Chapter 1009 Awa Maru Next
"Apo 9 has been attacked by American torpedoes or shells several times, and there has been no major damage." But after this torpedo attack, it took only three minutes to sink into the sea, which can't be confused.
Later, someone analyzed that the Awa Maru was equipped with a large number of military explosives, and the torpedo was just a fuse, but the truth became confusing as the 10,000-ton ship sank to the bottom of the sea.
But one thing is recognized, that is, the "load of a large number of precious goods" on the Awa Maru has been confirmed to have 40 tons of gold, about 40 boxes of jewelry and cultural relics looted from Southeast Asia and [China] countries.
In addition, there are a large number of industrial diamonds, 12 tons of white gold, 3,000 tons of tin chain, 3,000 tons of rubber and thousands of tons of rice. Even today, the value of these goods is staggeringly high, which is almost incalculable.
Later, Western countries provided the camera data of the ship Awa Maru when it left Singapore. The picture shown above showed that the Awa Maru ship was loaded with several tons of gold on the dock, all of which were loaded into iron boxes, carried by the soldiers one by one, and there were many extremely precious cultural relics, which also confirmed the shock on the Awa Wealth.
Because Awa Maru sank in China's territorial waters, according to the provisions of the International Law of the Sea, the Awa Maru shipwreck belongs to the sovereignty of the [China] country. No country or individual is allowed to enter China's territorial waters to salvage operations without the approval of the [China] government. Only the [China
In the late 1970s, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and many other Western powers have made requests to our government to salvage or jointly salvage with our country.
However, at that time, the [China] country rejected these requests, and in early May 1977, the Ministry of Transport and the navy jointly established a salvage operation site headquarters. The relevant departments issued news and navigation warnings, announcing the salvage of the Awa Maru shipwreck in the Niushan Sea.
This news shocked the world" because many countries believe that [China] country has no ability to salvage Awa Maru at all, but it turns out that after more than two years of hard work by thousands of soldiers and staff, most of the hulls have been salvaged.
At that time, a total of 5,418 tons of tin chains, rubber, mercury, sharp weaving, mica, photochemical glass and other materials were picked up on the sunken ship, with a total value of more than 50 million yuan. In addition, 368 of my bones were salvaged, which were returned to the Red Cross by the Shanghai Red Cross
However, the most precious gold, platinum and diamonds on the ship have disappeared. In addition, the precious cultural relics shown in the camera materials have not been salvaged. For decades, the whereabouts of this wealth have become a mystery, although many people, institutions and even tomb robbers have entered the sea in various names. "I've been salvaged, but I haven't found anything." The real one is that the stone sinks into the sea and disappears.
"Teacher, didn't the gold really be salvaged at that time?"
Zhuang Rui is also familiar with this history, but he always doubts in his heart whether it was because of the specific political factors of that time that these things were salvaged and not announced to the outside world.
"I participated in the salvage from beginning to end, and I didn't find any gold..."
Professor Meng's eyes were a little confused. He seemed to recall the salvage operation for more than 30 years, and then said, "Actually, the salvage work was not complete." At that time, the two major technologies of deep diving technology and deep-water mud removal were not up to standard...
According to the survey at that time, about 10,000 cubic meters of silt was buried in vaults, cockpits, guest rooms, crew cabins and cabins, and divers could not reach those positions at all..."
At that time, Professor Meng was "skeptical" about the so-called salvage success and once questioned it in a letter. However, in that special era when he had just set things right, Professor Meng was unfortunately put on a big hat and was put on the Qincheng prison for more than a year.
So I just heard that "Awa Maru" was going to be restarted. Professor Meng's face was not very good-looking, but the old man was still open-minded, and it had been more than 30 years, and he did not continue to pester him.
"Professor Meng was right. At that time, for technical reasons, Awa Maru could not be completely salvaged." But now the technical problems existing in the salvage of the Awa Maru have been solved...
After the efforts of our Ministry of Transport, the state has also approved the salvage. "After our research and the approval of our superior leaders, it has been decided that Professor Meng will be the commander-in-chief of the salvage."
Although Vice Minister Yu did not participate in the salvage work in those years, he still knew what happened to Professor Meng. Dang Ping explained it in a word, and the position of commander-in-chief also had the intention of appeasing Professor Meng.
"Hey, Minister Yu, I have a question..."
Hearing this, Zhuang Rui felt something was wrong. He opened his mouth and said, "According to Minister Yu's words, "This salvage operation is a national act, which has nothing to do with me. Why did you bring me here?" It's not that Zhuang Rui's awareness is low. It's really his luxury salvage boat that goes out to the sea for a day, which is equivalent to throwing money out. There is no benefit of this. Zhuang Rui won't do it.
And the country is not without money. These civil servants alone spend hundreds of billions of dollars to eat and drink a year. Not to mention salvaging an Awa Maru, it's no problem to get ten ships.
"Xiaozhuang, this kind of thought...cough..."
After Vice Minister Yu heard Zhuang Rui's words, he instinctively picked up his official accent. Only in the middle of his words, he remembered that others were not in the system at all. He said this to him, which was not the right way at all.
And Zhuang Rui is not an ordinary businessman. "As long as Zhuang Rui does not break the law, he wants to pinch Zhuang Rui elsewhere." Vice Minister Yu has neither the courage nor the ability. He didn't see that this was just a small matter of salvaging the sunken ship, so let Ouyang Lei come in person?
"Well, Xiaozhuang, as you know, the geographical environment of Fujian is not very good, especially in the current September, which is the typhoon season. If the tonnage of the salvage ship is small, it will definitely not work. Vice Minister Qinyu made a long talk with Zhuang Rui, and then said, "Our country does not have such a large Fishing boat, if it is built temporarily, it will take at least a year or two, and it will cost a large amount of money from the country. Xiaozhuang, you happen to have such a ship, so we think we can still cooperate..."
According to the department's decision, it was planned to rent or even use Zhuang Rui's luxury salvage ship for free. It's not because the deputy minister saw that Zhuang Rui didn't seem to be so easy to talk, and Ouyang Lei's sudden "so" was temporarily used the word "cooperation".
"Cooperation? Well, this method is good. In fact, it should have cooperated with the private sector for a long time to complete this work in the form of commercial operation, self-financing, risk-financing, national approval, and profit sharing." I have submitted this proposal to relevant departments before, but"
After hearing Vice Minister Yu's words, Professor Meng agreed. Due to the complex environment of Fujian's seabed silt accumulation, no one can guarantee that the salvage will be successful. Salvage with the cooperation method mentioned by Professor Meng can minimize losses and reduce risks.
"This...this, what Professor Meng said..."
After Vice Minister Yu heard Professor Meng's words, he was dumb and couldn't say anything about it. According to their original thinking, this matter was done by the cooperation of the Ministry of Transport and the navy, and he did not want the people to participate at all.
It's just that as soon as Professor Meng's suggestion is said, if he wants to decide or not, I'm afraid Zhuang Rui won't buy it." This will make the vice minister feel a little embarrassed.
Originally, he wanted to use Zhuang Rui's opportunity to salvage the shipwreck of the Song Dynasty, and then salvage the more influential Awa Maru shipwreck treasure to increase the work performance of the Ministry of Transport, but he didn't expect that this gaffe would not be dominated by him.
"Minister Yu, just do what the teacher said. You can talk to my lawyer about specific matters..."
Zhuang Rui also saw a little bit of the Vice Minister's intention. The teacher set up a ladder for himself. Of course, he had to climb up, and he wanted to let the Ministry of Transport suffer a mute.
"Uh... Xiaozhuang, this matter... I have to go back to the department for a meeting to study it again. How to cooperate, I'll contact you then..."
When the state and the people cooperated to salvage the sunken ship, it had not happened before, and Vice Minister Yu did not dare to make a big promise at this moment. You know, sometimes it is useless not to make achievements." But if you poke the basket, it will be a big trouble.
However, what people in officialdom are best at is dragging tricks, and Vice Minister Yu is even more proficient in this. He wants to delay this matter first. As for not, there is still "research" to be done in the future.
"All right, let's put it this way. I have another meeting, so I'll leave first,"
Ouyang Lei, who had been sitting next to him without saying anything, stood up. After shaking hands with Professor Meng and others, he turned around when he walked to the door and looked at Vice Minister Yu and said, "Minister Yu, sometimes you have to relax your mind when doing work. This cooperation is not an unacceptable thing. It's best to implement it as The navy will do its best to assist...", "Of course, Ouyang Lei is very clear about the Taoism in the officialdom. Seeing that the deputy minister wanted to procrastinate, he helped Zhuang Rui again before leaving. He said to the deputy minister, the weight of his words was not light.
"Don't worry, General Ouyang, I will suggest that the minister convene a meeting of the Standing Committee as soon as I get back." Discuss and study it, and set a tone for this well salvage..."
Vice Minister Yu is full of bitterness at this moment. He dares to drag Zhuang Rui, but he does not dare to fool Ouyang Lei. It seems that the first precedent of cooperation with the people to salvage the sunken ship will happen in their term.