Odyssey Marine Exploration announced this week that it has confirmed the identity and location of the shipwreck site of the SS Gairsoppa nearly 4,700 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic, approximately 300 miles off the coast of Ireland in international waters.
The SS Gairsoppa was a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat in February 1941 while enlisted in the service of the United Kingdom Ministry of War Transport.
Contemporary research and official documents indicate that the ship was carrying £600,000 (1941 value) or seven million total ounces of silver, including more than three million ounces of private silver bullion insured by the U.K. government, which would make it the largest known precious metal cargo ever recovered from the sea.
In 2010, the U.K. Government Department for Transport awarded Odyssey, through a competitive tender process, the exclusive salvage contract for the cargo of the Gairsoppa. Under the salvage agreement Odyssey will retain 80 percent of the net salved value of the silver bullion recovered under the contract.
Click here for information on the find, including links to photos and a video of the wreck taken by a deep-diving, camera-equipped ROV.
