U.S. firm finds British shipwreck full of silver

TAMPA, Fla., (Reuters) – U.S. salvage company  Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc <OMEX.O> said on Monday it had  found the sunken wreckage of a British cargo ship filled with  silver in the Atlantic Ocean, where it was torpedoed by the  Germans during the Second World War.  
 The wreckage of the S.S. Gairsoppa was found in  international waters 300 miles (480 km) off the coast of  Ireland, at a depth of 15,510 feet (4,700 metres), the Tampa,  Florida, company said.  
 The Gairsoppa sank on Feb. 17, 1941, after it was hit by a  torpedo from a German U-Boat. Only one of the 85 men on board  survived.  
 The 412-foot (125-metre) ship was carrying cargo for the  British Ministry of War Transportation when it was sunk.  
 Its cargo included about 7 million ounces of silver, the  company said in a statement, which would make it the largest  known cargo of precious metal ever recovered from the sea.  
 Odyssey Marine was awarded a salvage contract by the  British government in 2010. Under the contract, the company  will retain 80 percent of the net salvaged value of the silver  bullion.  
 The ship was located using sonar, and a remotely controlled  vehicle was used to send pictures of the wreckage to the  surface.  
 “Given the orientation and condition of the shipwreck, we  are extremely confident that our planned salvage operation will  be suited for the recovery of this silver cargo,” Andrew Craig,  the Odyssey Marine recovery manager, said in a statement.  Recovery operations are expected to begin in the spring,  the company said.  
 Odyssey Marine has been in a legal battle with Spain over  500,000 gold and silver coins it discovered in the Atlantic  Ocean in 2007. Spain says the coins came from a Spanish ship  that sank in 1804, Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes.  
 A U.S. appeals court ruled last week that U.S. courts had  no jurisdiction in the case and it should be decided in Spain.  Odyssey Marine is appealing.