Jaybee2
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The Empress of Britain.
Hello to all Members,
Here is a small artcle on the Empress of Britain, I hope it appeals to some of you.
One of the most haunting treasure mysteries of the second world war, centres on the sad fate of the giant liner Empress of Britain. In 1995 a multi million dollar operation, financed by private investors,was carried out in conditions of the utmost secrecy on the upturned hull lying on the seabed some sixty miles off the wild northwest coast of ireland. Its purpose was to salvage the gold bullion that the investors believed the Empress had been carrying when it was bombed , torpedoed and finally sunk in Octaber 1940,. A highly respected Aberdeen based company, that spends most of its time on lucrative North Sea Oil related contracts, was chartered in to carry out the operation. It was conducted in a quick profesional manner, using the latest in saturtion diving techniques from a ship dynamically positioned over the site. A neat hole was cut through the external steel plates of the hulk in order to gain access to the bullion room. Once inside, the divers discovered that the raging fire, started by the bombing, had gutted almost the entire wreck.Just a silent shell remained, like a huge empty dome rising from the seabed. To stand inside this ravaged cathederal, which was lit up by their powerful headlamp torches, was an awesome and sombre experience.
As it happened, the bullion room, a reinforced chamber towards the bow of the ship, the position of which could be precisely identified from the plans, had escaped the worst of the fire and was still surprisingly intact, albeit upside down. the floor, formerly the ceiling, was covered in a thick layer of silt. To the dissapointment of the salvors, however,there was no gold. What they did find, unexpectedly, was the skeleton of a man.It is well known that forty nine unfortunate men, women and children had lost their lives during the original disaster, bur most of those had leapt from the burning ship and drowned. Why would anyone have been in the bulllion room, a place of top security, during the ship's last perilous moments? it made no sense. the salvage team held a short service of commemoration for the unidentified corpse and aborted the project.
I trust you enjoyed this snippet, Regards John.
Source: taken from the book " Losr Treasure ships of the 20th Century" By Nigel Pickford. Published by Pavilion Books, london
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Feb/15/2007, 3:13 pm
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wills
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Re: The Empress of Britain.
wonderful article. wow .. that makes me think why was this person in that room? perhaps they did not get the chance to get out. perhaps this person was a security guard.. hmmm.. one shall never know..
will
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Suicide is a permenant solution to a temporay problem........
Whatever obstacles control,
Go on, true heart,
thou'lt reach the goal.
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wills~~~~~
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Feb/15/2007, 3:26 pm
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Jaybee2
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Re: The Empress of Britain.
As you say Will again many questions can be raised, but as you say maybe we will never know, Regards john
Last edited by Jaybee2, Feb/15/2007, 4:14 pm
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Feb/15/2007, 4:09 pm
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wills
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Re: The Empress of Britain.
That is I think part of the lure of shipwrecks ..especially famous ones.. people want to be the "first" to find out what "really" happened and sometimes they lose sight over what is most important. The wreck itself and the crew and passengers that made her..
william
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Suicide is a permenant solution to a temporay problem........
Whatever obstacles control,
Go on, true heart,
thou'lt reach the goal.
http://com4.runboard.com/bthetitanicshack
wills~~~~~
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Feb/15/2007, 4:34 pm
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wolfldy1877
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Re: The Empress of Britain.
Greetings,
Interesting article.
From,
Robert
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"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
-- William Shedd
"Live the journey, for every destination is but a doorway to another." From Masters of the Universe
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Feb/27/2007, 11:47 pm
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