The salvage operation had been a complete failure. The small ship, Elkor, which had been searching the Barents Sea for weeks, was on its way home. A radio message from the mainland had been received by the ship's captain instructing him to give up the search. The captain knew that another attempt would be made later, for the sunken ship he was trying to find had been carrying a precious cargo of gold bullion.
Despite the message, the captain of the Elkor decided to try once more. The sea bed was scoured with powerful nets and there was tremendous excitement on board went a chest was raised from the bottom. Though the crew were at first under the impression that the lost ship had been found, the contents of the chest proved them wrong. What they had in fact found was a ship which had been sunk many years before.
The chest contained the personal belongings of a seaman, Alan Fielding. There were books, clothing and photographs, together with letters which the seaman had once received from his wife. The captain of the Elkor ordered his men to salvage as much as possible from the wreck. Nothing of value was found, but the numerous items which were brought to the surface proved to be of great interest. From a heavy gun that was raised, the captain realized that the ship must have been a cruiser. In another chest, which contained the belongings of a ship's officer, there was an unfinished letter which had been written on March 14th, 1943. The captain learnt from the letter that the name of the lost ship was the Karen. The most valuable find of all was the ship's log book, parts of which it was still possible to read. From this the captain was able to piece together all the information that had come to light. The Karen had been sailing in a convoy to Russia when she was torpedoed by an enemy submarine. This was later confirmed by naval official at the Ministry of Defiance after the Elkor had returned home. All the items that were found were sent to the War Museum.
生詞和短語
salvage v. 救助，營救；打撈
Barents n. 巴倫支（海）
sunken adj. 沉沒的
cargo n. 貨物
bullion n. 金條；銀條
scour v. 徹底搜索
chest n. 大箱子
contents n. （複數）所裝的東西
belongings n. （複數）所有物
item n. 物件
cruiser n. 巡洋艦
find n. 找到的物品
log book 航海日誌
piece v. 拼成整體
convoy n. 護航
torpedo v. 用魚雷攻擊
submarine n. 潛水艇
naval adj. 海軍的
ministry n. （政府的）部
參考譯文
打撈工作徹底失敗了。小船「埃爾科」號在巴倫支海搜尋了幾個星期之後，正在返航途中。返航前，該船船長收到了大陸發來的電報，指示他們放棄這次搜尋。船長知道日後還會再作嘗試，因為他試圖尋找的沉船上載有一批珍貴的金條。
儘管船長接了電報，他還是決定再試一試。他們用結實的網把海床搜索了一遍。當一隻箱子從海底被打撈上來時，甲板上人們激動不已。船員們開始認為沉船找著了，但海底沉箱內的物品證明他們弄錯了。事實上，他們發現的是另一艘沉沒多年的船。
木箱內裝有水手艾倫.菲爾丁的私人財物，其中有書箱、衣服、照片以及水手收到的妻子的來信。「埃爾科」號船長命令船員們儘量從沉船中打撈物品，但沒發現什麼值錢的東西，不過打撈出來的眾多的物品還是引起了大家極大的興趣。從撈起的一門大炮來看，船長認為那艘船一定是艘巡洋艦。另一隻海底沉箱中裝的是船上一位軍官的財物，其中有一封寫於1943年3月14日的信，但沒有寫完。從這封信中船長了解到沉船船名是「卡倫」號。打撈到的東西中最有價值的是船上的航海日誌，其中有一部分仍然清晰可讀。據此，船長可以將所有的那些已經搞清的材料拼湊起來。「卡倫」號當年在為其他船隻護航駛往俄國的途中突然遭到敵方潛水艇魚雷的襲擊。這一說法在「埃爾科」號返航後得到的國防部一位海軍官員的證實。那次打撈到的所有物品均被送往軍事博物館。