1929
In 1929 Captain Wiley of Seattle teamed up with Frank Curtis, a professional housemover with experience in moving and transporting large structures. Their scheme involved leading 20 steel cables beneath the sunken liner that were to be connected to surface vessels. The cables were then to be tightened at each low tide, inching the wreck towards shore with each high tide. This challenging operation occupied two complete salvage seasons until, on 20 July 1934, the Islander surfaced near Green's Cove, Admiralty Island, Alaska.
The "gaping hole" first noted by Henry Finch in 1904 turned out to be more significant than suspected: 60 feet (18 m) of the Islander's bow, including the Mail and Storage Room, had been completely sheared off. However, it was the Purser's Office in the midsection of the vessel where the Islander's gold was expected to be found.
Disappointingly, when the wreck was cleared, the Islander yielded only $75,000 worth of gold nuggets and gold dust. The Purser's Office disclosed none of the strongboxes of bullion that were expected; its safe contained just a handful of US $10 and $20 gold coins and some waterlogged paper currency.
According to statements made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) constables who were aboard the ship to guard the shipment of gold, the bullion had been stowed in a locker on the port side of the forward well deck, just abaft the break of the focsle – an area located within the "missing" bow section which was not located until August 1996.
Read more about this topic: SS Islander, Salvage Attempts