A ladder leading up onto the forecastle deck of the SS Gairsoppa shipwreck, approximately 4,700 meters beneath the North Atlantic. One of the cargo holds of the ship, sunk in 1941, can be seen at left. (Odyssey Marine Exploration)
(CBS News)
TAMPA, Fla. - The wreck of a British cargo ship carrying 7 million ounces of silver that was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1941 has been identified.
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc., announced Monday that it had located and verified the wreck of the SS Gairsoppa approximately 300 miles west of the Irish coast. The ship lies approximately 3 miles beneath the surface of the North Atlantic.
The Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled cargo ship, was in transit from Calcutta to London on February 17, 1941 with 85 people on board when it strayed from a convoy. A German submarine attacked, sinking the ship. Lifeboats were launched, but only the second officer, who washed ashore, survived.
The ship's manifest included 2,600 tons of pig iron, and 1,765 tons of tea.
More impressive was the cargo of silver ingots being carried, which was valued then at 600,000 pounds. At today's prices the silver would be valued at about 150 million pounds, or more than $210 million.
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