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These are the guys who claimed to have found the U-boot off of
Cape Cod about 10+ years ago, then a multi-billion dollar wreck
between Haiti and Florida and then another big $$$ wreck a couple
of years ago. They are looking for investors.......... or they won't
turn any away.
http://www.windsorstar.com/Salvagers+cl ... story.html
Salvagers claim they've found world's most valuable wreck
By Jasper Copping, The Sunday Telegraph
January 24, 2009 2:01 PM
Salvagers claim to have found the world's most valuable wreck - a British ship sunk by a German submarine while laden with a 2.6 billion pounds worth of cargo that included gold, platinum and diamonds.
In a project shrouded in secrecy, work is due to start on recovering the cargo, which was being transported to the United States to help pay for the Allied effort in the Second World War.
The scale of the treasure trove is likely to lead to a series of competing claims. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be years of legal wrangling ahead.
The company that located the wreck has not released the name of the vessel but has given the merchant ship the code name Blue Baron.
A spokesman said it had a predominantly British crew and had left a European port laden with goods for the US treasury under the Lend-Lease scheme, whereby the American government gave material support to the Allied war effort in exchange for payments.
The Blue Baron first sailed to a port in South America, where it unloaded some general cargo, before continuing north in a convoy, heading for New York. However, it was torpedoed by U87 and sank with the loss of three crew. Their nationalities are not known.
Sub Sea Research, a US-based marine research and recovery firm, claims it has now located the wreck under 800 feet of water about 40 miles off Guyana.
Greg Brooks, the company's founder and co-manager, said: "This will definitely be the richest wreck ever."
Until now, historians have not credited U87 with sinking any vessels in that area in June 1942 and it was thought to have been operating further north.
Sub Sea Research claims to have located the submarine's log book, which proves that it did sink the Blue Baron, as well as documents from the port of origin, the US Treasury and the Lend-Lease programme giving clues as to what was on board.
A picture of the Blue Baron supplied by the company shows it to be a tramp steamer and its funnel appears to resemble those of the shipping line Hogarth and Co, of Glasgow, whose ships were known as Hungry Hogarths.
Tantalisingly, the names of its ships all began with the word Baron. However, none of the fleet's 17 vessels lost in the war appear to have been sunk in this area in June 1942.
However, the picture resembles Port Nicholson, a steamer sunk by U87 in June 1942 but 2,000 miles north of Guyana off Cape Cod. Sub Sea Research insists that the Port Nicholson is not the Blue Baron.
It claims that the Blue Baron's cargo included at least ten tons of gold bullion, 70 tons of platinum, one and a half tons of industrial diamonds and 16 million carats of gem quality diamonds.
In addition, there were thousands tons of tin and copper ingots. Although that may have lost value after years on the sea bed, the precious metals and diamonds would not have done so. The haul's total worth was calculated at 2.6 billion pounds at today's prices.
Sub Sea Research has filed a claim for the cargo in a US federal admiralty court, to which no counter claims have been lodged so far, although the government that had owned the cargo would retain a strong claim on it.
"I know that everyone -possible will try to take it from us, but we are doing everything by the book," said Mr Brooks. "The worst-case scenario, under salvage law, is that we would get 90 per cent of it."
Cape Cod about 10+ years ago, then a multi-billion dollar wreck
between Haiti and Florida and then another big $$$ wreck a couple
of years ago. They are looking for investors.......... or they won't
turn any away.
http://www.windsorstar.com/Salvagers+cl ... story.html
Salvagers claim they've found world's most valuable wreck
By Jasper Copping, The Sunday Telegraph
January 24, 2009 2:01 PM
Salvagers claim to have found the world's most valuable wreck - a British ship sunk by a German submarine while laden with a 2.6 billion pounds worth of cargo that included gold, platinum and diamonds.
In a project shrouded in secrecy, work is due to start on recovering the cargo, which was being transported to the United States to help pay for the Allied effort in the Second World War.
The scale of the treasure trove is likely to lead to a series of competing claims. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be years of legal wrangling ahead.
The company that located the wreck has not released the name of the vessel but has given the merchant ship the code name Blue Baron.
A spokesman said it had a predominantly British crew and had left a European port laden with goods for the US treasury under the Lend-Lease scheme, whereby the American government gave material support to the Allied war effort in exchange for payments.
The Blue Baron first sailed to a port in South America, where it unloaded some general cargo, before continuing north in a convoy, heading for New York. However, it was torpedoed by U87 and sank with the loss of three crew. Their nationalities are not known.
Sub Sea Research, a US-based marine research and recovery firm, claims it has now located the wreck under 800 feet of water about 40 miles off Guyana.
Greg Brooks, the company's founder and co-manager, said: "This will definitely be the richest wreck ever."
Until now, historians have not credited U87 with sinking any vessels in that area in June 1942 and it was thought to have been operating further north.
Sub Sea Research claims to have located the submarine's log book, which proves that it did sink the Blue Baron, as well as documents from the port of origin, the US Treasury and the Lend-Lease programme giving clues as to what was on board.
A picture of the Blue Baron supplied by the company shows it to be a tramp steamer and its funnel appears to resemble those of the shipping line Hogarth and Co, of Glasgow, whose ships were known as Hungry Hogarths.
Tantalisingly, the names of its ships all began with the word Baron. However, none of the fleet's 17 vessels lost in the war appear to have been sunk in this area in June 1942.
However, the picture resembles Port Nicholson, a steamer sunk by U87 in June 1942 but 2,000 miles north of Guyana off Cape Cod. Sub Sea Research insists that the Port Nicholson is not the Blue Baron.
It claims that the Blue Baron's cargo included at least ten tons of gold bullion, 70 tons of platinum, one and a half tons of industrial diamonds and 16 million carats of gem quality diamonds.
In addition, there were thousands tons of tin and copper ingots. Although that may have lost value after years on the sea bed, the precious metals and diamonds would not have done so. The haul's total worth was calculated at 2.6 billion pounds at today's prices.
Sub Sea Research has filed a claim for the cargo in a US federal admiralty court, to which no counter claims have been lodged so far, although the government that had owned the cargo would retain a strong claim on it.
"I know that everyone -possible will try to take it from us, but we are doing everything by the book," said Mr Brooks. "The worst-case scenario, under salvage law, is that we would get 90 per cent of it."
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