B5F2I1

Transcribed Text (OCR)

GARY MANGIACOPA ARCHIVE
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Title:      B5F2I1
Slug:       b5f2i1
Categories: Lost Treasure
Source:     https://garymangiacopraarchive.com/b5f2i1
Pages:      1 scanned, 1 extracted
OCR:        Google Vision API (document_text_detection)
Processed:  2026-06-06
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Kenneler Journal, Aug,
3 Sept 1987 Thursday
TODAY'S PROFILE
Seattle salvage diver Robert Mester
By THOM GROSS
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
As midnight approached on April
1, 1921, the pilot of the 417-foot
luxury liner S.S. Governor turned
the ship toward what he thought
were the lights of Seattle.
It was a clear, calm night at the
height of Prohibition. The casino
ship had loaded up with fine wines
and liquors in Victoria, British
Columbia, and was steaming to the
nearest U.S. city to take on several
'hundred well-heeled passengers.
Those who could pay the freight
would be able to enjoy the forbidden
spirits
and the gaming tables
international waters.
legally, as soon as the ship re-entered
But the lights toward which the
Governor steamed were not Seattle's
but those of the S.S. West Hartland.
At 12:01 a.m., the West Hartland
Tammed the Governor starboard
amidships; 28 minutes later, the
Governor submerged. It came to rest
upright, 240 feet deep in the middle
of the shipping lane in Puget
Sound.
Of the more than 300 people on
board, most asleep when the ships
'collided, 10 were killed. But the
survivors took nothing with them.
All their possessions, including
cash and jewelry, went to the
bottom, along with the ship's payroll
of $40,000 in gold coins, silver
service for 600, fine china, crystal
'and - not the least of its treasure
the liquor.
Now it all belongs to 36-year-old
Robert Mester.
A boy growing up in Festus, Mo.,
does not dream of sunken treasure.
Mester grew up there thinking of a
career as a lawyer.
But he joined the Marine Corps in
1970, got his first taste of salt water
and learned how to scuba dive. He
developed a fascination that changed
his life. He continued diving for
sport and settled in 1973 near Puget
Sound, home of 1,000 shipwrecks.
Mester explained that the large
sailing ships and steamers from
shipping's heyday frequently
encountered danger there.
"The ships in those days took a lot
of time and room to maneuver. If
they got in trouble in a narrow
channel and Puget Sound has
many of those - and with those
strong currents, they usually ended
up on the bottom.
For the last seven years, Mester
thought of nothing but the S.S.
Governor.
Mester's dream became real this
summer as he began raising valu-
ables from the Governor in early
August.
He crisscrossed the country over
the last few years, researching
the ship and its cargo. He says $10
million is a conservative estimate of
what he can salvage. He expects to
draw $2 million to $3 million as his
share.
Mester has a detailed list of
valuables on board from the ship's
insurance records. He knows, for
example, that the ship's payroll was
in gold coins because U.S. paper
currency was lightly regarded in
Canada at the time.
And he knows that ships of the
period were required to carry enough
cash to cover repairs in a' foreign
port. He also has learned that a 1921
gold coin brings several thousand
times its original worth in today's
markets.
Mester had visited the ship
14 times before his salvage effort
began. He knows that much of its
elegant silver, crystal, and china
survived intact.
"I've already brought up several
plates," he said. "It's a fine bone
china made especially for the Gover-
nor and the Admiralty shipping line.
... At a collector's shop in Port-
land, Ore., I saw a single saucer
from the Admiralty line priced at
[AD] $65."
Also intact are the several thou-
sand bottles of wine and liquor. The
wines were excellent vintages then,.
he said, and have been held for 66
years in nature's ideal wine cellar -
cold and lightless.
Mester has the shipbuilder's blue-
prints from 1906 and has interviewed
surviving employees of the Gover-
nor. He speaks of the ship with the
familiarity of a former first mate.
Mester is president and director of
Maritime Ventures Co. In addition
to diving, researching and promot-
ing, he has been calling on investors
for the $500,000. salvage project.
He acquired full ownership of
the Governor through a long proce-
dure in federal court. He says his
project is the first in which owner-
ship of a shipwreck was been
acquired before salvage, exempting
him from the legal and bureaucratic
entanglements that shackle most
salvagers.
And splitting up the booty will be
clear-cut. He painstakingly formed a
limited partnership for investors
under Washington state law, which
he says is among the strictest in the
country. The partnership was the
first ever formed in that state for
anything other than a real-estate
venture.
Six divers and a 21-member
support crew worked on the salvage
effort between July 30 and Aug. 9 to
fit into a 10-day "dive window"
when the moon's gravitational pull is
at its lowest point, which usually
means calm seas.
The project was videotaped for
a documentary, and Mester consid-
ered several proposals for films and
books.
Mester says new technology,
including satellite navigational aids,
has opened a whole new industry in
salvaging. He recently commissioned
a new boat loaded with high-tech
equipment for finding shipwrecks
and determining whether their
sunken holds contain gold or silver.
He has several future targets in
mind..
"There's a lot of unturned stones
at the bottom of Puget Sound; it's
by far the best-kept diving secret in
the United States," Mester said. "I
happen to be lucky because while a
lot of divers are deterred by the cold,
the dark and the strong currents, I'm
quite comfortable there."