Stalin's Silver: The Sinking of the USS John Barry - Hardcover

Beasant, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312205902 ISBN 13: 9780312205904

Publisher: St Martins Press, 1999

Synopsis

The mystery of where an American merchant ship sank in 1944 after being hit by a German submarine torpedo lives on, as survivors help recreate the ship's last days and speculate as to the intended destination of the $300 million dollars in silver it carried.

About this title

Review:

On August 28, 1944, the German submarine U859 sank the U.S. merchant vessel John Barry off the coast of Saudi Arabia. Although the Germans did not know it, the John Barry carried a rich cargo not only of war material but also of silver bullion, whose present value, journalist John Beasant estimates, is about $300 million. The silver was, according to the ship's manifest, bound for British India. It had, however, a destination beyond that. The silver bullion was meant for the Soviet Union as part of Franklin Roosevelt's lend-lease program, through which some $1.5 billion worth of American supplies were delivered to Josef Stalin's government. Roosevelt, Beasant writes, was not shy about publicizing the delivery of steel and weaponry to his Communist ally, but he reckoned the delivery of precious metals and gems to be politically sensitive, and the John Barry's mission was thus shrouded in secrecy. Beasant's recounting of this complicated story involves many strands of narrative; among these are the tangled history of the lend-lease program, the role of the merchant marine in World War II, the dangerous work of U-boat crews, and the techniques of deep-sea salvage. Beasant unravels the mystery not only of the secret transfer of funds from Washington to Moscow, but also of the search for the John Barry's treasure, much of it recovered in the early 1990s. --Gregory McNamee

From the Publisher:

"One of the most enduring and compelling mysteries of the Second World War." --Mail on Sunday (London)

"With the help of survivors, John Beasant has produced a detailed study of the politics behind the most valuable salvage operation ever." --History Today (London)

"It sounds like the plot of a thriller: an Arab prince and a French marine archaeologist mount a high-tech salvage of $380 million in silver. . . the facts behind this $30,000-a-day salvage operation make fascinating reading." --Focus (London)

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martins Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312205902
• ISBN 13: 9780312205904
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 216