It does not glisten, but it does have a story to tell.

Forty-eight tons of silver bullion that spent more than 70 years at the bottom of the North Atlantic have been hauled to the surface and returned to its rightful owner, the British government, according to the company that recovered it. And much more will be on its way soon.

The silver was recovered from the Gairsoppa, which was carrying the riches to England from India in 1941 when a Nazi torpedo struck. The ship went down about 300 miles southwest of Ireland in waters 2.9 miles deep — lower than the resting place of the Titanic.

On Wednesday, a maritime recovery company, Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Fla., said it had succeeded in removing about 43 percent of the insured silver aboard the rusting hulk and 20 percent of the total silver that its research indicates might be on board. The company said it planned to return quickly to the site for another round of recovery.

Greg Stemm, the chief executive of Odyssey, said it was the heaviest and deepest cargo of precious metal ever lifted from a shipwreck. The haul, he said, demonstrates that marine technologies have improved to the point that no sunken ship is too deep and no cargo too large for retrieval.