All but six of the ship's 302 passengers escape onto lifeboats before she sinks. The German captain of the submarine tells the survivors: "Goodnight, sorry for sinking you."
The crew are rescued but 104 people on board the lifeboats die.
Posted by Deep Ocean Search on Thursday, April 9, 2015
Fast forward to 2011 and a British led salvage team by Deep Ocean Search (DOS) begin its deep water hunt for the treasure. In 2013 DOS manage to locate the ship 17,000 feet under the sea and beneath meters of mud using a powerful survey and salvage vessel equipped with sonar and robotics.
Posted by Deep Ocean Search on Thursday, April 9, 2015
"Many items were seen on and around the wreck including the end section of the second torpedo, where the contra-rotating propellers could clearly be seen."
NEW WRECK — DOS announces finding S.S. City Of Cairo http://t.co/wp3wbDF17w #Wreck #CityOfCairo pic.twitter.com/YxBAt8knZA
— John LETHBRIDGE (@DeepOceanSearch) April 13, 2015
"Apart from the silver cargo this was the only item recovered from the site," said Deep Ocean Search.
Posted by Deep Ocean Search on Thursday, April 9, 2015
In 2013, the coins were recovered under contract to the UK Ministry of Transport in what's been described as a "world record' by DOS for recovering anything at this depth, and has only just come to public attention.
Posted by Deep Ocean Search on Thursday, April 9, 2015
The record breaking deep sea divers left a plaque at the bottom of the sea which read:
"We came here with respect."
It's now 2015 and the silver coins on board the sunk ship are worth $50 million, according to The Telegraph.
