SS Minden

Last updated
History
NameMinden
Out of service1939
FateScuttled by crew in 1939

Minden was a German cargo ship, scuttled by her crew near Iceland in 1939.

Contents

Sinking

Minden was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Germany, believed to carry valuables (est. four tons of gold) from the Banco Germanico (a branch of Dresdner Bank). On September 24, 1939, the ship was positioned between Iceland and the Faroe Islands when it was intercepted by two British cruisers (HMS Calypso and HMS Dunedin). According to his orders in such a situation, the captain sank the ship with all its cargo. [1]

Rediscovery

The shipwreck was discovered in spring 2017 by the support ship Seabed Constructor [2] which had been rented by the UK-based company Advanced Marine Services (AMS). The search of the ship was halted by the Icelandic Coast Guard at the beginning of April 2017. [3] [4] On October 11, 2017, the Environment Agency of Iceland (Umhverfisstofnun) gave Advanced Marine Services permission to continue their search for Minden until May 1, 2018. [5] [6] [7] In November 2017, the research ship MV Forland Inspector had to abandon further search at the site because of bad weather. Because of that failed exploration attempt AMS got permission from the Icelandic authorities to do more research at the wreck even after the expiration date of May 1, 2018. A final search at the wreck was conducted over the period of three days in July 2018 by the vessel MV Seabed Worker. [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] Following these operations, AMS stated in a report to the Environment Agency of Iceland: "It was confirmed that no items of value were found". [13]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Kitching, Chris (23 July 2017). "British crew find chest that could contain £100million worth of Nazi gold". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  2. ↑ "Детали судна для: SEABED CONSTRUCTOR (Offshore Supply Ship) - IMO 9682148, MMSI 257224000, Call Sign LFIP3 Зарегистрировано в Norway - AIS Marine Traffic". MarineTraffic.com. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  3. ↑ Elliott, Alëx (10 April 2017). "Mysterious Research on Mysterious Wreck Mysteriously Halted". Iceland Review. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "German shipwreck Minden's cargo partly owned by Brits". Iceland Monitor. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  5. ↑ https://www.ust.is/library/Skrar/Atvinnulif/Starfsleyfi/i-auglysingu/2017/advancedmarine/2017.01.11%20Starfsleyfi%20AMSL.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  6. ↑ "Fá leyfi til að leita verðmæta í Minden". 12 October 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  7. ↑ "Fá leyfi til framkvæmda við Minden til að ná í fjársjóðskistuna". 12 October 2017. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  8. ↑ Fjársjóðsleyfið rann út í gær Vísir (http://www.visir.is/), 1 May 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2018
  9. ↑ Hafa 3 daga til að finna verðmæti í SS Minden RÚV (http://www.ruv.is/), 23 June 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019
  10. ↑ Hunt for mysterious Nazi treasure in Icelandic waters must be called off by midnight Iceland Magazine (https://icelandmag.is/), 10 July 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019
  11. ↑ Leit hætt að verðmætum í flaki SS Minden RÚV (http://www.ruv.is/), 10 July 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019
  12. ↑ Gripið í tómt í fjársjóðsskipinu Vísir (http://www.visir.is/), 27 October 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2019
  13. ↑ https://www.ust.is/library/Skrar/Atvinnulif/Mengandi-starfsemi/AMS%20Report.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
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