Canadian divers help find a Russian ship that sank 113 years ago – and it could be full of gold



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It took a few days to scour the bottom of the ocean, but a team of Canadian explorers from a Vancouver-based underwater technology company helped discover a ship from the Russian Navy disappeared 113 years ago. On Tuesday, the Shinil group in South Korea announced that it had discovered this weekend the Dmitrii Donskoi, a Russian cruiser of the Tsarist era who had been scuttled as a result of the battle of Tsushima in May. 1905, A major naval battle during the Russo-Japanese war.

Phil Nuytten, the founder and chairman of Nuytco Research Ltd., said his team has a lot of experience diving into shipwrecks, since the Lusitania – sunk by a German U-Boat. the coast of Ireland during the First World War – to Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank during a storm on Lake Superior in 1975. The crews of Nuytten were just in Antarctica and Brazil, dipping to the Mouth of the Amazon.

days for his five people The team discovered the wreckage, but that was because the international team of experts from Britain, Korea and Canada already had a pretty good idea of ​​where it had fallen, Nuytten said.

The ship was finally found a little over a kilometer from the South Korean island of Ulleungdo; the stern was found at a depth of 380 meters and the front at a depth of 430 meters. Two submarines, the DeepWorker submersibles – that Nuytten invented and patented – with a diving depth of about 600 meters, found the Donskoi Dmitrii. With a 360 degree sonar on the submarines, Nuytten said that they could see about 500 meters in any direction.

"It did not take us long to spot that big bump on the bottom of the sea and say" Aha, that's the target, let's see what that is ", Nuytten said. "The two submarines were working on the wreck and one of the pilots went around what is now the front, and there was the nameplate."

"J & # 39, was astonished that they found it in such a short time "

The crew of Nuytten is now doing a study of the ship, using lasers and high definition video to map the aircraft. The video broadcast by Shinil Group shows rifles, the wheel of the boat and the anchor, all heavily embedded after a century on the seabed.

"The body of the ship was badly damaged by the bombardments. The Shinil group based in Seoul said in a statement


The Russian imperial navy cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi was scuttled following the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.

The ship was launched from St. Petersburg in 1883, all 5,800 tons of it, operating a coal engine and full sails. All the masts are broken on the sunken ship, said Shinil Group. Before being scuttled, Dmitrii Donskoy avoided the Japanese attacking force, but was intercepted while returning to the Russian port of Vladivostok.

The Daily Telegraph claims that 60 of the 591 crew members were killed and 120 others injured. Captain Ivan Lebedev threw the anchor and ordered the crew to disembark on the island of Ulleungdo. They were shipwrecked the next morning, May 29, 1905 – and the crew was captured by the Japanese

Rumors had long circulated around a legendary cargo: Billions of dollars in gold bullion , funds for the Russian fleet. Reports indicate that there were about 5,500 boxes, containing gold coins and bullion, aboard Dmitry Donskoy, which would represent $ 170 billion.

In December 2000, a construction company discovered a ship sunk in water between Korea and Japan. launched a frenzy, speculating that he was the Dmitrii Donskoi.


The wreck of the cruiser of the Russian Imperial Navy Dmitrii Donskoi.

The team that discovered the Donskoi Dmitrii has not found any gold yet, but they found what looks like a bunch of metal cans. However, they have not yet been recovered or opened. "We do not know what's in it, but if it's (the gold), it will be where it is," Nuytten said.

The company says it hopes to lift the ship in October or November. If there is a treasure found, half will go to the Russian government, and 10% of what remains will be invested in tourism on Ulleungdo Island.

The Battle of Tsushima was "probably the most important battle of Japanese naval history," says David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, a historian of Brock University who studies Russia. "It was a humiliating loss for the Russians."

The ship is named after a great Russian prince of Moscow, he said, who was the first to beat the Mongol horde in 1380.

As for the rumors of gold, he did not Never heard before, and is not sure it's true. It's possible, he says, but I still can not imagine that there would be so much money on board.

With Daily Telegraph Files

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