Silver streak... as exploration team finds ANOTHER sunken British ship with £19m aboard

A sea exploration company said today it has discovered yet another British wartime ship filled with silver, which is lying 8,000ft beneath the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean.



Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc hit the headlines earlier this month by discovering the Second World War-era SS Gairsoppa and its £150m-plus haul of silver on the ocean floor.

Today the company proudly announced that it found the remains of the British SS Mantola, a First World War-era ship that sank on February 9, 1917.



Spooky sight: The Odyssey Marine Exploration's ROV inspection of the SS Mantola site, with bridge deck accommodations and promenade railings

Excellent condition: Despite being sent to the bottom in 1917, and suffering the ravages of solt water and pressure, the Mantola is literally in ship shape at the bottom of the Atlantic

Open the hatches: Odyssey Marine Exploration intends to return in the spring to mine both the Mantola and the Gairsoppa around 100 miles away

Like the Gairsoppa but decades before, the Mantola fell victim to a German submarine, U-81.



An Odyssey spokesman said the Mantola was insured to carry silver worth £110,000 when it sailed in 1917.



That value would mean the ship could hold as much as 600,000 ounces of silver, based on silver prices in 1917. At current market prices, that much silver would be worth more than $19 million.



Treasure hunter: Odyssey Marine Exploration's Odyssey Explorer, which is bristling with hi-tech gadgets, has hit pay dirt twice - first with the SS Gairsoppa and now with the SS Mantola

Remote vehicle: The prize piece of equipment aboard the Odyssey is its underwater exploration vehicle, which can get up close and personal with shipwrecks in deep water

Odyssey will retain 80 per cent of the value of the silver that's recovered.



The company is planning a recovery expedition next spring. It said its share of the proceeds will contribute significantly to funding its future operations.

