THE LACONIA

The Independent is reporting today on a struggle between a salvage company and the British Government over the ownership of the contents of a ship sunk by a German submarine in 1917.

The Laconia was sailing from New York to Liverpool with human passengers, there is no doubt about that. But beyond that, what else was it carrying?

The Independent article refers to tons of South American silver.

But an eye-witness account of Floyd Gibbons, a passenger and journalist on board The Laconia, mentions "foodstuffs, cotton, and war material".

Gibbons reports on a brief conversation he had with a crew member shortly after the ship had been struck by a torpedo.

The jibbering, bullet-headed Negro was pulling directly behind me and I turned to quiet him as his frantic reaches with his oar were hitting me in the back. In the dull light from the upper decks I looked into his slanting face, eyes all whites and lips moving convulsively. Besides being frightened, the man was freezing in the thin cotton shirt that composed his entire upper covering. He would work feverishly to get warm.

"Get away from her; get away from her," he kept repeating. "When the water hits her hot boilers, she'll blow up, and there's just tons and tons of shrapnel in the hold!"

Gibbons states that just six American civilians were sailing on board The Laconia when it sunk, and that just two died. But still the sinking of The Laconia was reported right across America and caused great outrage.

So again, as with The Lusitania, a human shield was placed before war material bound for England. And if the Germans should sink the ship? Well reports of the sinking could be placed in American media to drive America into a frenzy. And Gibbons' account was read aloud in Congress. A few months later America eventually joined the war, to the great relief of Great Britain.

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From http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/battle-for-the-treasure-chest-that-changed-the-course-of-the-great-war-1646524.html

Battle for the treasure chest that changed the course of the Great War

The wreck of a liner torpedoed in 1917 has been discovered. But who owns its £3m cargo, asks Cahal Milmo

Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Britain is locked in a court battle with an American treasure-hunting company over ownership of the wreck of a cruise liner with its valuable cargo of bullion, torpedoed in the First World War by a German U-boat in the Atlantic. The 18,000-tonne Royal Mail Ship Laconia, which had been commandeered by the British government, was attacked with the loss of 13 passengers, including three Americans, en route from New York to Liverpool on 25 February 1917.

That changed the course of the war: a graphic account of the sinking by an American journalist aboard was credited with helping to push the United States into joining the conflict after it was read to both Houses of Congress.

But the discovery of the hull of the former Cunard liner 160 miles off Ireland by Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Florida-based company, has turned RMS Laconia into the source of a new transatlantic power struggle. The treasure-hunters have been appointed "custodian" of the wreck and its contents, including 852 bars of silver and 132 boxes of silver coins worth an estimated £3m.