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Wealth Awaits Salvage (1931)
- Thread starter jeff of pa
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Physics guy
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Well, several Lusitania salvage efforts haven't turned up a £3M treasure, as far as I know. Can anyone shed any light on the other wrecks mentioned?
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Once again, thanking Jeff, for his efforts. The problem with the article is that it's a mixed bag: some of the names are real, others are vague, and others are ghost ships with no treasure.
The RMS Arabic below was sunk by a German submarine in 1915 during World War I, but historical records and salvage dives have proven that it carried no gold.
The Ship: The Honkoop was an 18th-century East Indiaman merchant vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which primarily sailed trade routes between Texel in the Dutch Republic and Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia). Capture off Africa: During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the British Royal Navy captured the ship on July 21, 1781, during the Battle of Saldanha Bay, a harbor located on the southwestern coast of South Africa. At the time of its capture, it was reportedly carrying a massive cargo that included 2,200 tons of copper. The Sinking: After being taken as a prize by the British, the ship met its demise in January 1782. While historical records note its initial capture off Africa, it actually foundered and sank with all hands (including up to 313 crew members) during a severe gale. Though some historical references broadly link its loss to its African deployment, documentation indicates that it and its sister captured ship, the Dankbaerheid, ultimately went down in a violent storm near the mouth of the English Channel while being sailed back to Europe.
The lizard no ship known so far. And I hope I am proved wrong. Carrying 14000000 in gold worth about British Pound (£): £14 million in 1931 is worth roughly £1.24 billion today. But the newspaper text is vague not really suggesting a name. However, it could be referring to the steamship Ballarat sunk off lizard point Cornwall in WW1.
SS Ballarat was a passenger liner built in 1911 in Scotland by Caird & Company. Prior to the war she was used to transport emigrants from the UK to Australia but in 1914 the British government requisitioned her for war service. Ballarat initially served as an Indian transport vessel before becoming a troopship, carrying Australian troops.
In February 1917, Ballarat left Melbourne on passage to Devonport with 1,602 Australian troops (reinforcements from Victoria for the 2nd and 4th Australian Brigades) and a general cargo which included copper and bullion. This was the ship’s thirteenth voyage, which caused concern amongst some of the troops.
By April, the ship was approaching the end of its voyage. On the 25th, as Ballarat steamed into the English Channel, the Australian officers arranged a memorial service to commemorate Anzac Day. At 2pm, as preparations were underway, a massive explosion tore a hole in the starboard side of the ship and Ballarat started taking water instantly. Despite a number of lookouts and an escorting destroyer, nobody had seen the U-boat UB-32 approach and fire a torpedo.
Vessels were summoned to take the Australian soldiers and crew off the sinking liner and within an hour all of them had been safely rescued. Ballarat was taken in tow and hopes were high that she might be saved. The Location: It stayed afloat long enough to be taken in tow, but eventually sank the next day on April 26, 1917, about 8.5 to 9 nautical miles off The Lizard in Cornwall. When the Australian troopship HMAT Ballarat (A70) was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on April 25, 1917, official cargo manifests recorded that she was carrying an undisclosed or unspecified amount of gold bullion. While historical and salvage records explicitly confirm the presence of gold bullion alongside her primary cargo of copper ingots, antimony ore, and general cargo, the exact weight or monetary value of the gold was not publicly quantified in standard historical documentation.
Yet I found out what happened to the gold?
Shepparton News (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 12 July 1917, page 4
Corporal. Harry Heyme writes: Freetown, Sierra Leone; Easter Sunday .—We left Capetown on March 24th, nine ships in all, with two cruisers. Challenger and Marmora. On the Ballarat we had a big consignment of gold from South Africa, and I was one of those told off to watch it. It has now been placed on the Cruiser Prince Albert (below),
one of three cruisers lying here.
The captain of Ballarat, Commander G. W. Cockman, R.N.R., D.S.O., received the congratulations of the Admiralty and the Australian troops were congratulated by the King.
Today the remains of the Ballarat lie in approximately 80 metres of water off the Cornish coast.
Source: forgottenwrecks.maritimearcheologytrust.org
Lusitania below No, the official ship's manifest shows that the RMS Lusitania was not carrying a cargo of gold when it was sunk No Gold Bullion: Despite persistent rumors and treasure-hunting myths after the disaster, records confirm no bulk gold shipments were in the hold.
The thunderblt is ghost ship with treasure.
Newspaper stories in the 1930s in great depression tended to exaggerate things regarding treasure in an era in which fact-checking fact cheacking was nonexistent. Newspapers operated with attention-seeking articles to sell papers in the great depression.
The Merida below was well known. The Cargo Rumor: Historical accounts and newspaper reports claimed the passenger-freighter was carrying up to 17 tons or millions of dollars in Mexican gold, silver bullion, copper, and jewels.
This ship has been posted here many times.
Crow
The RMS Arabic below was sunk by a German submarine in 1915 during World War I, but historical records and salvage dives have proven that it carried no gold.
The Ship: The Honkoop was an 18th-century East Indiaman merchant vessel belonging to the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which primarily sailed trade routes between Texel in the Dutch Republic and Batavia (modern-day Jakarta, Indonesia). Capture off Africa: During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the British Royal Navy captured the ship on July 21, 1781, during the Battle of Saldanha Bay, a harbor located on the southwestern coast of South Africa. At the time of its capture, it was reportedly carrying a massive cargo that included 2,200 tons of copper. The Sinking: After being taken as a prize by the British, the ship met its demise in January 1782. While historical records note its initial capture off Africa, it actually foundered and sank with all hands (including up to 313 crew members) during a severe gale. Though some historical references broadly link its loss to its African deployment, documentation indicates that it and its sister captured ship, the Dankbaerheid, ultimately went down in a violent storm near the mouth of the English Channel while being sailed back to Europe.
The lizard no ship known so far. And I hope I am proved wrong. Carrying 14000000 in gold worth about British Pound (£): £14 million in 1931 is worth roughly £1.24 billion today. But the newspaper text is vague not really suggesting a name. However, it could be referring to the steamship Ballarat sunk off lizard point Cornwall in WW1.
SS Ballarat was a passenger liner built in 1911 in Scotland by Caird & Company. Prior to the war she was used to transport emigrants from the UK to Australia but in 1914 the British government requisitioned her for war service. Ballarat initially served as an Indian transport vessel before becoming a troopship, carrying Australian troops.
In February 1917, Ballarat left Melbourne on passage to Devonport with 1,602 Australian troops (reinforcements from Victoria for the 2nd and 4th Australian Brigades) and a general cargo which included copper and bullion. This was the ship’s thirteenth voyage, which caused concern amongst some of the troops.
By April, the ship was approaching the end of its voyage. On the 25th, as Ballarat steamed into the English Channel, the Australian officers arranged a memorial service to commemorate Anzac Day. At 2pm, as preparations were underway, a massive explosion tore a hole in the starboard side of the ship and Ballarat started taking water instantly. Despite a number of lookouts and an escorting destroyer, nobody had seen the U-boat UB-32 approach and fire a torpedo.
Vessels were summoned to take the Australian soldiers and crew off the sinking liner and within an hour all of them had been safely rescued. Ballarat was taken in tow and hopes were high that she might be saved. The Location: It stayed afloat long enough to be taken in tow, but eventually sank the next day on April 26, 1917, about 8.5 to 9 nautical miles off The Lizard in Cornwall. When the Australian troopship HMAT Ballarat (A70) was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on April 25, 1917, official cargo manifests recorded that she was carrying an undisclosed or unspecified amount of gold bullion. While historical and salvage records explicitly confirm the presence of gold bullion alongside her primary cargo of copper ingots, antimony ore, and general cargo, the exact weight or monetary value of the gold was not publicly quantified in standard historical documentation.
Yet I found out what happened to the gold?
Shepparton News (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), Thursday 12 July 1917, page 4
Corporal. Harry Heyme writes: Freetown, Sierra Leone; Easter Sunday .—We left Capetown on March 24th, nine ships in all, with two cruisers. Challenger and Marmora. On the Ballarat we had a big consignment of gold from South Africa, and I was one of those told off to watch it. It has now been placed on the Cruiser Prince Albert (below),
one of three cruisers lying here.
The captain of Ballarat, Commander G. W. Cockman, R.N.R., D.S.O., received the congratulations of the Admiralty and the Australian troops were congratulated by the King.
Today the remains of the Ballarat lie in approximately 80 metres of water off the Cornish coast.
Source: forgottenwrecks.maritimearcheologytrust.org
Lusitania below No, the official ship's manifest shows that the RMS Lusitania was not carrying a cargo of gold when it was sunk No Gold Bullion: Despite persistent rumors and treasure-hunting myths after the disaster, records confirm no bulk gold shipments were in the hold.
The thunderblt is ghost ship with treasure.
Newspaper stories in the 1930s in great depression tended to exaggerate things regarding treasure in an era in which fact-checking fact cheacking was nonexistent. Newspapers operated with attention-seeking articles to sell papers in the great depression.
The Merida below was well known. The Cargo Rumor: Historical accounts and newspaper reports claimed the passenger-freighter was carrying up to 17 tons or millions of dollars in Mexican gold, silver bullion, copper, and jewels.
This ship has been posted here many times.
Crow
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Physics guy
Full Member
You’re amazing, Crow. Thanks!
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