EXTRA...

$3 billion cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds found off Cape

TODAY's quote: “There is nothing more frustrating for each of our crew, as well as our financial supporters, to see, touch and feel the bullion box and not be able to quickly and simply retrieve it."
- Greg Brooks, SSR.

World's most valuable wreck now confirmed found off Cape

   She was only 23 when she died, but the British steamer Port of Nicholson died very rich.

The Britsh steamer Port of Nicholson was carrying a nation's treasure to safety

By Walter Brooks

The story about the discovery of a British cargo ship carrying over $3,000,000,000 (that's BILLIONS) was first reported here exactly three years ago, and salvagers first discovered what was then believed to be the Port Nicholson in 600-800 feet of water off Cape Cod in 2008.

Three years ago Sub Sea Research LLC (SSR), a Portland Maine based company, said it had located the world's richest shipwreck, the Port Nicholson, carrying a secret cargo of 71 tons of platinum sunk by a German submarine U87 off the coast of Cape Cod.

According to a publicity release in today's Yahoo News, SSR says it has proof that this is the Port Nicholson.

The project was shrouded in secrecy due to the enormous wealth involved. The cargo being transported to the United States was to help pay for America's Lend Lease gifts to Russia during the Second World War, and as GOP Senator Everett Dickson once said, "A billion here, a billion, there - pretty soon you're talking about 'real money'."

The scale of the treasure trove is likely to lead to a series of competing claims. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be years of legal wrangling ahead for SSR before anyone gets to buy a new Rolls Royce or two.

The sinking in June, 1942, Soviet envoys disappear

It took two torpedoes and about 7 hours to sink the Port Nicholson, a steel-hulled, 481 ft. merchant ship, coal fired freighter built in 1918 at the Tynes & Wear shipyard. A U-87 also fired at the troop ship in the convoy, the Cherokee, quickly sinking her with a heavy loss of lives.

She was carrying two special envoy Russian (USSR) agents overseeing the delivery of a very important Lend-Lease payment from the Soviet Russia to the United States. She along with four other commercial vessels were being escorted by an unusually high number of military ships.

The normal ratio at the time was near 1:10 or less, but this convoy ratio was 6:5. Maybe it was the fact that they were delivering 1,707,000 oz. troy, in 400 oz. bars of platinum. Strangely the two USSR special envoy individuals quickly disappeared after being rescued and brought to American shores. They were not de-briefed like all the other survivors were.

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