Odyssey, said its newest discovery is the SS Mantola, which sank Feb. 9, 1917, after being torpedoed by a German submarine. The company estimates about 600,000 ounces of silver could be on board the ship. Under a salvage agreement with the U.K. government, Odyssey will be able to keep 80% of the cargo.

“The incremental costs to search for the Mantola were low, as this was a contingency project in the event that our team successfully completed the Gairsoppa search early,” said Odyssey President Mark Gordon.

The company last month confirmed the identity and location of the shipwrecked SS Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British ship that was carrying 7 million ounces of silver, a load Odyssey said could be the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered at sea.

Odyssey has begun the process of assembling the tools and equipment for the expedition to salvage the Gairsoppa and Mantola, and anticipates that operations will begin next spring. Gordon said the company’s share of a successful recovery will contribute significantly to its operational funding.

-By Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires

Video Of The Find

Click here to view the embedded video.

Odyssey Marine Exploration announced today that it confirmed the identity and location of the SS Gairsoppa, a Nazi treasure ship, nearly 4,700 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic.

On a dark North Atlantic winter night in 1941, the SS Gairsoppa was running low on fuel and left her convoy to seek refuge in Ireland when a Nazi U-boat sunk her. Loaded with tea, pig iron and seven million ounces of silver, her final resting place was in international waters 300 miles off the coast of Ireland. Today the 7 million ounces of silver have a street value of over $200 million not including the historic value of individual pieces.

The vessel was a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship torpedoed by a German U-boat in February 1941. Contemporary research and official documents indicate that the ship’s load of silver had a 1941 value of £600,000, and nearly half her cargo, over 3 Million ounces of silver bullion, was privately owned and insured by the UK government. The total weight of silver makes it the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered from the sea.

In hopes of recovering the treasure the UK Government Department for Transport last year awarded Odyssey the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of the SS Gairsoppa. Under the salvage agreement, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net salved value of the silver bullion recovered under the contract.

The Odyssey team recently conducted ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) operations from the RV Odyssey Explorer to inspect the site. The video and photographs acquired during the exploration of the shipwreck were reviewed and analyzed at length to confirm the identity of the shipwreck as that of the SS Gairsoppa. The expedition and resulting data was also used to evaluate the condition of the shipwreck and to begin planning for recovery operations.

“Under the direction of Senior Project Manager Andrew Craig, the target was located with side-scan sonar and then visually inspected in less than two months from the start of the operation,” stated Mark Gordon, Odyssey President and COO. “Given the orientation and condition of the shipwreck, we are extremely confident that our planned salvage operation will be well suited for the recovery of this silver cargo.” said Andrew Craig, Odyssey Senior Project Manager.

“Being the son of a merchant mariner who worked for the same shipping line as the Gairsoppa’s and as a former merchant mariner myself, the visit to the site via ROV was particularly personal,” stated Neil Cunningham Dobson, Odyssey’s Principal Marine Archaeologist. “By analyzing the known configuration and research about the Gairsoppa and her final voyage and painstakingly exploring the shipwreck site to record each element and item, our team of experts was able to positively identify the site as the Gairsoppa. Even though records indicate that the lifeboats were launched before the ship sank, sadly most of her crew did not survive the long journey to shore. By finding this shipwreck, and telling the story of its loss, we pay tribute to the brave merchant sailors who lost their lives”

“While some people might wonder about the potential complexity of salvage at this depth, we have already conducted a thorough analysis of the best tools and techniques to conduct this operation and are confident that the salvage will be conducted efficiently and on a timely basis,” commented Greg Stemm, Odyssey CEO. “Hundreds of modern cargo ships like this have been salvaged since the mid-20th century, some at depths of thousands of meters. We were fortunate to find the shipwreck sitting upright, with the holds open and easily accessible. This should enable us to unload cargo through the hatches as would happen with a floating ship alongside a cargo terminal.”

Odyssey has begun the process of specifying and assembling the tools and equipment for the salvage, and will begin recovery of the treasure as soon as the weather window begins to open up in the North Atlantic this Spring. The company also has several other projects and contracts that will potentially begin during the balance of this working season and may be conducted through the winter months. Some of these projects are also in partnership with governments and feature pre-negotiated salvage awards.

Video Of The Find

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Florida based deep-sea exploration firm, Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. has filed objections to a June 3, 2009 Report and Recommendation in the “Black Swan” Admiralty case.  The judges recommendation… that Odyssey Marine give the 17 tons of gold that they found at a 200 year old shipwreck site back to Spain – the believed owners of the sunken vessel.  The treasure is worth an estimated $500 million.

In May 2007, Odyssey Marine announced the discovery of the “Black Swan,” a Colonial period site located in the Atlantic Ocean. Yielding over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts, it is believed to be the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a deep-ocean site.  While there is no coherent vessel located at the “Black Swan” site, it is believed to be remains of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish galleon which exploded in battle and sank in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal in 1804, claiming the lives of 200 people.
Odyssey’s Objections to the recommendation include arguments that:

1. The applied legal standard of review is incorrect.
2. There is no coherent vessel located at the “Black Swan” site.
3. There is clear and convincing evidence of the commercial nature of the Mercedes’ mission at the time of her demise which Odyssey believes legally nullifies the claim to sovereign immunity of that vessel.
4. A distinction between cargo and vessel is allowed and even required by settled admiralty law.
5. The majority of the coins aboard the Mercedes were merchant-owned, commercial cargo being shipped as freight for a fee and were never owned by Spain.

“We know that admiralty law is complex, and the facts of this case are unique. I believe that the recommendation missed some key issues, and we have underscored those in our objection. We are confident that the facts and applicable law are in our favor,” said Melinda MacConnel, Vice President and General Counsel for Odyssey Marine Exploration.

Odyssey’s complete “Objections to the June 3, 2009 Report and Recommendation” is available HERE. Objections have also been separately filed by many descendants of the merchants who owned the private cargo on the Mercedes, arguing that the cargo never belonged to Spain, and that Odyssey was within its rights to recover coins on behalf of the true owners.

Read more about the “Black Swan” Project HERE

Odyssey Marine Exploration Homepage

Today we have another update on an incident that occured back in January of this year.  According the Associated Press, a team of divers have recovered nearly a ton of unrefined silver from the Polar Mist, a repurposed fishing vessel that sank off the Argentine coast in “mysterious conditions” while carrying over 9.5 tons of gold and silver, estimated to be worth nearly $18 million.

About 20 divers aided by a robot submarine recovered the metal from the wreck of the Polar Mist on Tuesday, said a police official in the city of Rio Gallegos.

They were waiting for seas to calm before resuming the search for more of the estimated 9.5 tons of ore believed to be aboard, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

Going back to the initial incident, we posted an artical titled Polar Mist – A Modern Day Treasure Ship Lost at Sea, where we quoted an AP article that read:

It’s a story of a ship that vanished off the coast of Patagonia with a cargo of gold and silver, but its ending remains shrouded in mystery.

While the statement did hold true at the time, rescuers aboard the Vuanatu flagged C-Sailor located the wreckage of the the Chilean trawler and confirmed on June 23rd that video recordings taken using a robotic submersible showed bundles and baskets holding the treasure.  You can read more about the find HERE.  The vessel was located in 80 meters of water about 25 miles off the coast of Argentina, close to the east access to the Magellan Strait.

While this story does prove that treasure ships do still sail the seven seas, there will be now be no timeless stories of any $18m worth of treasure sitting on the floor of the Atlantic off of Argentina.

Treasure Map – by ToNToN CoPT

POLAR MIST FOUND WITH GOLD AND SILVER INSIDE: UPDATE HERE

Do Treasure Ships still sail the seven seas?

We have recently been fascinated by Discovery Channel’s show Treasure Quest as they follow the M/V Odyssey Explorer on her voyage to find lost treasure long ago sunk in the English Channel but certainly treasure ships have been long extinct, right? Maybe Not.

The Associated Press brings us this story of a ship, laden with over 16 million dollars in gold, lost off the coast of Buenos Aires. They tell us:

It’s a story of a ship that vanished off the coast of Patagonia with a cargo of gold and silver, but its ending remains shrouded in mystery.
The Polar Mist was abandoned by its crew in a storm and sank earlier this year, but did the nine tons of gold and silver aboard worth more than 16 million dollars go down with it?
“Nobody knows anything. There is something strange here, but nobody knows what. I’ve made inquiries everywhere: nobody knows,” said John Wilson, the Argentine representative of the British insurance company Lloyd’s.

The mining group Cerro Vanguardia, which owns nearly all the gold and silver aboard the Polar Mist, has said the cargo was insured by Lloyd’s.

“The insurance company has confirmed to us they have every intention of recovering it. They will return the cargo and we will resume the shipment that was interrupted,” said Jorge Palmes, president of Cerro Vanguardia.

Read More…

Stay tuned for more details on this amazing story.

The NYTimes reports:

 The fever is contagious. Gold fever, that is.

Symptoms? Unwavering optimism.

”Today’s the day,” legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher would say as he set out to sea each summer in search of the ocean’s secrets. Before his death in 1998, he found more than $1 billion worth of treasure, including gold and silver bars, emeralds, coins and artifacts.

As salvage season begins — roughly from May to August when the seas are calmer — a select few carry on Fisher’s work up and down Florida’s coasts, hoping to hit the mother lode.

Similar salvage operations take place up and down the East Coast during the summer months, through the Carolinas, into Virginia and up through New England, where Revolutionary War-era shipwrecks have been discovered.

Florida is said to have more treasure-laden shipwrecks than any other state, largely because it’s near the Gulf Stream. Spanish fleets would load their vessels with treasure from South America and gather the galleons in Havana. The ships would then head north, using the Gulf Stream to propel them back toward Europe. Continue Reading…

 

Our favorite Picture Blog Dark Roasted Blend is running  a series titled: Shipwrecks & Sea Disasters

Don’t miss it.  Here are but a few of their offerings:

gCaptain also has a more comprehensive post of incident photos in the archives, click HERE to view it.

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This post was written by Richard Rodriguez, Rescue Tug Captain, and US Coast Guard approved instructor for License Training. You can read more of his articles at the BitterEnd of the net.

The BBC Tells us:

A 500-year-old ship-wreck laden with treasure has been discovered off the coast of Namibia.

The country’s diamond company, Namdeb, says it found the wreck during operations on the sea bed.

The company said the find included three bronze cannons, thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, and several tonnes of elephant tusks.

There were also human remains and navigational instruments. Excavations in the area were halted immediately.

Archaeological experts have identified the cannons as coming from early 16 Century Spain.

Reuters news agency says company sources are speculating that the ship may be linked to Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who went missing in 1500 after becoming the first European seafarer to round the Cape of Good Hope. Continue Reading…

The Associated Press tells us;

A U.S. underwater archaeology team announced Thursday it has likely discovered the shattered remnants of a ship once captained by the notorious buccaneer William Kidd off a tiny Dominican Republic island.

The barnacled cannons and anchors found stacked beneath just 10 feet of crystalline coastal waters off Catalina Island are believed to be the wreckage of the Quedagh Merchant, a ship abandoned by the Scottish privateer in 1699, Indiana University researchers say.

“I look forward to a meticulous study of the ship, its age, its armament, its construction,” Foster said. “Because there is extensive written documentation, this is an opportunity we rarely have to test historic information against the archaeological record.”

Historian Richard Zacks, who wrote a book about the seafaring privateer called “The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd,” said the Scotsman had captured the 500-ton Moorish ship in the Indian Ocean but left it in the Caribbean in 1699 as he traveled to New York to try and clear his name of criminal charges.

Kidd failed to convince authorities of his innocence and was hanged in 1701 in London, Zacks said. His body was suspended in a gibbet, a kind of cage, on the Thames River as a warning to other privateers. Continue Reading…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Pakistan’s Daily Times has the scoop on China’s newest museum;

China is building a giant underwater museum to preserve and exhibit an ancient shipwreck. The museum, the first of its kind in the world, is to contain a sunken ship more than 800 years old and its treasures.

Archaeologists say the ship is China’s most exciting underwater excavation. Named the Southern Sea Number One, it lies under 24 metres of water and two metres of sand and soil.

Archaeologists took more than 6,000 treasures from one small room on the ship in 2002. The Guangdong provincial government has now allocated £10 million to building a five hall underwater museum to preserve the wreck.

Expert’s say, “Since the ship and its treasures have become accustomed to being underwater, it’s better to keep them there.” Read More…

Interested in Underwater Museums? Take a look at Divester’s post; “The World’s Coolest Underwater Museums“
Links:

• Official Underwater Museum Page
• The Guangzhou Salvage Bureau
• Watching The Water Rise – China’s Three Gorges Dam