India, The S.S. Breda salvage of Indian Banknote Paper sunk during World War II (1940) recovered 1992 The Property of Messrs Coincraft (London)

Just after 6.00 p.m. on Monday the 23rd of December 1940, two German Heinkel bombers flew over a convoy of British ships awaiting in Ardmucknish Bay, Benderloch, near Oban in Scotland. They strafed the ships and each dropped their two bombs. Several ships were damaged and a number of sailors were killed and injured. One ship, the S.S. Breda, was not hit but was so old that she was literally shaken apart by the bomb blast. It was the only time that the Germans attacked Benderloch, despite it being a marshalling yard for convoys. The S.S. Breda was on her way to India to help build an air strip and amongst her cargo were Tiger Motsh, motorcycles, cement, horses, leather and a Rolls Royce. She was a Dutch ship, built in 1921,400 feet long, and weighted about 7,000 tons. They 100k much of the deck cargo off and most of the horses were able to swim to safety. As they tried to tow her to safety, she listed and sank, with her masts still well above water. For years, divers have practised on her, as she is a well known shipwreck. In fact the masts were causing an obstruction and they finally had to be cut off. The S.S. Breda lay there, dived on, but in many ways undiscovered because of the darkness of the loch. Then the Tralee Bay Diving and Watersports Club made a most amazing discovery. In one of the longhidden cargo holds there were remains of paper, but not just any paper can survive 50 years under water. This was fine quality paper used for the printing of banknotes! Portals, who were owned by the Bank of England, had manufactured special watermarked paper for the printing of Indian banknotes, with the portrait of King George VI. This was fine quality paper that had survived the rigours of being submerged for fifty years. The wooden boxes had been eaten away and the edges of the uncut sheets were a little ragged, but this treasure was still in usable condition! The Tralee diving expedition was led by head diver John Hamilton and the Shellock family were both divers (David and Ian) and backers (Brian). In order to keep the find secret, the divers refilled their air tanks at three different locations some ten miles apart. That part of Scotland is close knit and they wanted to protect their treasure find for as long as possible. Over the years, salvage rights to the hull had been obtained but no one had thought to get the rights for the contents. This was quickly rectified and on the 11th September 1992 the Deputy Receiver of Wrecks Oban gave those rights to Mr. John Hamilton of North Connell by Oban. Richard and Claire Lobel, directors of Coincraft, the London coin dealers, went up to the wreck site and negotiated to purchase the entire treasure. There followed a period where the balance of the treasure had to be off loaded and safely dried. Using Scottish ingenuity, the divers used the heat of cows in a shed to slowly bring the paper to a nice safe dty state. A large lorty was then hired and the sheets of treasure were secretly driven down to London one dark night. The final pile was 8 1/2 metres (30 feet) high and was distributed in over 30 boxes. This is the first major British treasure ship to be offered in this country since the Association. It is estimated that 80% of the treasure is being offered in this auction. Divers recovering the treasure The following seventy lots are being sold by weight and the numbers of Banknotes given are approximate as the sea has damaged the edges of the sheets to varying degrees Please Note: Lots 891-961 are sold not subject to return