A team of divers has located a safe on board the wreck of the HMS SS Laurentic, which was carrying British troops, gold bars and silver coins when it sank in Lough Swilly in 1917 with the loss of 350 lives.
The ship, which lies 40 metres under in the lough, was carrying £5 million in gold bars - worth about £300 million today - when it sank, 45 minutes after striking a mine. Some 3,186 bars were recovered at the time, but 25 are still missing. It was also carrying £2 million in silver coins.
The discovery happened while the divers were being filmed for a TG4 series, Eire FoThoinn (Ireland Under the Waves), about different diving sites around the coast and inland waterways.
The Laurentic was built at the Harland & Wolf shipyard in 1908. It was used to transport troops, weighed 14,950 tonnes and was 500 feet long. In all, 350 men drowned, and 316 were saved when the it sank. A book telling the history of the Laurentic, written by Jack Scultock, will be published in October.
