Talk:SS Port Nicholson (1918)

A fact from SS Port Nicholson (1918) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 19 February 2012 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the wreck of the SS Port Nicholson, a British merchant ship sunk in 1942 by U-87, (pictured) is reported to contain £2 billion worth of precious metals?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2012/February. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/SS Port Nicholson (1918).

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Suggested merger with Blue Baron shipwreck[edit]

I feel a merger would be inappropriate, since the two shipwrecks are at widely separated locations and obviously represent different ships. The possible overlap related to one or more allegedly lost shipments of precious metals can be covered by internal links between the two articles. As more information becomes known it might be sufficiently detailed to warrant a separate article about the search for the missing platinum shipment explaining the relationship between the two wrecks.Thewellman (talk) 01:54, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

They are not and never were two different ships, nor are there two shipwrecks. The story recorded on Blue Baron (shipwreck) was a fairly elaborate hoax brought about by retelling the story of the Port Nicholson, and adding a fictional sinking location thousands of miles from the actual wrecksite. See Talk:Blue Baron (shipwreck) for details. The company, presumably for reasons of wanting to hide the actual location of the ship in case of competing salvage attempts, gave out all the details of the Port Nicholson, changing only the location of the ship wreck. There are not two wrecks, there was a ruse over this one shipwreck. Benea (talk) 02:05, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

An article explaining how the 'Blue Baron' and the Port Nicholson match up, [1]. Benea (talk) 02:24, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for the confusion. I understand your reasoning; but your portrayal seems different than the present information in the Blue Baron (shipwreck) article; and I'm uncertain of the source of your information. Has the cited author admitted to perpetrating a hoax? If the only source of information for the Blue Baron (shipwreck) article is an individual perpetrating a hoax; I question if the article (or the information contained therein) can be reliably sourced. Allegations of the Baron name associated with the hoax location seem unresolved. Perhaps the Blue Baron (shipwreck) article should be deleted (rather than merged) unless a trustworthy neutral source verifies both the hoax and its relationship to the Port Nicholson.Thewellman (talk) 05:15, 9 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

DO NOT MERGE - If we can acknowledge that the information in both articles is factual and correct, then these are two separate ships. The Port Nicholson was sunk off the coast of Maine, while the Blue Baron was found near Guyana. Maine and Guyana are more than 4000 km (2700 mi) apart, too far for the damaged Port Nicholson to drift. Until and unless there is definitive evidence (supported by verifiable sources) that these two are the same, they should not be merged. Truthanado (talk) 12:25, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

As Benea says, the wreck in Guyana was obviously fabricated to keep the real location (off Cape Cod) a secret. Unless, of course, U-87 really did torpedo two identical ships in one month, each of them 2,000 miles apart, both carrying £2 billion of treasure from Britain to America under the Lend-Lease scheme (and Sub Sea Research had the astonishing luck to discover both treasure-laden wrecks). However, for some reason, our usually reliable sources have yet to cotton on (despite the Telegraph reporting on both wrecks in some detail), and there's absolutely no confirmation as of yet that there never was a shipwreck in Guyana. Therefore, I have to oppose the merge, because until somebody else makes the connection, to conflate the two articles would constitute original research. DoctorKubla (talk) 14:34, 22 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Merge. I created the original [[Blue Barron (shipwreck)}Blue Barron]] article based off available publicity at the time. It now seems pretty clear that this was just a ruse by the salvors to try and throw off potential claim jumpers, and that the relevant wreck was at all times in fact the Port Nicholson. I think it is sufficient to add a small addendum to the Port Nicholson article about the ruse. --Legis (talk - contribs) 19:32, 26 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It was reported in December 2013 that the "Blue Baron" was indeed a hoax/subterfuge by Greg Brooks: "Sometime after Brooks filed the claim, he sent out news releases about another wreck, the Blue Baron, off the coast of Guyana in South America. His description of the wreck, along with a photo, prompted some to speculate that the Blue Baron looked an awful lot like the Nicholson. Brooks also said the Blue Baron had 70 tons of platinum, the same amount he would later claim was hidden on the Nicholson. In an April 2009 story in the Maine Sunday Telegram, Brooks admitted he lied to the Daily Telegraph of London about the Blue Baron. “I gave him some disinformation about Guyana, which seemed to work for us,” he said, insisting that he did so to protect the treasure. If other hunters thought the Nicholson was in Guyana, he could go ahead with the salvage off Cape Cod." [2](the Maine Sunday Telegram is a sister newspaper of the Portland Press Herald). I think that this is enough to juistify adding an appropriate para to this article and deleting Blue Baron (shipwreck), though leaving a redirect here.Davidships (talk) 22:04, 17 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent. I think this settles it; there's no reason now not to merge the two articles. I'll see what I can do – I shouldn't think more than a sentence or two will need to be added. DoctorKubla (talk) 06:41, 18 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Done As I thought, not much to add, no actual merging necessary. Blue Baron (shipwreck) now redirects here. DoctorKubla (talk) 06:59, 18 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oral account[edit]

Added on 12 September 2012 by WmLWilson (talk · contribs). Interesting but would fail WP:V and WP:RS as it stands, pending reliable third party sourcing. Benea (talk) 13:05, 12 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Isaac Wilson, from Orkney, was carpenter on her in 1928 when she caught fire due to spontaneous combustion of the cargo. She was several days sailing from the nearest port and it was deemed unsafe to open the hatches. Under Isaac's supervision the crew worked round the clock to make the holds airtight to contain the fire. They were successful and the fire was extinguished in Pago Pago. For his efforts Isaac received a letter of commendation from the Company Chairman and a substantial financial reward.