British Supreme Court Decides Which Country Will Be Awarded $43M Treasure Found Aboard a Shipwreck From WWII

The majority of the passengers were saved, but the entire cargo, including the silver bars, sank to the bottom of the ocean. Decades later, a treasure-hunting company from the UK retrieved the silver, but South Africa took them to court, saying it belonged to them. Now, the British Supreme Court has finally decided whose it is.

On November 23, 1942, in the middle of the Second World War, the SS Tilawa was making its way from India to East Africa through the Indian Ocean when it was attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

According to WWII experts, this was the only passenger-cargo liner attacked during the war in the Indian Ocean, and yet very few know its story.

Similar to the Titanic only 30 years before, the SS Tilawa sank quickly after sending out a distress signal near the Seychelles Islands, however, unfortunately, no vessels in the region could reach the ship before it sank beneath the surface of the ocean. 

Fortunately, nearly 48 hours later, HMS Birmingham finally responded to the ship’s distress call before it went under. They were able to rescue 674 people from the water that day, but of course, the 5,900 tons of cargo and the thousands of silver bars were long gone.

The silver had already been purchased by what was then the Union of South Africa to use for its currency and was simply being transported to its rightful owners. But, unfortunately for South Africa, the soon-to-be coins never made it to their destination.

But then, in 2017, a marine salvage company from Great Britain attempted the impossible, and decided to recover the silver from the ocean floor. They would use high-tech equipment and the expertise of treasure hunters to recover the abandoned wealth. 

They were able to retrieve the 2,364 bars of silver. They took their bounty home, thrilled with their hard-earned fortune.

While they knew it was a remarkable find, they were left shocked when they were told “the Silver,” as it’s now called, was worth $43 million. They almost couldn’t believe it.

The government of South Africa heard that the silver they purchased nearly 80 years before had been recovered and was worth a fortune, and they announced that they wanted it back.

Argentum Exploration argued that, according to maritime law, whoever salvages a treasure can claim payment for recovery, and therefore, South Africa should have to pay them the value of the Silver if they wanted it back.

Under this specific law, “rule of salvage” and “rule of finds” often apply.

The rule of salvage obliges the person or group that has discovered the shipwreck and treasure to seek out the original owner and return the items. 

In court, South Africa claimed that the Silver had, at the time of the tragedy, been a state possession and was not being transported for a commercial purpose, so it is still their property.

But South Africa wasn’t done fighting for their Silver. They filed an appeal, which was then heard by the United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal.

Finally, South Africa decided to take their case to the UK Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to bring home the Silver they bought almost a century before.

They ruled that because the Silver was allocated for the nation’s currency and not for private or corporate sale, it was not being used for a commercial purpose at the time of the tragedy.

While the British treasure hunters were adamant maritime law applied in their situation, it actually backfired in the end. The judge’s statement read that “cargo sitting in the hold of a ship is not being used for any purpose, commercial or otherwise,” meaning it was rightfully South Africa. 

Because the UK Supreme Court, like the U.S. Supreme Court, is the highest court in the country, this decision is final. Sadly, for Argentum Exploration, they have to turn over their $43 million treasure to South Africa.

While the judges ultimately ruled in favor of South Africa, according to a report from Business Insider, the two parties eventually reached a settlement out of court in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision. 

“The parties have agreed that we should nevertheless hand down the judgment, and we are satisfied that it is appropriate to do so,” they wrote. The settlement is bound by a non-disclosure agreement. 

He added that the ruling was “an important judgment clarifying the law on sovereign immunity.”

However, he revealed nothing about his company’s daily operations or its dealings with the African nation. 

They continued the regulations set in place “fail to provide for the protection of the scientific value of wrecks once they are found.”