Salvagers discover treasure-laden shipwreck

Salvagers discover treasure-laden shipwreck

www.abc.net.au

An American salvage company is claiming a record treasure haul from a World War II shipwreck worth billions of dollars.

According to Sub Sea Research, there are 70 tonnes of platinum, 10 tonnes of gold and about 1.5 tonnes of industrial diamonds and gemstones within the shipwreck.

At today's market prices, the ship could contain between $6 billion and $11 billion worth of treasure.

The company's founder, Greg Brooks, says the treasure was once a large payment being sent to the United States.

"It was basically a payment being sent to the Lend Lease program that the United States had developed to help their allies in Europe," he said.

"It was just left there and we happened to take the initiative and take the expense upon ourself to go out and look for it."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow, what a find. Please excuse if this was posted elsewhere earlier, I found no other similar post.

The article is much longer, and gets into some legalities that must be resolved before anything really happens next. Could be all kinds of money grubbers coming out of the woodwork over this find. Lots of issues for sure.

This latest technology should lead to all kinds of interesting finds in the oceans and seas. Can detect even single coins laying under mud in the water? Wow. Say, maybe they'll find some alien crafts that crashed or are hiding in sea too, ha.

It would be interesting to use this technology to look for artifacts around sunken lost continents.

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Fascinating find.

Technically, it still belongs to the U.S. Government, does it not?

Talk about delayed payment.

Yeah, in my opinion they were pretty stupid to announce the discovery. I wouldn't have said anything about it.
Now the government can claim it was payment to them, so it is theirs, and I am sure the government will take all that money so they can give it to their banker buddies.

Loose lips sink ships right?

My guess is the lawyers will end up with most of it, ha. Yeah, I wouldn't have told anyone about it either had I found it. Of course, if I wasn't alone during the discovery I'd have witnesses to get rid of too .. but it's a big big ocean out there.

reply to post by xstealth


Normally in salvage you have to register it with the government, and they will take some (and possibly all) of the profit. If you do not register the find with the government, you can be in pretty hot water. Here, in Florida, if you find an artifact/wreck while diving, and you disturb it, they can take your gear, boat, car, and anything else that you used in the recovery. They then charge you with the cost of replacing the site to its original condition, and the cost of erecting protection to keep others from further damaging the site. Most people would be financially ruined simply for picking up something that the state considers an artifact. The government is getting really strict about treasure hunting.

I didn't know Europe had to pay to get the US joined in WW2.

Interesting.