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Sunken Gold: WWII Wreck Yields £45M Treasure
20 Aug
Summary
- 431 gold bars valued at £45 million were recovered.
- The wreck of HMS Edinburgh sank in 1942 in the Barents Sea.
- Salvage operation involved saturation divers at extreme depths.
In a feat of deep-sea exploration, 431 gold bars, valued at around £45 million, were recovered from the Barents Sea wreck of HMS Edinburgh. The British light cruiser sank in 1942 during World War Two, taking its cargo of Soviet gold with it.
Decades later, salvage diver Keith Jessop spearheaded an effort to locate the lost vessel. Utilizing historical documents and new technology, the wreck was finally found in May 1981. The operation required specialist saturation divers to work at extreme depths of approximately 800 feet.
The recovery faced significant challenges, including the dangerous conditions of the wreck and the presence of unexploded ordnance. After weeks of meticulous work, divers successfully retrieved 431 of the original 465 gold bars. A subsequent expedition in 1986 recovered more, bringing the total to 460, leaving five bars unaccounted for.
