EGYPT'S TREASURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20272, 4 June 1929, Page 10

EGYPT'S TREASURE.

ATTEMPT TO SALVAGE.

ITALIAN DIVERS ENGAGED

DYNAMITE AND MAGNETS USED. United Service. LONDON, Juno 2. Most daring and romantic salvage operalions were begun to-day when Italian tugs were buoyed in the area from which it is hoped to recover tho bullion contained in the Peninsular and Oriental Line steamer Egypt, which was sunk in tho Bay of Biscay in 1922. If successful the divers will attempt to secure the £3,000,000 worth of diamonds in the wreck of tho Belgian liner Elizabet hville, sunk off Belle Isle by a German submarine. The Egypt salvors will use six great caissons moored above tho wreck, tho position of which has been definitely established. Genoese divers havo been specially selected for their powers of endurance. "They will uso 20,000 candlepower lamps to light tho sea bottom. The divers will place dynamite charges in position in order to shatter the hull, after which sections will bo drawn to tho surface by powerful magnets. A cablegram from London on March 23 stated:—A new attempt is to bo mado by an Italian company to salvo tho £1,000,000 worth of bullion sunk off the French coast between Brest and Ushant in tho P. and O liner Egypt in 1922. The latest diving apparatus is to bo used. This will enable tho divers to work for several hours at a depth of 200 fathoms. Tho Union Industrie! des Travaux Soumarins undertook to make an attempt to raise tho bullion lost in the linor Egypt in May, 1922, and began work in May, 1926. That company engaged five Gorman divers, who had special apparatus for such work. They proposed to attempt to cut through the metal bulkheads with submarine blowpipes. Tho ship carried £339,000 in gold ingots and £250,000 in silver. The Egypt was located in August, 1923, by a Swedish captain off tho Armcn lighthouse at Ushant. Tho salvors used two tugs which swept the spot whore the Egypt lay, but without success, and in June the operations were abandoned. Two Brest trawlors carried out sweeping operations in July, 1926, and reported that they had found wreckage, which was possibly from I lie Egypt. They buoyed tho spot and in September a tup went out with a Gorman diver, who descended to a depth of 410 ft.. hut failed to bring up anything that identified (ho wreck.