Massive $5.6 Billion Treasure Hunt Is On For Sunken British Gold

After more than two decades of searching, Britain might finally get some of its sunken WWI and WWII gold back, as Britannia’s Gold launches an operation to recover $5.6 billion worth of the yellow-metal that went missing after British ships were attacked by the Germans.

It is believed that the British government used ships to transport gold and other precious metals worth £300 billion ($372 billion) during First and Second World Wars to pay for military equipment. The sunken ships were specifically targeted by Germans in order to put extra financial pressure on the British Empire during the wars, Britannia’s Gold stated on its website.

It took scientists 25 years and eight million documents to create a database and track down 700 out of 7,500 of the sunken vessels.

“The documents provide substantive evidence as to which sunken ships carried the valuable cargoes,” the organization noted.

And now, in just a few weeks, Britannia’s Gold will launch an $18.6 million recovery operation that will be based a few hundred miles off the coast of western Ireland, The Telegraph reported. The first step in the recovery process will be to target a cluster of three ships, which are believed to have £750 million ($929 million) aboard. Once the fortune is recovered, a part of it will go to the British government and charities and the rest will be split between investors.

The public will also get a chance to get their hands on part of the treasure — you can win a bar of gold by signing up for the organization’s newsletter.

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