In 1941, the British cargo ship SS Gairsoppa was carrying over 7,000 tons of supplies, including silver ingots that were intended to fund the Allied Forces in the war. The ship was running low on coal and was diverted to Ireland to refuel. A German U-boat spotted the ship and torpedoed it, causing both the ship and its silver to sink to the ocean floor, where they remained for over 70 years. Forty-eight tons of silver were recovered from a depth of 15,000 feet by the Odyssey Marine Exploration team in 2012. Each bar is inscribed with its ID number, weight, and pureness, and has been stamped by an assessor to prove its authenticity.
