A Lost Ship

更新：2023-11-22

文本信息
复制文本
声音： 44100 HZ 128 kbps

[00:01.45]Lesson 32
[00:03.72]A lost ship
[00:12.22]Did the crew of the Elkor find what they were looking for? Why?
[00:20.38]The salvage operation had been a complete failure.
[00:24.13]The small ship, Elkor, which had been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its way home.
[00:31.40]A radio message from the mainland had been received by the ship's captain instructing him to give up the search.
[00:39.69]The captain knew that another attempt would be made later,
[00:43.66]for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a precious cargo of gold bullion.
[00:51.40]Despite the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more.
[00:57.54]The sea bed was scoured with powerful nets
[01:00.62]and there was tremendous excitement on board when a chest was raised from the bottom
[01:06.71]Though the crew were at first under the impression that the lost ship had been found,
[01:11.62]the contents of the chest proved them wrong.
[01:15.00]What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many years before.
[01:21.11]The chest contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding.
[01:26.59]There were books, clothing and photographs,
[01:29.81]together with letters which the seaman had once received from his wife.
[01:34.64]The captain of the Elkor
[01:36.25]ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck.
[01:40.22]Nothing of value was found,
[01:42.38]but the numerous items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest.
[01:47.49]From a heavy gun that was raised,
[01:49.73]the captain realized that the ship must have been a cruiser.
[01:53.77]In another chest which contained the belongings of a ship's officer,
[01:57.84]there was an unfinished letter which had been written on March 14th, 1943.
[02:03.73]The captain learnt from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen.
[02:09.17]The most valuable find of all was the ship's log book,
[02:13.45]parts of which it was still possible to read.
[02:16.90]From this
[02:17.94]the captain was able to piece together all the information that had come to light.
[02:23.84]The Karen had been sailing in a convoy to Russia
[02:27.35]when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine.
[02:31.31]This was later confirmed by a naval official at the Ministry of Defence after the Elkor had returned home.
[02:38.76]All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.