Riches from Wrecks: The Recovery of Sunken Cargoes

Over the years there has settled on the seabed in the holds of sunken ships an enormous wealth in metals unspoiled by immersion in sea water, ranging from antimony and bismuth to uranium and wolfram.

Of course, there is gold and silver amongst them, but the bigger industrial cargoes far exceed in value most losses of bullion that history has ever seen.

Here is a book that illustrates the hitherto unpublicized business of recovering such cargoes.

These techniques of salvage were established by an Italian before World War II and much expanded by an Englishman named Risdon Beazley after it.

The book starts with the English recovery of a ton of the Bank of England’s gold off Newfoundland, an endeavor spanning twenty-five years.

Details of the background research that is needed before attempting a salvage is described. It doesn’t cost as much to spend weeks pouring through government and insurance company archives than it does to spend days looking in the wrong spot for sunken ships.

Details of the changes in the systems of reading the points of a compass over the last 200 years are described and are absolutely necessary when using old documents and archives.

Lastly there is a description of some choice deep water cargoes that have yet to be recovered.

Author: Fergus Hinds

Hardback: 134 Pages (1995 first edition)

SKU: P6975