British treasure hunter who salvaged £32MILLION of silver bars could be left with nothing

A British treasure hunter who salvaged £32 million of silver bars from a torpedoed WWII wreck could now lose it all in a court battle with the South African government. 

Ross Hyett, 67, successfully led a treasure-hunting mission to recover 2,364 South Africa-owned bars of silver from the wreck of the SS Tilawa, a Tyneside-built 10,000-ton steamer torpedoed by a Japanese submarine off the coast of the Maldives in November 1942.

Mr Hyett, from Derby, a former British racing champion and director of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, spent over two years planning and carrying out the salvage operation.

After salvaging the hoard, he brought it to Southampton in 2017 and declared it to the Receiver of Wreck, which oversees salvage law.

But the South African government, the owner of the long-lost silver bars, is now fighting Mr Hyett’s company over the hoard in court and last week won a victory which could see him end up with nothing.

The SS Tilawa was a merchant ship owned by the British India Steam Navigation Company, having been built on the Tyne in 1924.

It was 125m in length and at the time she was sunk carried a crew of 222, as well as 732 passengers and 6,472 tons of cargo.

That cargo included 2,391 bars of silver, purchased by the South African government and destined to be turned into coins in their national mint.

But en-route from Bombay to Durban, the ship was sunk by two Japanese torpedoes.

Nearby British ship HMS Birmingham swiftly mounted a rescue operation and a total of 673 of the 954 people on board were brought back to Bombay on November 27, 1942, with 281 losing their lives.

Of the 2,391 silver bars on board, 2,364 were salvaged and brought back to Southampton over 70 years later by Mr Hyett’s treasure-hunting company, Argentum Exploration Ltd.

The secret operation took six months, with the recovered silver being hidden in a basket lowered to the seabed in international waters to avoid it being seized.

The bars were likewise shipped to Southampton avoiding all territorial waters.

The silver is now under lock and key in a secure warehouse while a court fight rages between Mr Hyett’s company and the South African government over the rights to the treasure.

The South African government is the legal owner of the hoard, but Mr Hyett says he is not obliged to release the silver until the government has agreed to pay him a massive ‘salvage reward’ under the 1995 Merchant Shipping Act.

Last December, Judge Sir Nigel Teare in the Admiralty Court in London found that the South African government is obliged to pay up, after comparing the dispute to the board game Buccaneer, in which rivals race to claim pirate treasure.

The South African government had insisted that it could legally avoid paying the reward for the silver under the State Immunity Act 1978.

The Act frees other sovereign states from being subject to UK laws, except in certain very limited circumstances.

One of those exemptions from immunity arises in cases being dealt with in the Admiralty Court relating to commercial cargo on a ship.

Sir Nigel ruled in December that the bars were being used for commercial purposes when the ship was sunk in 1942, and handed victory to Mr Hyett’s company.

But last week, he granted permission to appeal against his own ruling after admitting the case was breaking new legal ground, adding that there were viable arguments ‘on both sides.’

In his judgement in December, he explained: ‘The question is whether the bars of silver and the vessel carrying them were, at the time the cause of action arose, in use or intended for use for commercial purposes.’

Sir Nigel found in favour of Argentum, saying that the fact the silver was being carried on a merchant ship when it was lost made it part of a commercial transaction.

‘The fact that the wreck of the vessel and the cargo had lain on the bottom of the Indian Ocean for over 70 years did not lead to a change in their status,’ he said.

The South African government had ‘exposed itself to a liability in salvage by reason of having chosen, as any private citizen does, to have its property carried by sea,’ the judge said. 

Last week however, he heard barrister Christopher Smith QC ask him for permission to appeal against his own ruling, claiming he got it wrong.

He argued that because the silver was intended for the ‘sovereign purpose’ of minting coins it should not be considered commercial cargo.

‘This is a state-owned cargo intended for use in sovereign purposes…where we own it with an intention to use it with sovereign purpose we wish to submit to the Court of Appeal that there was no principled reason for refusing immunity,’ Mr Smith said.

‘A state-owned cargo is immune unless it is being used or is intended for use in commercial purposes. In 1942, this cargo was neither in use nor intended for use in commercial purposes.

‘We own the cargo. The ruling involves this court sitting in judgment on another sovereign state which is what state immunity is intended to avoid,’ he concluded.

Sir Nigel, granting permission to appeal, said: ‘The question for this court is whether the appeal has a real prospect of success that is more than fanciful.

‘This issue is not one which has had to be addressed before by this court.

‘There were arguments either way, although I reached a clear conclusion in favour of the claimant. But I cannot in all intellectual honesty say that this is a case where there is no realistic prospect of success.

‘There are arguments either way. Seeking to be intellectually honest therefore, I give permission to appeal,’ he concluded.

The fight over the treasure will now move on to the Court of Appeal at a later date, while the silver will continue to be held by the receiver of wreck until the case is resolved.