- SAVANNAH, Ga. (CP) -- After
searching the ocean for more than 10 years, marine explorers found crates
of gold this week at the site of a Civil War-era shipwreck about 160 kilometres
east of Savannah.
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- Archeologists and technicians from Odyssey Marine Exploration
Inc., on Thursday found 80 gold coins and at least two wooden crates of
gold coins buried in the sediment, said company spokeswoman Laura Lionetti
Barton.
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- The gold's worth is not yet known, said Barton, who added
the old coins must still be lifted very carefully from the ocean floor.
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- "We don't want to scratch them," Barton said.
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- Although Barton declined specific estimates Friday, she
suggested last week that coins from the shipwreck could be worth more than
$120 million US.
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- Barton said Saturday that her company has been awarded
temporary legal custody of all that is recovered from the shipwreck and
is confident it will gain a 100 per cent salvage award. "We anticipate
marketing the coins and the cargo," she said.
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- In August, Odyssey's salvage crews found what they believed
was the site where the side-wheel steamer SS Republic sank during a hurricane
in 1865, Barton said.
-
- Newspaper accounts at the time said 59 to 81 passengers
were on board and 13 to 17 died, Barton said. The gold went down with the
ship.
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