The lost Silver Coins

        In 1942, almost 16 million pieces of silver coins were dumped near Corregidor. Some of it remains unretrieved.

    After the Fall of Manila in 1942, Filipino and American officials were thinking of ways to keep the Philippine National Treasury out of the enemy’s hands. At that time, the treasury was brimming with 70 million pesos in paper bills, 269 pieces of gold bars, and 16, 422, 000 pesos in silver coins.

        They’re running out of time so they had to move fast. After recording the serial numbers, a total of 20 million in 500-peso bills was burned from January 19 to 20, 1942. When the submarine U.S.S. Trout arrived in Corregidor in February 3, workers loaded it with 2 million dollars in gold bars and $360, 000 in silver which were eventually shipped to San Francisco. With no more time left, high court government officials decided to just dump the remaining 15, 792, 000 pesos in silver coins to Caballo Bay, a deep and rough location just off Corregidor.

       For some reason, the Japanese learned about the sunken treasure right after the fall of Corregidor. Soon, they sought the help of Filipino divers–some of whom died due to drowning–to salvage the boxes of silver coins. In the end, they only recovered $54, 000 or 100, 000 pesos.

       But the Japanese wouldn’t settle for less, so they handpicked more experienced divers from a group of American prisoners. From June 20 to September 28, 1942, the American divers were able to retrieve 150, 000 pesos. Of course, it was a very dangerous work and they thought of only one way to retaliate, and that is by outsmarting the Japanese. Indeed, they were able to steal 30, 000 to 60, 000 pesos without the Japanese knowing it. Their Filipino friends were able to find Chinese money-changers in Manila to exchange Japanese paper currency for Philippine silver coins. Some of the coins were also passed off to other prisoners of war who would later use the money to bribe Japanese soldiers.

       Eventually, the recovery program was cancelled, much to the joy of American prisoners. In 1945, the U.S. Navy was able to salvage 5, 380, 000 pesos which they turned over to the Philippine government. Although 75% of the sunken treasure was already recovered, no one knows exactly how much of it still remains at the bottom or if they can still be retrieved in the first place.

Reference:

http://www.filipiknow.net/philippine-history-facts/