Chapter 252 Salvaging a Sunken Ship with No Salvage Value
If it weren't for the purpose of salvaging the 'Ansaldo', Xiao Peng would not have salvaged the 'Sarasia'.
Many modern shipwrecks are well documented. The information about the Saracia is no secret. The reason it remained undiscovered for so many years, with no one searching for or salvaging it, is due to two reasons: First, the ship sank at great depth. The Celeno Trench is approximately 3,500 meters deep, and the seabed is complex. At such depths and in such terrain, multibeam sonic scanners are impractical, requiring only ROVs to conduct a piecemeal search.
How big is the Celeno Trench? It's roughly the size of the Imperial Capital! An ROV's speed through the deep ocean is about the same as a turtle's. How long would it take a turtle to crawl across the entire Imperial Capital?
Shallow sea salvage can be accelerated by using technologies such as multi-beam sonic scanners, but deep sea salvage really depends on luck!
In fact, shallow sea salvage is not easy either.
At depths under 300 meters, a multibeam sonic scanner could indeed increase speed, but even with it, the vessel had to maintain the same speed as the ship. A typical workboat could only reach a maximum speed of 14 knots, and maintaining 10 knots was considered a good speed. Xiao Peng's sailboat could reach a higher speed, but only 20 knots at best.
Twenty knots is 37 kilometers per hour, and ten knots is 18.5 kilometers per hour. How long would it take to run across the capital at that speed? Wouldn't it take months?
So, to be honest, salvaging a shipwreck is not that difficult; it can be done with a ship and the technology. However, searching for a shipwreck is definitely more difficult than salvaging it.
The 'Sarasia' was a merchant ship that encountered the British fleet in the early days of World War II when it was carrying wealth looted from the colonies back to the country to support the civil war.
During the war, merchant ships were escorted by a unified fleet, which means that the Italian and British naval fleets fought here.
The British Navy left two frigates here and sank the "HMS Sarathia". In fact, this should also be considered luck: in naval battles, the targets are all enemy warships, and God knows how the "HMS Sarathia" was sunk.
This naval battle is known in archives across Europe and is no secret. The reason no one is interested is that the waters where the battle took place are too deep, making it much more difficult to search for and salvage the ship. Furthermore, salvaging the ship would likely result in a loss of money and would be too risky.
The 'Sharassia' is loaded with metal raw materials such as silver ingots, copper ingots and tin ingots. According to historical records, it mainly contains copper and tin, with only 48 tons of silver ore.
While over 40 tons of silver ingots sounds like a lot, it could actually be transported on two trucks. Furthermore, the price of silver isn't high, currently around 500,000 euros per ton. Even if all 48 tons of silver were salvaged, it would only fetch 30 million. And that's assuming everything was salvaged. How could there be no missing silver in such a deep seabed?
Furthermore, salvaging the ship at this depth would require a deep-sea marine vessel. You couldn't have Xiao Peng diving repeatedly with one silver ingot at a time, could you? A deep-sea salvage vessel would cost at least €200,000 a day, and who knows how long it would take? If it took three or four months, it wouldn't even cover the cost!
This is why there are many shipwrecks on the seabed that are recorded but no one is looking for them or salvaging them. These shipwrecks are considered to be "not worth salvaging".
The Italian workboat puffed and moored near their ships. A small lifeboat came to Xiao Peng's ship.
Xiao Peng and his group were sitting on the deck eating.
"Excuse me, who is Mr. Xiao?" An Italian man in a suit and tie standing on the lifeboat shouted in awkward French.
Xiao Peng glanced at him and was inexplicably angry. He swore to God that this anger was definitely not because they were late, but because of this guy...
So damn handsome!
He is nearly 1.9 meters tall, with golden skin, brown hair, blue eyes like the Mediterranean, and he's wearing a suit!
You're working at sea and wearing a suit? Are you on vacation?
What’s even more infuriating is that he was wearing a dark blue shirt with silver buttons, a light blue and white plaid casual suit, and cream-colored pants!
I swear to God, if this outfit was worn by Xiao Peng, he would probably think he was too "sissy" when looking in the mirror, but this outfit looks so good on him!
Xiao Peng has to admit his fashion sense is inferior! Italian men dare not go out without a few decent shirts in their wardrobe!
This is definitely a native Italian, not a Sicilian!
Xiao Peng felt a little jealous after seeing this!
He looked at him and then at the people around him. Why did he feel like the boss while Xiao Peng and the others were just employees?
Comparing your looks to Italian men is a real pain in the ass. The Italian men's football team is nicknamed the 'Italian Male Model Team' for good reason!
Xiao Peng waved and said, "It's me!"
"Huh? Mr. Xiao, you can speak Italian?" The man became excited after hearing this. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Biagio Costa from the Italian Ministry of Environment, Territory and the Sea. I'm in charge of the coordination this time. I'm sorry for being late. I know you Chinese don't like being late. We originally planned to leave yesterday morning, but the original ship broke down and couldn't be repaired, so we had to switch to this one. This ship is slow, so we're only here now."
Xiao Peng asked, "Mr. Costa, have you eaten? We're having dinner right now, why don't you come up and have something to eat with us?"
"Just call me Biagio!" Biagio said as he carried a huge suitcase and prepared to board the ship from the gangway.
Xiao Peng was stunned and pointed at the suitcase and asked, "Biaggio, what's in this suitcase?"
"Oh, my luggage!" Biagio said, "I'll be on your ship for the time being. You don't know how stingy our department is. They're reluctant to spend several thousand yuan a day on this ship!"
Xiao Peng's face was filled with black lines. Damn, I have two ships here, one starts at 200,000 a day, and the other starts at 20,000 a day. You're telling me that you're not willing to take the several thousand yuan fee?
But it would be even better if he was the only one on board. Xiao Peng called out, "Old Wang, put down the hanging basket and let Biagio come up!"
After hearing this, a staff member nearby put the lunch box on the table, ran to the crane, operated the crane to lower an iron basket along the side of the ship, and Biagio carried the suitcase into the iron basket and lifted him onto the ship.
After Biagio boarded the boat, Xiao Peng wanted to introduce the people around him to him, but Biagio said, "Mr. Xiao, can I use the satellite phone?"
Xiao Peng handed him the satellite phone directly: "Of course."
"Hey, Mom, I'm on the boat, don't worry..." Blah blah blah blah.
Xiao Peng looked at Biagio with a frown on his face. This guy was a bit weird.
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