On the night of March 6-7, 1916, the two-pipe Dutch steamer Tubantia left Amsterdam and headed for Buenos Aires. The First World War was raging in Europe, but the passengers of the Tubantia felt quite comfortable under the flag of neutral Holland fluttering in the sea wind. No one knew that a secret cargo of gold was hidden on the ship …
But what happened next …
By one o'clock in the morning, under the sighs of steam engines, the entire ship, except the sailors on watch, fell into a deep sleep. There was no sign of impending danger. The trouble was moving at this time under water in a transverse course, only once flashing on the surface with a black periscope tube. At two o'clock in the morning, the sailor of the watch, lazily looking around the horizon, instantly rubbed his eyes and got up all over. A long, black, predatory torpedo body was moving swiftly across the steamer, breaking all notions of neutrality, leaving behind a characteristic greenish trail. The watchman did not even have time to say "mother" when a second later there was a powerful explosion.
Surprisingly, but, fortunately, none of the passengers and crew were injured. True, the liner received quite serious damage, and there could be no question of continuing the flight. For two hours, until the unfortunate steamer went to the bottom, 280 passengers and 80 crew members calmly, without panic and unnecessary fuss, cursing only careless warriors, sat down on lifeboats, having previously loaded there a supply of water, food and all valuable things. There was no question of saving the cargo, since, firstly, it was insured, and secondly, it was nothing interesting: some kind of textiles, dishes and three hundred circles of excellent, but too heavy Dutch cheese. There were no cheese lovers among the passengers, and he remained in his place, in the fourth hold.
The distance to the mainland was about 60 kilometers, and the weather made it possible to take a boat trip with oars. So by morning, the sea travelers in full force landed on the hospitable coast of Holland, from where they sailed so fearlessly just a day ago.
On the same day, March 7, a terrible noise arose in the entire European press. The newspapers of the Entente countries unanimously accused Germany of violating neutrality and robbery on a peaceful ship. The German newspapers were embarrassedly silent for some time, and then announced that Germany had absolutely nothing to do with it, and the torpedo was completely English. Insurance companies have launched an investigation. In one of the boats, before the evacuation, the fragments of an exploded torpedo were found hanging on the attacked side of the steamer. They helped to find out that the weapon is clearly German-made. But the Germans continued to assert that they had not attacked the ship anyway, and most likely he himself stumbled upon a torpedo lost from some submarine. This version was destroyed by a sailor who was on watch that night and clearly saw the trail of the attacking torpedo.
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Neither more nor less, after 6 years in 1922 the squabble ended, Germany resigned itself and paid insurance companies compensation for the lost ship and cargo in the amount of about 800 thousand feet sterling.
Mysterious expedition
Just from the moment the insurers received their money, the fun began. The cargo of "Tubantia", as we have already said, was not of particular value even in 1916, and 6 years of being in sea water clearly did not benefit it. However, a month after the ship actually became a no-one, a well-equipped search and rescue expedition, consisting of three Frenchmen and one Englishman, appeared at the place of the sinking of the steamer. The French were brothers, their names were Henri, François and Adolphe, the Englishman bore the surname Zippe, and their small but fast boat was called "Tempet".
From May to November 1922, the expedition members fussed around the Tubantia hull lying at a depth of 35 meters until autumn storms forced them to curtail their underwater work. But already in April of the following year, the expedition returned with the same composition and resumed its mysterious manipulations. Literally a week later, the search engines had rivals.
Another small vessel called "Semper Paratus" anchored almost close to the "Tempet", and in this part of the sea it became just crowded from divers, rushing for some unknown reason to the ship that sank 7 years ago.
The newcomers behaved, frankly, not like a gentleman.
Two adventurers, a certain Prince Charles and Lieutenant James Lundy, made the most impudent attempt in the history of salvage work to take possession of a sunken ship. Their ship dropped anchor near the Tempet and the crew began an operation to clear the area out of the "outsiders". Speedboats rushed back and forth between the buoys placed by the French. Dragging the "crampons" behind them, they hooked on the lines with which the buoys were attached, and pulled the latter from their places. At this time, divers from a French ship worked at the bottom and their lives were repeatedly endangered. To top it all off, the aliens sent their own divers under the water directly at the signal ends lowered from the Tempet. They rushed straight to such a tempting hold No. 4. The French could no longer tolerate this, "Tempet" weighed anchor,and its owners filed a complaint with the Admiralty Court. The court sided with the French, and "Semper Paratus" disappeared, never to return. Unfortunately, Zippe and his company spent their entire capital, which was, to be precise, 40 thousand. Art. They also had to get out of the way. For another eight long years, the undisturbed "Tubantia" quietly rusted at the bottom, and three hundred Dutch cheeses in its hold every year, presumably, fell more and more in price.and the three hundred Dutch cheeses in its hold every year, presumably, fell more and more in price.and the three hundred Dutch cheeses in its hold every year, presumably, fell more and more in price.
So what caused such an unhealthy fuss? Judging by the cargo declaration, there was nothing of value on board the Tubantia, and the passengers took all their personal expensive things with them. Maybe the divers were trying to prepare the steamer for the ascent? No, all the work, which actually boiled down to opening the bulkheads, was carried out only in the area of the fourth hold, where, as we remember, three hundred circles of real Dutch cheese were kept. But how do you have to be a lover of cheese that has been lying on the seabed for 7 years in order to spend all your money looking for it? By the way, this is exactly what happened to the enterprising owners of Tempet. After two years of hard work, the credit was exhausted, and the deep-sea cheese fishers curtailed their activities and left the remains of Tubantia, which had already become native.
For another eight long years, the undisturbed "Tubantia" quietly rusted at the bottom, and three hundred Dutch cheeses in its hold every year, presumably, fell more and more in price. But in 1931 something strange happened again.
Orphaned gold
The next expedition set off again to the place of death of the ill-fated steamer. This time it was the British, their ship was called the Rickleamer. Having discovered the already thoroughly rusted hull of the Tubantia, British divers immediately showed their love for Dutch cheese, and busily began to hack towards the mysterious fourth hold.
But this team did not work for long - only one season. A few months later, all the work was completed, and a message was sent from the board of the Rickleimer on the radio: "No gold was found on the Tubantia." This information was clearly intended for the unknown sponsor of the expedition, but became the property of many. Rumors spread. What kind of gold are we talking about? Initially, there was no gold on the steamer, and if there was, it would have been taken out at the time of evacuation from the sinking ship, there was plenty of time for that.
Gradually, the mystery began to clear up. “Tubantia” was indeed carrying gold, but neither the crew, nor the passengers, nor even the captain himself had any idea about this valuable cargo. The precious ingots were smuggled and cleverly hidden in Dutch cheese. Three hundred circles of cheese - three hundred bars of gold for a total of about two million pounds. The amount at that time was quite serious. Apparently a very narrow circle of people knew about smuggling, which explains the small number of expeditions.
Many questions follow from all these events. Were the enterprising French lucky, and they curtailed work after they discovered and raised from the bottom three hundred circles of priceless cheese? Or the treasure hunters really ran out of money and had to leave with nothing. Or maybe the mysterious ingots still rest on the seabed?
The pessimists reasoned logically: "Tubantia" sank for almost two hours, the whole crew and passengers managed to escape on boats - why couldn't they load gold at the same time? The optimists objected: but a total of 360 people left the dying ship, so the loading of gold could not go unnoticed, and, meanwhile, none of the witnesses and participants in the tragedy mentioned a word about it. According to some experts, gold still rests among the wreckage of the unfortunate ship. The crew, and even more so the passengers, simply did not know about its presence on board.
Another question, who owned this gold? No one ever confessed and claimed the treasure. There is one suggestion on this issue. The fact is that for a private person, the transportation of such an amount of precious metal was too serious and risky an adventure, moreover, it was too well organized. Most likely, the gold belonged to the state. And which state during the war could smuggle valuables to South America? From all the assumptions it follows that it can only be Germany.
So what happened on the night of March 6-7, 1916? A Dutch ship smuggled German gold into Buenos Aires. Most likely to pay for the services of powerful friends who tried to keep the United States from entering the war against Germany. The operation was so well prepared that it simply could not fail. But chance intervened. The Germans least of all hoped that their own submarine would violate neutrality and send a Dutch steamer to the bottom together with German millions. At the same time, Germany was forced to pay for the ship as compensation for about half of the lost amount.
I wonder what is the fate of the captain of the German submarine, who so cleverly put his country in such an uncomfortable position?
The facts, assumptions and conclusions of the previous history were neither confirmed nor refuted by anything. But in another case of the death of a ship carrying gold, everything was clear. No one doubted the existence of this gold, it was also known to which country it belonged. Forty-three tons of gold, at the then prices of 5 million feet. Art., disappeared into the depths of the sea along with the English auxiliary cruiser "Laurentik". It was a kind of record. Never before in history has no ship gone to the bottom with such a quantity of gold in its holds.
But about this story the next time …
