SALVING THE EGYPT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 October 1939, Page 6

SALVING THE EGYPT

A WORLD ACHIEVEMENT. It was on May 20, 1922, that the P. and O. liner Egypt came into collision with a French steamer, off Cape Finisterre, sinking in less than twenty minutes. Sixty lives were lost, together with £1,054,000 in gold, silver ingots, and coins. No apparatus was at that time available for salvage work of such importance, but in 1929 an Italian firm with two ships began dragging operations. After much trouble they located the wreck, but to ensure that it really was the Egypt a special type of crane known to have been fitted to that doomed vessel, was salvaged first, this being triumphantly carried into Brest. For this work the diver wore a specially designed “shell” suit, but though It had many advantages it hampered the diver in his work, and the wearer was only useful as an observer. More trouble was encountered when the grab which threw “overboard” the exploded debris of the ship, swung out of the diver’s 6-foot range of vision. This trouble was finally remedied by “mooring” the diver to the grab cable with a short rope. By the end of the 1931 season the bullion-room had been reached and a small hole torn in the deck above. In June. 1932, this hole was enlarged, and the search for gold really began. But only disappointment followed, for apparently the strong-room had been used for many other things besides bullion; load after load of rubbish that had once been silks and banknotes coming to the surface. It was on June 22 that one of the men raking through the latest load of rubbish on the ship’s deck; found a sovereign. Down the grab went again, and gold began to come up. At the end of two days £60,000 worth of gold, silver ingots, and coins had been raised. A day or two later £lBO,OOO was taken to Plymouth, this being followed by £200,000, and a third consignment of £190.000. The salvage of the Egypt’s treasure had been accomplished.