It was the salvage of the century - and that's what Ric Wharton's book is called. It's the fascinating, hair-raising story of recovering more than five tons of gold bullion worth £44 million, which sank in the bomb hold of HMS Edinburgh in 244m of ice-cold sea off Murmansk in 1942.
But this is more than a tale about deep-diving salvage in heroic circumstances.
In his conclusion, Ric Wharton writes: 'My final thoughts are for the mean, greedy, venal, jealous and dishonest British Government and Civil Service. Their behaviour is symptomatic of how they have taken the 'Great' out of 'Great Britain' '.
'I would advise anyone considering a salvage operation to conduct the operation from outside Britain. I would never base a salvage operation here again'.
Hard words, but justified. For instance, although the Government was on for more than 18 per cent of whatever was recovered, it tried to claim VAT on the salvor's share. It also withheld what it owed the salvors for some of the bullion, then obliged Wharton's company to forego the debt before it would grant the licence to retrieve what was left of the gold under water.
On top of that, a journalist from The Sunday Times is alleged to have fabricated stories that almost wrote off the whole operation.
Then there was the mysterious disappearance of five gold bars, worth a small fortune, which had been left on the wreck for recovery the following year. They were never seen again.
This is a riveting story of diving derring-do, intrigue, double-dealing, and cheating, but final success for those who it seems deserved it. This is a book not to be missed.
Bernard Eaton