S-a-1311 – Agreement with United Salvage Syndicate
This file documents the Commonwealth Bank’s role in recovering bullion from the sunken R.M.S. Niagara. It contains contracts and agreements with the United Salvage Syndicate and Captain J. P. Williams; operational and technical reports on diving, grabbing, blasting, and re-boxing; and financial records covering expenditures, reimbursements, bonus arrangements, payment schedules, and reconciliations. Also included are bullion custody and packing lists, correspondence and cables with the Bank of England, Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Melbourne Office, and government authorities, material on secrecy, censorship, and press management, claims, insurance, legal papers, salvage personnel correspondence, newspaper cuttings, publicity drafts, recommendations for recognition, and administrative notes on costs, chronology, weather, visibility, and wreck damage.