The cruiser Drake was recently discovered at the bottom of the Irish Sea. At one time, the ship was in the service of the British Navy and was one of the most powerful ships that took part in the First World War.
The ship sank in 1917 after being hit by a torpedo fired from a German submarine. Few know that it was on this cruiser that the gold of the Russian Empire was exported to England in 1914.
In 1914, Russia entered the First World War. Military equipment was purchased abroad, in particular in England. The supplier accepted only gold as payment.
The transfer of Imperial gold was carried out in secret. Ships sailing from Arkhangelsk had to go around. One day the mission was under threat. Cruiser Drake hit the mines. Despite this, both the cargo and the ship were saved and the gold was delivered to its destination. No one dared to take more risks, and the next consignments of precious metal were sent by trains.
During the war years, almost 600 million rubles worth of gold was supplied to England. However, the allies did not fulfill all their obligations. Weapons and equipment purchased from the British were partially stuck in Sweden.
During the years of the Soviet Union, there were attempts to return part of the gold, but the party that did not fulfill its obligations refused to do so.
Many representatives of the scientific world are convinced that Russian gold is still kept in British banks, along with the personal contributions of Nicholas II.
In the midst of the First World War, namely in 1915, the emperor decided to save the remnants of the country's gold reserves and evacuate it to Kazan. As a result, more than half of Russia's total gold reserves were found in this city. With the coming to power of the Bolsheviks, a specially created commission was sent to Kazan, whose task was to find out everything about gold.
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However, on August 7, Kazan was captured by the Whites. In the bank of the city, they found the gold of the empire in the amount of 600 million rubles and silver in the amount of 200 million rubles, which was approximately one third of the total gold reserves of the country.
The gold was shipped by sea to Samara, and from there by train to Omsk, where it was handed over to Admiral Kolchak.
When the goods brought in began to be counted, it turned out that almost 350 million rubles in gold were missing.
The missing gold was searched everywhere. The gold prospectors searched the old faces, cellars of foreign banks, the bottom of Lake Baikal, the vastness of Siberia, but did not find anything.
According to one assumption, the missing gold was appropriated by legionnaires from the Czech Republic. These detachments just kept the Trans-Siberian Railway under their control.
Historians say that when they returned home, the legionnaires founded a bank to confirm that the gold ended up in Czechoslovakia. The presence of the largest bank has strengthened the country's national currency, along with the US dollar.
In 1936, Stalin asked the government of Czechoslovakia to return the gold. No definite answer to this has been received.
The gold that was sent to Japan also did not reach completely. 42 million turned out to be ataman Semyonov. The rest of the carriages reached Japan, where the precious metal was placed in a bank as a deposit.
For a long time, the land of the rising sun pretended that it had no idea about any gold. However, after a long legal battle, they acknowledged the existence of imperial gold, but stressed that they did not know who to give it to.
A number of scientists believe that there is no point in looking for gold in Japan. During the years of occupation, everything that was of value was exported to the states.
For many decades, representatives of various circles have been trying to find the royal gold and return it, but so far to no avail.
Anna Ponomareva