In the deepest salvage operation in history, a British-led team has recovered a $50 million (L34 million, E47 million) trove of coins that has lain on the seabed since the steamship carrying them from Bombay to England was sunk in 1942.
The SS City of Cairo was torpedoed 480 miles south of St. Helena by a German U-boat and sank to 5,150 meters. Its precious cargo -- 100 tonnes of silver coins -- belonged to HM Treasury. The silver rupees had been called in by London to help fund the war effort.
But they never made it. The steamship's tall plume of smoke was spotted by a U-boat on 6 November 1942 and it was torpedoed.
Ten minutes later, amid efforts to abandon ship, the City of Cairo was hit with a second torpedo which sealed its fate.
The ship and its cargo was presumed lost until 2011, when a team led by British salvage expert John Kingsford located an unnatural object among the ridges and canyons of their South Atlantic search area. ...
... For the remainder of the report and some great photographs:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32316599
