{"id":809,"date":"2024-03-25T10:30:17","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T10:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seswpcourse.hosted7.connect.ie\/?p=809"},"modified":"2024-03-25T14:29:20","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T14:29:20","slug":"italian-salvage-ships-at-the-galley-head","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seswpcourse.hosted7.connect.ie\/index.php\/2024\/03\/25\/italian-salvage-ships-at-the-galley-head\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian Salvage Ships at the Galley Head"},"content":{"rendered":"

Italian Salvage Ships at the Galley Head<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

Paddy O\u2019Sullivan traces the history of the Italian salvage company, Sorima, and describes its successful\u00a0<\/em>Ludgate\u00a0operation off the Galley Head in 1934-35<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

On 19 May 1922, the ageing P&O liner,\u00a0Egypt,\u00a0<\/em>departed from Tilbury, bound for Marseille and Bombay, having on board 294 crew and forty-four passengers. In addition to her general cargo, the liner shipped in its strong-room a consignment of gold and silver to the value of \u00a31,054,000. This staggering fortune consisted mainly of gold ingots, several dozen cases of gold sovereigns and a large quantity of silver ingots.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following evening saw the twenty-five-year-old liner travelling at reduced speed in dense fog off Ushant near the French coast. However, as the fog thickened, the captain of the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>took diligent precautions by shutting down his engines and drifting while sounding his siren at regular intervals to reveal his presence. He was not the only one to be confounded by fog on that late afternoon; another ship\u2019s siren could be heard in the distance and gradually grew louder, though its direction of approach could not be ascertained due to the fog. Sensing grave danger, the captain and officers of the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>crowded the bridge as they strained their eyes to make sense of the white nothingness that greeted them. Suddenly, the unthinkable happened \u2013 the white fog turned ink-black to reveal the shadow of an oncoming ship. In seconds, the French steamer\u00a0Seine\u00a0<\/em>emerged from the fog at high speed, making for the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>on a collision course. In as many more seconds, the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>received a death-dealing blow as the oncoming steamer crashed violently into her port side between her two funnels. While the\u00a0Seine\u00a0<\/em>was a relatively small vessel of 1,380 tons against the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>7,500 tons, she was built for ice-breaking with a razor-sharp prow which had been heavily reinforced for its task. With such deadly armour, the French ship ploughed deeply into the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>side with cata\u00adstrophic consequences. Great panic ensued throughout the ship, especially among her crew. The badly damaged liner took on a severe list as she rapidly flooded and sank to the seabed in a mere twenty minutes, taking its valuable bullion cargo to the depths. Her unwitting assassin, the\u00a0Seine,\u00a0<\/em>rendered all possible assistance in taking survivors on board and subsequently putting them ashore at Brest. In all, seventy-two crew members and fifteen passengers lost their lives in the incident.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>five-ton gold cargo dangled a tantalising bait to would-be salvors. Lloyds, having paid the full claim on the treasure within ten days of the liner\u2019s loss, were now the owners of the bullion and were prepared to grant salvage concessions to diving entrepreneurs on a \u2018no cure, no pay\u2019, basis, and on attractive terms that would allow the salvor to keep seventy-five per cent of his recoveries while turning the remainder over to Lloyds. There were some difficulties, however; the position of the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>was unknown and, secondly, its 65-fathom depth (390 feet) was well beyond the recovery technology of the era. However, the lure of gold was strong, and various companies made unsuccessful attempts to find the wreck between 1923 and 1928. A Swedish company based in Gothenberg expended considerable resources in a failed attempt to locate the wreck; later, a French salvage company would also savour the bitter taste of failure in searching for the wreck. A local friar even departed from his monastery to join a team of adventurers by claiming he could find gold with his divining rod. In 1929, An Italian company succumbed to the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>challenge. This company has been formed in 1926 by a Genoese lawyer named Giovanni Quaglia. Quaglia had powerful connec\u00adtions and had amassed considerable wealth from the World\u00b7 War I shipping shortage by converting sailing ships to motor vessels. However, such success could not sate his lust for adventure. Quaglia named his company Sorima, the name being derived from the first two letters of each of the following words:\u00a0So<\/b>cieta\u00a0Ri<\/b>cuperi\u00a0Ma<\/b>rittimi, translated as Society of Maritime Recovery. Despite his wealth, he was best known for his courage and dogged determination. In developing his new salvage company, he identified a need to pioneer new methods of deep cargo-recovery from the ocean floor; in this pursuit, he experienced some success in recovering cargoes from lesser shipwrecks in the Mediterranean during the embryonic years of Sorima\u2019s development. Quaglia realised that a salvage vessel fitted out with a four-point mooring system and powerful grabs would be capable of anchor\u00ading over a wreck and tearing her remains apart to recover its cargo. The problem was that such a vessel would be working blind and perhaps even wasting its energy on the wrong location. Quaglia pondered the dilemma long and hard. Finally, he concluded that if an artillery observer could direct a gunner in accurate placement of his shells, then surely a salvage-grab could be directed in a similar fashion if only he could figure out a way to allow an observer to accompany the grab as it set to work in the inky blackness of the ocean\u2019s depths. Eventually, the answer struck him and he ordered his salvage engineers to weld a crude one-man steel container, fitted with five windows and a telephone to communicate with the surface. The diver would be sealed in this mummy-like steel case and lowered to the seabed prior to commencing his day\u2019s work. His breathing needs would be catered for by including a supply of oxygen in his cramped chamber which was sealed against the crushing pressure of the sea outside;\u00a0his\u00a0<\/em>air supply was designed to last several hours in case of emer\u00adgency. The newly invented system was tried and tested, and seemed to be a runaway success; now at last the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>gold was within Sorima\u2019s grasp if only they could find the wreck.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Salvage

Italian salvage ship Artigilo \u2013 Biblioth\u00e8que National de France<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With high hopes of early success, Sorima\u2019s salvage vessels, the\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Rostra,\u00a0<\/em>set out to search for the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>in 1929. But the reluctant treasure liner was not about to give up its secrets without a struggle. The next two years saw both ships sweep wires in vain across vast tracts of fea\u00adtureless ocean without the slightest glimmer of success in locating the sunken liner. Quaglia became exhausted both physically and financially from his futile efforts, while his salvage company, Sorima, was driven to the edge of bankruptcy by his failure to find the\u00a0Egypt.\u00a0<\/em>However, the old adage \u2018fortune favours the brave\u2019 was to hold true for Quaglia, and in his second year of searching and sweeping the Bay of Biscay, the elusive\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>was found sitting upright on the seabed. Diving operations commenced immediately, as six heavy-duty moorings were placed about the sunken liner. When mooring operations had been completed, the familiar sound of the ship\u2019s grab .clanking over the side heralded the start of a long and often frustrating salvage operation. As the grab plunged to the bottom, the observation diver \u2013 dressed in heavy layers of woollen clothing \u2013 donned his knitted cap and entered the cramped steel diving-bell that was to become his home for the next four to five hours. Having entered the bell, the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>deck-crew set about fixing the heavy lid in place and tightening a series of bolts and nuts to keep the water out. Then the telephone system was tested once more before the diver in his canister was lowered into the ocean to follow the grab already sitting in position as if to await his instructions. Soon, deck-winches were groaning under the strain as the listing\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>set to work demolishing the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>seven decks to access the strong-room in the bowels of the ship. Blasting by dynamite was a necessary prerequisite to opening the ship prior to tearing off steel plates. As the operation progressed, the chatter on the ship\u2019s telephone was almost constant as directions were sent up from the murky depths by the diver. Soon, the temperature inside the diving-bell would drop sharply, causing the walls to become shrouded in droplets as moisture condensed from the diver\u2019s breath on the cold steel. Eventually, depleted oxygen levels would cause the diver to suffer splitting headaches and shortage of breath, leaving the topside crew with little choice but to recover the bell. Once back on deck, the steel lid of the diving bell would be unbolted to release its shivering occupant to welcome fresh air and warmth; a fresh diver with a replenished oxygen supply would continue the work on the seabed.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nOn 22 June 1932, Lady Luck at last smiled on the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>efforts; two gold sovereigns came up in the grab; the next lift brought up two gold ingots. Euphoria flashed around the ship with hoots and howls at the first sight of gold from the deep. Work ground to a halt in the excitement as the ship\u2019s cook broke out the wine to enable the crew members toast the success of several years\u2019 efforts. As the euphoria died down, work commenced as before. Soon, gold bars and coins were tumbling out of the grab and onto the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>deck in daily monotony. Though bad weather regularly inter\u00adrupted operations, the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>efforts continued throughout the years 1932 and 1933 until practi\u00adcally all five tons of the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>gold had been recovered. Finally, the Italians pulled up stakes and departed the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>in 1933, having successfully recovered ninety-three per cent of its cargo.<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nSorima of Genoa. the city of Christopher Columbus, had inadvertently become the best-equipped, most-profitable deep-water salvage company in the world. Its hard-served apprenticeship in recov\u00adering the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>gold saw it pioneer new grabs, powerful lifting cranes and unparalleled salvage techniques; its achievements had marked a new era in the science of salvage. An idea of the immen\u00adsity of the operation may be realised from the fact that its work spanned five years. When one takes into account the fruitless efforts of the earlier Swedish and French salvage companies from 1923 onwards, quite ten years had been spent on recovering the\u00a0Egypt\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>gold. Quaglia\u2019s success enabled him to acquire a total offive ships and engage in simultaneous salvage operations across European waters. As he planned the future strategy of his company, he realised that his chances of encountering another glamorous gold cargo were a million-to-one. However, the ocean floors were littered with valuable cargoes of copper and other non-ferrous metals thanks to the U-boat campaign of World War I, and Quaglia\u2019s scribbled calculations told him that 2,000 tons of copper were just as lucrative as three tons of gold. Britain alone lost 2,500 merchant ships to the torpedo and mine during the 1914-18 War. Many of these ships were sent plunging to their doom, laden with ingots of copper, nickel, tin and brass. These valuable commodities represented much-needed war supplies to feed Britain\u2019s insatiable armaments industry. U-boat commanders attempted to cripple that industry by cutting off Britain\u2019s supplies, deliberately targeting war suppliers. Much of this slaughter was carried on across the south-west coast of Ireland with efforts concentrated off Waterford, Galley Head and west of Fastnet. Now the Galley Head area promised rich pickings as Sorima identified two copper-rich steamers: the\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Ludgate.\u00a0<\/em>Alan Crothall\u2019s book,\u00a0Wealth from the Sea,\u00a0<\/em>states that the\u00a0Ludgate<\/i>\u00a0contained 350 tons of copper, and the nearby\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>1,298 tons of copper. In 1934, having negotiated satisfactory terms with the British government \u2013 the owners of the copper\u00ad Quaglia dispatched two vessels, the\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Arpione,\u00a0<\/em>to set up base in Kinsale. This\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>was in fact a second salvage ship so-named, in memory of the original\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>which had blown itself sky high whilst demolishing a munitions wreck off France in the 1930s.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>
\nOn arrival off the Irish coast, the Italians were struck by the emerald-green vista that greeted their eyes, in sharp contrast to the parched landscape of their native Mediterranean. They were also struck by Ireland\u2019s ever-present rain and the bad-tempered nature of the Atlantic. A once-calm ocean might suddenly turn boisterous as gale-force winds whipped up mountainous seas. Howling winds would strip the crests of waves, filling the air with spray; driving rains added to the discomfort by eliminating visibility. Such conditions made salvage prohibitive and forced the Italians to run for the shelter of Kinsale Harbour time and time again. Such events happened all too often for the Italians\u2019 liking. Sitting at the pier for weeks on end, chipping rust, painting and attending to repairs was extremely boring; on the other hand, salvage of copper bars was exciting and could attract substantial pay bonuses after a successful stint of recovery. Locating the\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>was given priority as both ships laid out their search-wires in tandem and began the monotonous process of sweeping for the wreck. The next seven weeks brought nothing but frustration and broken sweep-wires caused by entanglement in rocks. In desperation, the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>captain decided to put a man ashore at Galley Head to question the locals for guidance. Only one man could offer assistance; it so happened that a local man, Denis O\u2019Donovan from Brownstown, near Ballycusheen, was driving cattle to Rosscarbery fair at four in the morning on 26 July 1917. Denis was rarely called by his Christian name; he was more usually referred to as the Coitineach, an Irish word referring to Denis\u2019 origins in Ballycotton. As the Coitineach herded the cattle over the hill of Croachna, the blackness of night was suddenly illuminated by a blinding flash and gigantic fireball two miles south of the Galley Head lighthouse. Turning his head to look at the source of the flash, a loud bang and thunder-like sound rolled in from the ocean. The passing\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>had struck a German mine and sank in a mere two minutes. No doubt its weighty cargo of copper ingots contributed to its sudden demise. Twenty-four lives were lost, including that of the captain, many being still in their bunks when the mine exploded. Five survivors clung desperately to floating wreckage for several hours; mercifully, British patrol boat no. 46 arrived on the scene at 10.35 the next morning and plucked the shivering mariners from the sea before heading for Castletown Berehaven. The barely alive survivors had endured the chilly Atlantic for all of six hours; some were semi-conscious and near death from their ordeal.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\"Diver

Diver being lowered from the Artiglio<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The vital information obtained from the Coitineach brought success to the Italians, who easily found the\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>in a few days. Moorings were laid down, dynamite charges rigged and fired, and all top-decking torn away by the grab from the\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>to reveal three open cargo hatches. Both aft and middle hatches were brimful (and still are) of copper pyrites, and are of fourteen per cent average purity. However, the forward hatch was crammed with tombstone-like copper ingots weighing three hundredweight each. Meanwhile, the\u00a0Arpione\u00a0<\/em>busied itself dealing with the copper ship,\u00a0Spectator,\u00a0<\/em>sunk eleven miles south-east of Galley Head. A companion to the\u00a0Ludgate,\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>was more fortunate by being torpedoed and sunk without loss of life on 19 August 1917. The submarine UC-33 was reported to have carried out the foul deed. At the time, the\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>was on a voyage from Zanzibar to Liverpool. Her remains lay in 300-feet of water, close to the site of the\u00a0Lusitania.\u00a0<\/em>As required by law, all Italian mooring-buoy locations were reported to Irish Lights.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Two salvage seasons, spanning 1934-35, were necessary to achieve the high level of copper recovery from both these shipwrecks. Copper ingots were deposited on Kinsale pier and moved by hand truck to an old coal store \u2013 now the Trident Hotel bar and restaurant near the pier. The\u00a0Cork Examiner\u00a0<\/em>of 5 June 1935 reported: \u2018 \u2026 the\u00a0Arpione\u00a0<\/em>has been laid up for a few weeks in bad weather. It has landed 40 tons of ingots from the\u00a0Ludgate.\u2019\u00a0<\/em>Another report from the\u00a0Cork Examiner,\u00a0<\/em>dated 6 July 1935, states: \u2018The Italian salvage vessel,\u00a0Arpione,\u00a0<\/em>arrived in the harbour [Kinsale] with about twenty tons of copper ingots aboard, salvaged from the\u00a0Ludgate.\u00a0<\/em>The work has been hampered by bad weather and now that an improvement has set in it is expected that salvage work will proceed with more success. She expects to leave the harbour this evening and will steam ten miles west of the Old Head and complete the salving of the\u00a0Spectator\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>cargo. The latter has still on board 800 tons of copper which, it is expected, will be uncovered by September when further sweeping operations by the\u00a0Artiglio\u00a0<\/em>will take place.\u2019 The\u00a0Spectator\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>total cargo was eventually salvaged and most of the\u00a0Ludgate\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>copper ingots were recovered; her ore cargo of pyrites was abandoned as being a commodity of low value.<\/span>
\nBy October 1935, Sorima had ended its operations off Galley Head and was busy searching off Waterford for the French copper ship\u00a0Lincolnshire.\u00a0<\/em>With the onset of winter, the Waterford searches were greatly hampered by bad weather. And then, as Italy entered the fray of war, its government recalled both salvage vessels. The\u00a0Sunday Independent\u00a0<\/em>of 13 October 1935 reported: \u2018The Italian salvage ship,\u00a0Arpione,\u00a0<\/em>which has been operating on the wrecks of copper-carrying vessels sunk off the south Cork coast during the war, has taken in provisions and bunkers at Kinsale preparatory to sailing for home. The\u00a0Arpione\u00a0<\/em>continued during the summer months salvage work begun last year on two large British ships torpedoed in 1917 off the Old Head of Kinsale \u2013 the\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 which were conveying cargoes of copper from East Africa to Wales. The total cargo of the\u00a0Spectator\u00a0<\/em>has been salvaged.<\/span>
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\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nWorld War II saw Neptune\u2019s coffers topped up with more rich ingot cargoes. German U-boats once again swung into action, wreaking deadly havoc on merchant shipping as they attempted to starve Britain into submission by use of the torpedo and mine. Hitler\u2019s admiral of submarines, Karl Donetz, was hell-bent on ridding the ocean of enemy shipping. He almost suc\u00adceeded. Initially, his U-boats had great success as they torpedoed and sank merchant ships on an unprecedented scal., Countless cargoes of non-ferrous ingots accompanied the sinking ships to the ocean floor. This bonanza did not go unnoticed by Sorima, which welcomed the war\u2019s end as it pondered new prizes to be recovered from the seabed. Peace saw the company take up negotiations, as before, with the British authorities. This time, however, Sorima was greeted with a frosty reception by their noble lordships at the Admiralty. Relations had soured, since Italy had been England\u2019s enemy during the war and now the British authorities would have no truck with the company. Instead, salvage concessions were granted to the newly emerging English company, Risdon Beasley Marine Salvage. Beasley was to become Sorima\u2019s arch rival and successor. Italy\u2019s support of Hitler sounded the death knell for Sorima, and it was several years before it clawed its way back into business. However, it never regained the momentum of the glory years on the\u00a0Egypt\u00a0<\/em>and Galley Head shipwrecks. Sorima\u2019s last recovery effort took place in 1953 off Land\u2019s End when the company recovered $61,000 in bank notes from the foundered American ship,\u00a0Flying Enterprise.\u00a0<\/em>A failed attempt to locate a copper cargo off Chile in 1960 brought operations to a close.<\/span>
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\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>still excites the imagination of sport divers who visit the wreck from time to time. Peering through the pea-green gloom, one can still see the claw marks of the\u00a0Artiglio\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>grab on the ship\u2019s rusting steel; a few jade-green copper ingots are scattered about the bow area. A pair of erect lifeboat davitts stand sentinel-like over the forward hatch. The wreck itself is a veritable scrap-heap tenanted by conger eel and pollock. Though the rusting\u00a0Ludgate\u00a0<\/em>will never complete her voyage and rendezvous with her destination in Wales, she remains a monument to a daring band of sailors who gambled with their lives and lost in a futile war that achieved little more than the slaughter of eleven million lives worldwide .<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nWith acknowledgements to: Alan Roddie, Tony O\u2019Mahony, Pat Joe Harrington, the late Dan Harrington and John O\u2019Donovan Fehan, Keith Good.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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\nBibliography:<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n