Category: Salvage

The Royal Mail steamer Niagara was mined and sunk on 19 June 1940 off the New Zealand coast while carrying bullion. This is the story of its secret recovery during the war at then record diving depths.

The memoirs of an American salvage expert who spent 1942 overcoming fearsome odds to restore the port of Massawa to something approaching working order.

Mainly concerned with the post-war history of the Marine Salvage Department of the Admiralty, it nevertheless gives a good brief account of the war years.

Over two hundred vessels and cargoes were salved by this little known organisation which helped to keep the sea lanes clear. Tales of shipwreck, salvage, and marine towing.

A popularised but interesting account of a less well-known aspect of the war at sea.

A freelance journalist has interviewed survivors and used official records to give a fresh account of the tale.

The story of the Canadian Atlantic salvage tugs, especially Foundation Franklin from 1930 to 1948, much of it to do with the hazards of the Atlantic War.

He first went to sea in 1910 and eventually set up his own salvage company which raised the gold from the steamer Niagara. During WWII he ran the Australian Government Salvage Board and after the war became Chairman of the Australian Coastal Shipping Board.

KEEBLE, Peter. Ordeal by Water. viii, 216p., illus. London: Longmans, 1957; Garden City: Doubleday, 1958.

Commander Keeble worked for the Fleet Salvage Officer in the Mediterranean. This is his autobiography from the Italian chariot attack on Alexandria to war's end. Provides an interesting contrast to Ellsberg's account, of the salvage operations at Massawa.

FORRESTER-BROWN, Glennys E. A Diver's Escapades: The Early Life and Wartime Experiences of Joe Forrester - A Lad from the Potteries Who Served in the Royal Navy During World War II. 126p., illus. Bognor Regis: Woodfield, 2012. ISBN: 184683127X.

A biography by his daughter but based on contemporary notes. He joined the Royal Navy in 1926, at the age of 17, and was with Emerald in Ceylon in 1939. He was sunk in Curlew in Norwegian waters in 1940. Later, as a gunner on Prince of Wales, he was involved in the Bismarck action and was sunk with her in the Japanese air attack. He escaped hidden on a native ship and made it to Ceylon. Here he was involved in salvage work as a diver on the salvage vessel Salviking for the next two years. He was aboard when she was torpedoed and sunk near the Maldives. Once again, he was fortunate to survive.

DOUST, W. A. The Ocean on a Plank. xiv, 161p., illus. London: Seeley Service, 1976. ISBN: 0854220887.

Much concerned with WWII when he was in the Admiralty Salvage Department and worked all over the world. A modest but interesting account.

ELLSBERG, Edward. No Banners, No Bugles. [vi], 370p. New York: Dodd Mead, 1949.

A blunt but enjoyable account of salvage operations in the North African ports in the wake of Torch. His memory is faulty at times but his views are unfailingly pungent. A sequel to Under the Red Sea Sun..

TAYLOR, James. Gold from the Sea: The Epic Story of the Niagara's Bullion. 200p., illus. London: Harrap, 1943; Sydney: Australasian Publishing, 1947.

Perhaps the best account of the salvage operation to raise the gold from this ship mined off the New Zealand coast. The Australian edition was reprinted in 1947.