Treasure hunters 'find $3 billion in platinum on sunken ship'

[Hum]

Treasure hunters claim to have found the sunken remains of a British steamer torpedoed during the Second World War filled with platinum, now worth $3 billion (?1.9bn). The Sub Sea Research, a company based in the northeastern US state of Maine, found the British ship SS Port Nicholson on the ocean floor around 30 miles off Provincetown, Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reported.

Greg Brooks of Sub Sea Research claims a US Treasury Department ledger shows platinum bars were on board, as part of a payment from the Soviet Union to the US for war supplies.

He also says he has video footage showing the platinum bars, although none of the bounty has been raised to the surface yet.

"I'm going to get it, one way or another, even if I have to lift the ship out of the water," he said.

"There's a good possibility there are about 10 tons of gold down there, too, and maybe some industrial diamonds," he added.

However, the claim should be viewed with scepticism, said Robert F. Marx, an underwater archaeologist, maritime historian and owner of Seven Seas Search and Salvage LLC in Florida.

Both an American company and an English company previously went after the contents of the ship years ago and surely retrieved at least a portion, Marx said. The question is how much, if any, platinum is left, he said.

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[Astra.Xtreme]

Well since this was supposed to be a payment to the US, maybe the govt can take the profits and pay off a chunk of the deficit. </real world hopes>

Is this a "finders keepers" game, or does somebody technically own this?

[Hum]

^ A sunken ship in International waters, is fair game after a certain number of years.

The cargo, valued in 1942 at about $53 million, was a lend-lease payment to the United States from the Soviet Union.

[fusi0n]

nice

[mudslag]

Well since this was supposed to be a payment to the US, maybe the govt can take the profits and pay off a chunk of the deficit. </real world hopes>

Is this a "finders keepers" game, or does somebody technically own this?

It wouldnt even make a dent

[Raa]

Rules of salvage now apply. It's "finders keepers".

So if there's anything left, one company is about to get very rich...

[mudslag]

While the exact location is unknown, supposidely is wasnt in Spainish waters. Treasuring hunting isnt always cut and dry.

http://www.guardian....pain?CMP=twt_fd