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    The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History
    The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History
    The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Sunken Gold: A Story of World War I Espionage and the Greatest Treasure Salvage in History

    Written by Joseph A. Williams

    Narrated by Paul Boehmer

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    On January 25, 1917, HMS Laurentic struck two German mines off the coast of Ireland and sank. The ship was carrying 44 tons of gold bullion to the still-neutral United States via Canada in order to finance the war effort for Britain and its allies. Britain desperately needed that sunken treasure, but any salvage had to be secret since the British government dared not alert the Germans to the presence of the gold.

    Lieutenant Commander Guybon Damant was the most qualified officer to head the risky mission. Wild gales battered the wreck into the shape of an accordion, turning the operation into a multiyear struggle of man versus nature. As the war raged on, Damant was called off the salvage to lead a team of covert divers to investigate and search through the contents of recently sunk U-boats for ciphers, minefield schematics, and other secrets. The information they obtained, once in the hands of British intelligence, proved critical toward Allied efforts to defeat the U-boats and win the war.

    But Damant had become obsessed with completing his long-deferred mission. His team struggled for five more years as it became apparent that the work could only be accomplished by muscle, grit, and persistence. Using newly discovered sources, author Joseph A. Williams provides the first full-length account of the quest for the Laurentic's gold. More than an incredible story about undersea diving adventure, The Sunken Gold is a story of human persistence, bravery, and patriotism.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateSep 1, 2017
    ISBN9781681688206
    Author

    Joseph A. Williams

    JOSEPH A. WILLIAMS is a librarian, archivist, and maritime historian. Currently, he is the Deputy Director of the Greenwich Library (CT). He is the author of Seventeen Fathoms Deep (Chicago Review Press, 2015) and Four Years Before the Mast (Fort Schuyler Press, 2013).

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    • 5/5
      This is a nonfiction book about the interesting history of the sunken treasure ship Laurentic, and the fascinating man named Guybon Damant who was put in charge of salvaging the gold. With extracts from Damant's personal papers, extensive research, 46 pictures and photographs, and 2 maps, I do not doubt that this is the most in-depth and informative work ever written about this historical event: the greatest treasure salvage in history. In January of 1917, the Laurantic, carrying 44 tons of gold that was to be used for the war effort, was hit and sunk by the Germans in Lough Swilly off of Ireland. That same month, Damant was contacted by the British government and put in charge of salvaging the lost gold. Conditions were horrid. Weather would not cooperate, reporters nagged them constantly, there was the chance that the Germans would catch on and blast them out of the water, the equipment available at the time wasn't suitable for the job at hand, not much was known about decompression times, and furthermore the wreck was crushed in upon itself making the gold completely inaccessible to divers. It took seven salvage seasons in eight years for Damant to finish his mission, and even then there were 25 bars of gold left on the ocean floor. This book tells that remarkable story. It was very well written, and very interesting, not just simply a boring history book but a true story of action, adventure... and treasure. I was very impressed not just by how well written it was, but also by how well researched it was. The author really went to a lot of trouble to find original sources for his information, and throughout the entire book, chapter by chapter, he never failed to surprise me with the things he was able to uncover. The newspapers and magazines of the time would offer but little help, as much of what they wrote was either from unreliable sources or completely fictitious. It is astounding to me how, 100 years later, Joseph Williams was able to find out more than the people writing about the Laurentic at the time were. I would highly recommend this book to both historians and lovers of good seafaring tales alike. This is a must-have resource for any nautical library.