LAURENTIC’S GOLD

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11650, 15 October 1923, Page 8

LAURENTIC’S GOLD

THREE YEARS’ WORK NEARLY £4,000,000 IN INGOTS AND SPECIE SECURED. A GOLD-DIVINING ROD. Twenty fathoms down, among gravel, eea slime, and weird marine forms of animal and vegetable life, naval divers, during the past three years, have been extracting nearly £4,000,000 in gold ingots and silver specie from the twisted steel wreckage representing the once-proud 15,000-ton "White Star vessel, X/aurentio, which a German submariuo torpedoed off liough Swilly in January, 1917. When the salving of the vast treasures on board—variously estimated at £B,OOO 000 to £10,000,000 —is complete, the formal official story of the diving operations will surpass in romantic interest the wildest imagination of fiction. The gold and silver recovered in the past three years is of the following value: 1921, £600.000; 1922, £1,259,600; 1923 (up to August Ist), £1,057, 623; total, £3,817,223. The salving should 'be finished next year, but work will be in abeyance until March. Twelve Admiralty divers ai*e engaged in the work, and above them 5) merchant seamen man the Racer, the salvage ship. This great salvage feat, details of whijh have been shrouded in secrecy, is without equal in the history of diving. The Racer steams out every day to the buoys which mark the wreck, and at an early hour the first diver descends into the depths. Within a minute his heavily-weigh ted dress takes him to the ocean bed, and then the difficult and slow search begins. Each divoT is in telephonic communication with the directors of operation/} m the ship, and immediately reports his finds. Ho carries the silver specie or gold Lars—each of which weighs between one and two stone—to the special receptacle in which the bullion is raised, and when a full load has been obt.sined. the treasure is hoisted on board. OFFICER TELLS STORY. Lieutenant G. Williams, who is on leave in London from the Racer, has given an interesting story for publication. “When I first saw a bar of solid, but unburnished, gold brought up from the wreck, ” he declared, “I was greatly surprised. But for its weight of about 141 b one would hardly notice the difference between it and an ordinary red brick —in fact, I should say that if it were lying on the roadside you would not trouble to pick it up. “As to the usual day's work on board, the Racer, the salvage operations ! start (weather permitting) at 7 a.m., and continue till 7 p.m. every day ; including Sundays. Although eight divers are on board, only one man goes down at a time, and he remains below just an hour. While it takes only a minute to get to the sea-bottom, 40 minutes are required to draw up the diver in safety to the surface, as the water pressure must not be removed too suddenly. “While experts think nothing of going below, it is quite a different matter with non-divers invited to enjoy the novel experience of a close peep at the wreckage. Two of the officers decided to accept the invitation, but one of them changed his mind when about to don the diving suit. The other was somewhat bolder, and not only got ready, but insisted upon being photographed in diving garb. He was then hoisted over the side, and had just been immersed up to the neck, when he repented, and yelled that he was being suffocated; eo he was hauled on deck again. So ended his diving jjeat, amid the cheers and laughter of the others. A GOLD DIVINING ROD. “One of my interesting experiences was meeting Professor ±Jroak6, the gentleman who brought on board a peculiar ‘divining rod, ’ ~ designed to show whether one was in the vicinity of gold or of the baser metals. It consisted of an instrument like a spear which the diver took down with him and plunged into the mud or sand amid the wreckage. To the spear was attached a wire wJiich connected with a dial on deok and a moveable hand which deflected to the right or left, as the case might he, to indicate whether gold, or only some other metal was in the immediate vicinity. “Professor Brooks gave an interesting demonstration to us on deck by having us place our gold rings in a bathtub, and the diaL of the instrument certainly showed which rings were made of the finer gold, as proved by the carat marks. The test of the instrument among the wreckage caused quite a lot of excitement at the outset until the eight of gold bricks being hauled up in the bucket lost its novelty. In Lough Swilly the chief trouble was the number of dogfish that used to float round and obeoure the diver’s view while on work. The dogfish is very bold, and is the onlv fish that does not fear the diver, it repeatedly copies back after being slashed at with a knife. WATER DENSE WITH FISH. “On another occasion the water was soon swarming with shoals of small fish that the divers could not see properly to get on with their work. A test was made in harbour at another time with a submarine lamp, and although it lighted up the water and showed an enormous number of fish swimming about, it was not utilised during actual diving operations. “The salvage work has not always been carried on amid the most favourable weather conditions. Sometimes it has been so stormy that no progress could bo made. The work was somewhat risky in rough weather, especially when them* was a stiff nor’-wester blowing, and there were often very bad seas at the entrance of Lough Swilly. There was rivalry among the divers as to which one made the biggest total of findings during the -week. The lucky man was always specially complimented by the chief salvage officer, and it went to Ida record of excellent service.’ ’