Record-breaking treasure recovered from the wreck of the SS City of Cairo!

On successive portals and forums gathering fans of exploration and treasure hunting from all over the world, information about the latest achievement of the Deep Ocean Search team is spreading like a virus! Why so much hype? Well, the excavation operation concerns the wreck from the times of the Second World War – SS City of Cairo, which in its holds transported a record cargo of 100 tons of silver!

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No less shocking is the depth at which the mining was carried out – over 5 km! Combined with a cargo of silver coins of the aforementioned total weight of 100 t, we get one of the deepest and largest mining operations that has ever taken place.

The expedition was led by 30-year experienced CEO of Deep Ocean Search, John Kingsford. Excavation was conducted from the SV John Lethbridge, equipped with state-of-the-art sonar and robotic underwater systems.

The entire operation was conducted under a contract with the UK Department for Transport, under which Deep Ocean Search workers were authorised to retrieve tens of tonnes of silver coins from a record depth of 5100m.

The SS City of Cairo was a British passenger steamer, built to order for Ellerman Lines Ltd of London in 1915 by the Hull-based shipyard Earle’s Shipbuilding & Engineering Co. Ltd. With the outbreak of World War II, like many other vessels she was incorporated into the fleet and was used as required by the Allies.

The ship was 137 m long and 17 m wide. It had 2 decks, 2 masts and could take on board besides the crew 311 passengers.

Unfortunately for all those who in 1942 decided to set sail on the November voyage (and for those who packed on it such a valuable cargo – 2000 chests of silver coins) from Bombay to England, a speed of 12 knots (about 22 km) in comparison with the enormous size of the City of Cairo and the lack of any escort, turned out to be a very unfortunate combination.

No one who was on the SS City of Cairo was aware of the unusual nature of this particular voyage. Everyone was convinced that it was a routine voyage with a cargo of cotton, manganese and a group of refugees. Suspicion may have been aroused among some people by the heavily armed convoy of troops that appeared at the docks just before departure. However, there was no way of knowing the secret of the 2,000 boxes resting in the hold.

The crew of the German submarine U-68, having tracked a lone, slow, large and smoky as a dragon, could not have imagined more favourable conditions for an attack. There could be only one outcome. Especially if we add that the German ship was commanded by the extremely experienced Karl-Friedrich Merten, born in Posen (then Posen) and with a total of 27 sunken ships to his credit.

The sailors of the German U-boat dealt their blows with a truly surgical precision. The first torpedo hit the hold no. 4 (where the silver coins were hidden). The resulting hole introduced a column of water, which was to lead to the breaking of the ship’s structure near the stern. From that moment, Captain Merten ordered a 20-minute break. In this way, almost everyone on board the SS City of Cairo was rescued before the destruction was completed by the second torpedo.

At the very end, U-68 approached the survivors to inquire about details such as the name of the ship, the cargo (of course, almost no one knew about the silver, so the Germans did not learn this secret either) and the fate of the captain. By the way, the rescued were given the courses and possible directions in which they should go. The last lifeboat with 2 survivors was found after 51 days.

Source: deepoceansearch.com, expeditionwriter.com