“Odyssey is conducting the Gairsoppa project under contract with the UK Department for Transport”

As the Guardian reports, US company Odyssey Marine Eploration have announced the recovery of “approximately 48 tons of silver bullion from a depth of approximately three miles” from the SS Gairsoppa, 300 miles off the Irish coast. According to Odyssey Marine This initial recovery of bullion from the SS Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship that sank in February 1941, totals 1,203 silver bars or approximately 1.4 million troy ounces of silver and has been transported to a secure facility …

Read more…

Odyssey Marine surrenders ‘Black Swan’ treasure to Spain

It looks as if the 5 year legal battle between US company Odyssey Marine Exploration and the Spanish government over the ‘Black Swan’ treasure is finally coming to an end.  As I mentioned previously Browsing through the Odyssey Marine press archive brings an update on their previous big find.  Also mentioned in my earlier post  Odyssey is currently being sued by the Spanish government over a previous treasure of “17 tonnes of silver coins plus a few hundred gold coins”, …

Read more…

Odyssey Marine to recover Victory, but lose ‘Black Swan’ treasure

Last seen somewhere off the Irish coast, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have announced that they have “executed an agreement with the Maritime Heritage Foundation for the financing, archaeological survey and excavation, conservation and exhibit of HMS Victory (1744) and artifacts from the shipwreck site.”   That’s Admiral Balchin’s HMS Victory – a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line lost in 1744 in the English Channel. It confirms an earlier report in the Sunday Times.  There may be four tonnes of gold …

Read more…

Odyssey Marine’s “Irish project” – redux

Having told the Irish Times previously that they had “been working off the Irish coast, but outside territorial waters”, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have announced a second silver cargo shipwreck discovery – the SS Mantola with an estimated 600,000 ounces of silver on board, worth approximately £12million at current market values.  Attacked 143 miles west-south-west off Fastnet by German U-boat U-81 on 8 February 1917, the Clydebuilt database account has the Mantola sinking in rough seas on 9 February after an attempt by HMS Laburnum …

Read more…

Odyssey Marine’s “Irish project”

The Irish Times’ marine correspondent, Lorna Siggins, notes an interesting addendum to the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration’s confirmation of the site of the SS Gairsoppa – and, potentially, 200 tonnes of silver.  From the Irish Times report THE US marine exploration company which has located a British wartime shipwreck with £150 million worth of silver in the Atlantic has also been surveying southwest Irish waters where there are a number of “commodity” wrecks. The Naval Service has confirmed that …

Read more…

Odyssey Marine confirm site of shipwreck containing 200 tonnes of silver 300 miles off Irish coast

As the BBC report, the US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have 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.” And if the historical records and research are correct, the wreck contains 7 million total ounces [200 tonnes] of silver.  Worth £600,000 when the ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat and sank in 1941, the silver hoard is …

Read more…