World News for Students of English

15-05-2014 15:00

About 1.3 million dollars’ worth of treasure has been recovered from a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean.

A deep-ocean exploration company in Florida says it has recovered nearly 1,000 ounces (28.3 kilograms) of gold from the ship which had 21 tons of gold aboard at the time of its sinking in 1857. The dive confirmed the ship had not been disturbed since 1991 when another company stopped recovery work.

“During the first reconnaissance dive, we actually picked up several gold items. We had five gold bars that totalled 1,000 ounces in weight. We also picked up two mid-1800s 20 dollar gold pieces.”

The two $20 Double Eagle coins discovered are said to fetch an average of $5,000 from collectors.

The sinking, caused by a hurricane off the coast of South Carolina, sparked a huge financial crisis in America, dubbed the Panic of 1857, which lasted several years.

Difficult words: treasure (valuable things like gold), reconnaissance (recovery), dubbed (named).

Source: www.itn.co.uk

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