£140
Cunard Line SS. Aurania, sunk off The Isle of Mull, 1918 A half-bottle of champagne Together with one further empty bottle of champagne with part of the cork still intact. The unused silver cutlery sets found by divers on the wreck illustrate the impact of the First World War on commercial shipping. The Cunard ocean liner never carried a civilian passenger, but was torpedoed while serving as a troopship with her opulent peace time fixtures and fittings locked away but still on-board. The story of the silver room’s existence being overlooked by commercial salvors and its accidental discovery by sports divers is also a great theme when discussing amateur archaeology and diving. It was in 1980 that salvagers found her prized "Elkington Silver Room" which stored the silver for the 2140 passengers she would never carry in peace time.
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