SubSea starts search for sunken treasure

[Mr T.]

SubSea starts search for sunken treasure

Brian O'Connor, Daily Mail

4 July 2005 NOW and again you come across a story worth telling for its own sake, regardless of the investment case. Who could resist a tale of recovering sunken treasure from the seabed?

Excitement is growing as SubSea Resources, floated on Aim last November, prepares to launch its first recovery expedition.

The target is code-named Ella, a 19th-century steamship carrying gold and silver coins potentially worth $5m to $8m, and sunk in shallow Atlantic waters. Managing director Mark Gleave hopes to have the recovery ship on site by late July and to have some news within a month of that.

He hopes the operation will be relatively easy and cheap. SubSea, which has named its first ship John Lethbridge after the 18th century Devon pioneer who dived in a leather-clad barrel with armholes, will then move on to Celia. This is the code name for a ship carrying copper and zinc which capsized in the Bay of Biscay in the 1970s.

Other prospects include a 10th century wooden ship carrying imperial Chinese porcelain and lying in Middle Eastern waters.

SubSea's story starts in 1982 when diver John Kingsford began searching the Public Records Office, intrigued by reports of a silver shipment lost in World War Two.

His search ultimately led to a database of 12,000 wrecks, with 20 priority targets whose salvage value is put at £250m. The world's seabeds are littered with wrecks, but many in shallow waters have been salvaged. Subsea has the technology to go down to 6,000 metres (20,000 feet).

The first step is to find the wreck. A robot vessel using 'side sonar' technology pinpoints it. Later a massive 'grab' is used to break in, and shovel out the cargo into 50-tonne skips lowered onto the seabed, and then lifted.

The risks are obvious, but Gleave says: 'This is not a Boys' Own adventure. It is a relatively simple business.'

He focuses on higher-value cargoes, which means recent wrecks rather than pirate ships or galleons from the Spanish Armada - though historic coins can fetch huge prices from collectors.

Most treasure is owned by governments or insurers, but salvage firms get 90pc of the value. Gleave says the biggest risk is not having enough capital. SubSea raised £10m net at the float at 20p a share, and £750,000 in a May placing at 30p.

The shares are now 28p, valuing it at £35m including warrants (now 12¾p) which convert at 40p. Gleave says he 'looks forward to converting'.

He points to US rival Odyssey Marine Exploration's market value of $209m (£115m). It is chasing the gold and silver hoard of HMS Sussex, sunk off Gibraltar in 1694. Odyssey's website www.shipwreck.net is an entertaining read. SubSea www.subsearesources.com hopes to emulate it, rather than other salvage firms, such as Ocean Resources, whose shares lie deep on the sea floor.

This is high risk adventure. If your worry is paying your children's school fees, stick to safer stuff. But watching SubSea's story unfold will be fascinating.


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/investi...&in_page_id=23

[Crisspy Fiver]

Good luck to him I say.

Jamie

[Finless]

Just off to phone their personnel dep't to see if .................

[Andy the Coastie]

are still working with my My old company- until i was ripped off