From the Canadian-Australasian liner Niagara, 438 ft. below New Zealand's coastal waters, an Australian salvage company hauled £2,397,000 ($7,750,000) in gold ingots. The job had taken eleven months and three weeks, was the deepest salvage operation in marine history.
The 13,415-ton Niagara was sunk by a German mine 28 miles off eastern New Zealand in June 1940. All hands were saved. An Australian salvager, Captain J. P. Williams, found the Niagara in February 1941. From a telephone-equipped diving bell divers directed the lowering of explosives to blast through to the small bullion room in the ship's center. Next they lowered...
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