Treasure from the deep: Thousands of silver bars that were meant to fund Britain's WWII effort but were sunk by German U-boat FINALLY reach their destination - and will be sold as coins

Merchant ship carrying silver from India for the war effort was sunk in 1941

Its cargo of 2,800 bars of silver has sat on the bed of the Atlantic ever since

Record-breaking bid to salvage the silver from three miles down a success

The Royal Mint is now making the metal into coins to remember the tragedy



A ship's precious cargo of 2,800 bars of silver has finally reached the Royal Mint to be made into coins - more than 70 years after it was sunk by a German U-boat.



The shipment of silver worth £38million was bound for Britain at the height of the Second World Two, but it was lost at sea after the merchant ship was torpedoed.



The SS Gairsoppa was sunk off the Irish coast in 1941 carrying solid silver bullion from India to bolster the Britain's dwindling war chest.

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The SS Gairsoppa was sunk by a U-boat in 1941 carrying 2,800 bars of solid silver to bolster the Britain's war chest

After the silver was salvaged in a record-breaking rescue operation, the Royal Mint has turned the bars into coins, which will now be sold to collectors

The deepest rescue operation in maritime history has since seen the silver bullion brought up from the seabed after spending seven decades at the bottom of the Atlantic.



The Royal Mint today began striking silver coins from the bullion cargo of the SS Gairsoppa to be sold in its memory.



Royal Mint historian Dr Kevin Clancy said: 'This shipment of silver bullion should have got here 72 years ago and now it has finally come home.



'I don't think anything like this has happened before - bullion destined for us which didn't make now finding it's way here. It's a very romantic and evocative story. '



An image of the ship on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean, where it has rested for the last 70 years

Andrew Craig, project manager of the rescue operation, which recovered 2,792 silver bars totaling more than 3million troy ounces of silver. The haul would be worth around £38,272,000 at today's prices



A German U-boat like that pictured sunk the merchant ship after it left its naval convoy in bad weather

In December 1940, the Royal Mint was running dangerously low in stocks of silver due to the war and called in emergency supplies from India.



A large shipment of silver was sent from Calcutta aboard the British merchant ship SS Gairsoppa - which sailed under the protection of a naval convoy.



Second Officer Richard Ayres was the sole survivor of the sinking of the SS Gairsoppa

But after battling a heavy storm it began running short of coal off the coast of Southern Ireland and was forced to break free and head for the safety of Galway Harbour.



The slow merchant ship was spotted by a German U-boat patrolling the British waters and was torpedoed at 12.08am on 17 February 1941.

The stricken ship sank within 20 minutes - 300 miles off the south west coast of Ireland.



Three lifeboats were launched but only Second Officer Richard Ayres made it to land and survived to report what had happened.



His lifeboat started with 31 men but after spending 13 days at sea he was the only sailor to make it to dry land alive.



He was awarded an MBE in recognition of his heroic efforts to keep fellow survivors alive, as well as a War Medal for bravery at sea, and amazingly returned to sea nine months later.



The 412ft ship was eventually found sitting on the seabed 300 miles off the Irish coast in September 2011 by US marine exploration company Odyssey.



And after a five-year rescue operation on behalf of the Treasury they recovered the silver bullion from SS Gairsoppa at an astonishing depth of three miles.



Half a mile deeper than the Titanic - it is the largest and deepest recovery of precious metal from a shipwreck in maritime history.



Andrew Craig, who project managed the five-year rescue operation, said: 'Nobody has ever done anything like this before at this depth.



The SS Gairsoppa was eventually found on the seabed in September 2011 by US marine exploration company Odyssey

A remotely-operated submarine took three and a half hours to get down to the sea bed to view the sunken ship

'There were so many unknowns and when you took a step back it looked incredibly daunting - but we just took each challenge as it came.



'Finally bringing the silver bullion back to the Royal Mint, 72 years after it should have arrived, will bring the incredible story of the ship and its crew to light.



EXTRA CASH FROM THE COLONIES

The British Empire helped raise funds for the Allied war effort, sending £23.3 million in gifts and £10.7 million in interest-free loans. India also paid for its two and a half million citizens who joined the armed forces and the Fifth Indian Division went on to fight in the Sudan against the Italians and then in Libya against the Germans. Even the 250,000 Bechuana people in southern Africa sent £10,400 to purchase two Spitfires for the RAF and paid extra taxes so their government could send £50,000 as a gift to Britain.

'Not many people have heard about the SS Gairsoppa since it sank but now it will be one of the most famous wrecks to be worked on and those sailors will never be forgotten.'



The rescue operation recovered 2,792 silver bars totaling approximately 3.2 million troy ounces of silver - worth around £38,272,000 at current prices.



Mr Craig said the record-breaking depth of the salvage operation left them with unique challenges to overcome and some eye-watering operational costs.



He said: 'For the final stage of the project to retrieve the silver bullion we chartered a boat at a cost of £100,000-a-day - and were there for two seasons for around 180 days.



'It took three and a half hours to send out remotely operated submersible down to the sea bed and then we had to work our way through the boat to find where the silver was stored.



'Up until the last 10 years the technology hasn't been there to do anything like this.



At one point in the salvage operation, a £100,000-a-day specialist boat needed to be chartered while the silver was from brought up from the depths

Mr Craig spearheaded the operation to recover the silver from a depth of three miles

'But after silver prices rocketed it became financially worthwhile to give it a go and we believed we had the technology and skill to do it.



'This has been a great challenge for us but now we know we can work any depth of water.



'Coming to The Royal Mint and seeing the silver bullion coins struck was quite emotional - now after 72 years we have seen the story come full circle.'



Odyssey kept 80 per cent of the silver bullion they recovered and the Treasury were given 20 per cent.



Some of this bullion has now been passed to The Royal Mint for the striking of the 99.9 pure 1/4oz silver Britannia bullion coins.



Each of the 20,000 solid silver coins will be edged with the name SS Gairsoppa and available to purchase in the UK for the first time at the end of the month.

He said: 'Not many people have heard about the SS Gairsoppa since it sank but now it will be one of the most famous wrecks to be worked on and those sailors will never be forgotten'