GOLD AT BOTTOM OF SEA.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3323, 30 October 1919, Page 7

GOLD AT BOTTOM OF SEA.

LAI7RENTIC’S -LOST £6,000,000

SUCCESSFUL SALVAGE WORK.

In a. we.-atliei-—bea.ten spot off the entrance to Lough Swilly divers‘ are defying almost insuperable clifiieuliies in the efforts to salve the gold bumon carried by the ill-fated Laurentic when she was torpedoed early in 1917'_ She is believed to ‘have had about £6,000,-' 000 in gold ingot§ on board when she was sunk, ‘and of this utotal over £BOO,OOQ has been recovered. It is only since hostilities ceased that serious, eff-orfs have been possible to secure the Wealth which lies in the b.att.el'e(l hulk at a depth of 10 f:lthomS_ She rests about four miles seaward of Fanasd Head, and the position is exposed‘ -‘re the full fury of the north-\\'es~iel'ly gales. V The vessel is broken and (30mprcss(}d by "the Hememlous pressure of the w.~ater. above her, and 'the (leptfh is }just about the limit’ at which the divi,el‘_g can work.

Only in calm weather can the salvage operations be carried" on, but in face of all these problenxs the anth~o=ri~ ties are t7airlj; confident that all the goicl can be recovered. The tragedy of the Laurenticlms never been fully told. Within two hours of leaving -Lough Swilly onelevening in Fe.brnary on her way to Cnnaxlu she was lying at the bottom of the sea. Two torpedoes strncl; her——one giving“ her snchaheavy list to Starboard that the port boats could not, be launched, and the other putting her back on an even keel. There \\'-as time to arouse everybody on board and all got. away, although to many it meant a slow and painful death.

A solltll-e:§'sTc-x'ly ‘blizzard was blowing with such intensity that the boats were driven right out fo the At}-a.ntic..

Flares were bul'n'r. bu!’ by the iro~n§' of fate none of the patrol boats was in the vicinity. The Laul'onl'ic’s boats c.ol:l'imlc-(1 their ’r.'eur.'ful joul'nc_V, sons sxveopimqg over and filling; thelll, while the occupimts slowly froze to death. ~ Evontllally 200 survivors were landed and befweon ‘TO and 80 ‘dead.