[00:00.05]Lesson 32
[00:01.93]A lost ship
[00:08.84]Did the crew of the Elkor find what they were looking for? Why?
[00:15.20]The salvage operation had been a complete failure.
[00:19.05]The small ship, Elkor, which had been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its way home.
[00:26.53]A radio message from the mainland had been received by the ship's captain instructing him to give up the search.
[00:34.28]The captain knew that another attempt would be made later,
[00:37.90]for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a precious cargo of gold bullion.
[00:45.12]Despite the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more.
[00:51.67]The sea bed was scoured with powerful nets and there was tremendous excitement on board when a chest was raised from the bottom.
[01:00.58]Though the crew were at first under the impression that the lost ship had been found,
[01:05.82]the contents of the chest proved them wrong.
[01:09.32]What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many years before.
[01:15.47]The chest contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding.
[01:20.06]There were books, clothing and photographs, together with letters which the seaman had once received from his wife.
[01:27.60]The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck.
[01:34.14]Nothing of value was found,
[01:36.23]but the numerous items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest.
[01:41.06]From a heavy gun that was raised,
[01:43.88] the captain realized that the ship must have been a cruiser.
[01:47.28]In another chest which contained the belongings of a ship's officer,
[01:52.49]there was an unfinished letter which had been written on March 14th, 1943.
[01:59.84]The captain learnt from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen.
[02:05.01]The most valuable find of all was the ship's log book, parts of which it was still possible to read.
[02:13.18]From this the captain was able to piece together all the information that had come to light.
[02:18.85]The Karen had been sailing in a convoy to Russia when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine.
[02:25.42]This was later confirmed by a naval official at the Ministry of Defence after the Elkor had returned home.
[02:32.98]All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.