A Real-Life Treasure Hunt: Local Divers to Recover $3 Billion From Sunken World War II Ship off the Cape

 by Lisa DeCanio

 In 1942, a British ship called the Port Nicholson, was traveling across the Atlantic from the Soviet Union to the United States. During its journey, the Port Nicholson sank at an unknown location after it was torpedoed by a German U-Boat.

Port Nicholson

The clincher? The Port Nicholson was carrying $53 million in platinum when it sank.

Today, that platinum is worth an estimated $3 billion, and a Boston-based crew plans on recovering the lost treasure, reports CBS Boston. The treasure-hunting crew of the Sea Hunter has spent the past three years locating the ship and planning the dive. The Port Nicholson lies about 50 miles off the coast of Provincetown, MA, 700 feet below sea level. The waters where the ship lies are incredibly choppy, so the dive will have to be strategically planned around weather conditions.

The Sea Hunter crew, led by Captain Gary Esper, hunts treasure professionally, most recently traveling to Haiti to mine shipwrecks down there without much fruit to show for their labor.

According to CBS Boston, “this could be the richest shipwreck in history.” Once the platinum is brought to the surface, a judge makes the final decision on how the treasure is divvied up.

I can think of three billion ways I would spend $3 billion. Aside from paying off my loans, I’d buy a brand-new wardrobe, a mansion on Comm. Ave., season tickets to every Boston sports team and an entire private Boloco store that only serves burritos to me and my friends.

Apparently, other shipwrecks exist closer to home in the Boston Harbor, but as far as we know, they sunk in the 1990s and have no treasure to offer besides some cool images on Google Maps.

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