold besides silver coin were recovered, the total being 3187. Fleet Orders for February, 1925, however, stated that of tho 3211 bars originally in the wreck 3166 bars and much spccio had been recovered, and the following month Rear-Admiral B. S. Thesiger, Admiral-Superintendent of the Portsmouth Naval Barracks, presented medals of the Civil Division of the 0.8. E. to six divers who had performed the work. The medals were the highest decoration that could bo bestowed on the recipients, said Admiral Thesiger, and they were given for successfully performing very dangerous work. Five million pounds in gold aud silver specie had been salvaged, and the cost represented only 21- per cent, of tho value of the bullion recovered.