RECOVERY OF BULLION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23515, 1 June 1938, Page 9

RECOVERY OF BULLION

A DUTCH VENTURE ■WRECK OF THE LUTINE AMSTERDAM, May 30. Three sand-sucking salvage tugs are clearing an area around the submerged wreck of the frigate Lutine, off Terschelling Island, from which the world’s largest tin dredger, Karimata, is ready to attempt the recovery of £1,000,000 in bullion. The wreck of H.M.S. Lutine has lain for more than 138 years among the Shifting sands at the entrance to the Zuider Zee. The dredger Karimata, which is being operated by the Billiton Company of The Hague, has a length of nearly 250 ft and a dredging depth of just on 100 ft. She was built for tin dredging in the Strait of Karimata, in the Dutch East Indies, and her buckets are so large and strong that it is believed that they should be able to bring to the surface any treasure or wreckage that remains.

By,agreement between the Dutch and British Goverments and by Act of Parliament salvage work at the scene of the wreck is vested in the Corporation of Lloyd’s, and from time to time the corporation has, as in this instance, granted licences to various salvors, but hitherto the results have not been encouraging. By the beginning of this century the total salvage proceeds amounted to more than £IOO,OOO, and there has been no substantial recovery since. The famous bell which now hangs in the middle of the underwriting room at Lloyd’s was raised in 1859. It Weighs 1061 b and is 171 in in diameter.