The story began in December 1940, when The Royal Mint, already depleted of its stocks of silver due to the onset of war in 1939, called in additional supplies from India. A large shipment was despatched aboard a British steam merchant ship, the SS Gairsoppa, which was also carrying shipments of pig iron and tea. She sailed under the protection of a series of naval convoys heading for Britain.

Battling a heavy storm, and running short of coal off the coast of Southern Ireland, SS Gairsoppa’s crew had no option other than to break free from the protection of their convoy and head for the safety of Galway Harbour. Now an easy target, the unfortunate vessel was spotted and torpedoed by a German U-boat at 8 minutes past midnight on 17 February 1941. The stricken ship sunk within 20 minutes, with second officer R. H. Ayres the only survivor in spite of heroic attempts to save his fellow crew members.

Concerned correspondence between The Royal Mint and the Bank of England at the time reveals the impact the loss had on the country’s wartime reserves, even threatening the temporary suspension of production of the 1,000 year-old Mint within two months if supplies ran out.

The ship was finally located in September 2011, 300 miles off the Irish coast at a depth of three miles, half a mile deeper than the Titanic, making this the largest and deepest recovery of precious metal from a shipwreck in history.

Now, after 70 years, marine exploration company Odyssey Marine Exploration has recovered silver from the SS Gairsoppa.

This was from a DVD that was sold with the Coin from The Royal Mint, Uploaded with fair usage and to remind people of the history and story involved.

HMS Victory

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