Stalin's Silver - Tapa dura

On the night of August 28, 1944, three torpedoes from the German submarine U-859 sank the American merchant ship "USS John Barry" in the Arabian sea off the eastern seaboard of Oman. The holds of the "John Barry" contained over $300 million in silver bullion. The 7200-ton ship broke into two pieces and sank to a depth of 8500 feet, more than one and a half miles. For 45 years the great depth of the wreck ruled out any thoughts of salvage. However, in 1989 salvage rights were acquired by Sheikh Ahmed Farid al Aulaqi who engaged the French International Maritime Institute and Jean Roux, leader of the team which recovered artefacts from the "Titanic". Roux and his team have developed technology which has resulted in an operation of deep sea recovery never before possible. In this book, the story of the "USS John Barry" is recreated with the help of living survivors, including one of the German U-boat officers, and the intricate politics behind the US government's decision to send $300 million of silver to Bombay is investigated.