Attempt To Retrieve Rest Of Niagara Gold Deferred

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1948, Page 2

Attempt To Retrieve Rest Of Niagara Gold Deferred

ALTHOUGH he has not given up the idea, the time was inopportune to attempt recovery of the £150,000 worth of bullion still lying in the wreck of the Niagara near the Hen and Chickens Islands. Mr J. E. Johnstone, chief diver of the expedition which salvaged £12,397,000 worth of gold from a depth of 438 ft in 1941 and 1942, said this at Auckland yesterday.

Last year Mr Johnstone was in Whangarei investigating the possibilities of retrieving the remainder of the gold, and on his return to Australia formed a svndicate for the purpose. COSTS, TAXATION TOO HIGH Arriving at Wellington by the Wahine last week he. has since made further investigations into financial aspects and has decided that terrific costs and high taxation would not allow the venture to be financially worth while at present. On the arrival of H.M.A.S. Australia in Auckland, Mr Johnstone will meet his brother, Lieutenant W. Johnstone, R.A.N., who was his diving colleague In the Claymore’s bell, which made possible salvage work on the Niagara. During his stay in New Zealand, Mr Johnstone may give a series of talks. In Whanagrei last year he addressed several schools on his experiences. IN TROPICAL WATERS

Since he was here a year ago, following his work on the Wanganelia, Mi- Johnstone travelled from the Solomon Islands to the Louisiude Archipelago inspecting wartime Japanese wrecks, mostly iO.OOO-tonners so heavily bombed as to be beyond salvage. The 8000-ton tanker Cyrema. which went ashore at, Kitava in the Tobriand Islands last September, was sueeessfuly refloated by Navy divers, said M. Johnstone.

Meanwhile he was engaged in refloating the 10.000-ton Reynella. which went ashore at the same time on the Jornard Reef. Seven hundred tons of the reef were blasted away with high explosives to get the ship afloat in three weeks. It was the same sort of job as the Wanganelia, but the damage was not so severe. NARROW ESCAPE Captain .T. P. Williams, who led the Niagara salvage, was the only survivor of four men involved in an accident on the American transport President Grant, which went ashore in the Louisiadeswn 1943. The weather beat the salvage attempt and the 14,000-ton transport broke her back, so that what remained of her was not worth salvaging, Mr Johnstone said. y