SS John Barry

The final voyage

SS John Barry was a mass-produced American Liberty ship, built at the Kaiser Shipyards in Portland, Oregon, and completed in February 1942. In 1944, operating under charter to the Lykes Brothers Steamship Company, she left convoy under radio silence carrying a secret cargo: three million silver one-riyal coins, minted in Philadelphia at Saudi Arabia's request as an American payment tied to wartime oil arrangements with Aramco, bound for Dhahran via Ras Tanura. Persistent postwar rumors held that she also carried silver bullion worth some $26 million, though this was never substantiated.

On 28 August 1944, roughly 115 miles off the coast of Oman, the German submarine U-859 torpedoed the John Barry. She broke in two and sank in roughly 8,500 feet (about 2,600 meters) of water. Two crew members were killed; the rest of her crew were rescued the following day. The coins remained undisturbed until French oceanographic institute IFREMER located the wreck in 1992 and, sponsored by Oman's Ocean Group, conducted a landmark deep-water recovery in 1994.

What was aboard

The three-million-coin shipment is documented in declassified US wartime records and contemporary reporting; the additional rumored silver bullion was searched for and explicitly reported as not found during the 1994 recovery.

Saudi silver one-riyal coins: Three million coins minted at the Philadelphia Mint for the Saudi government, of which roughly half were recovered in 1994.

General wartime cargo: Trucks, pipe, refinery equipment, and other Allied supply materials documented as part of the ship's broader cargo.

How to collect

Know the 1995 Sotheby's sale: Recovered coins were initially sold as a single bulk lot at a November 1995 Sotheby's auction before individual coins entered the wider collector market — a two-step chain worth verifying.

Confirm coin type and date: Genuine cargo consists specifically of 1935 (AH 1354) Saudi silver riyals struck at the Philadelphia Mint — other Saudi issues are not part of this wreck's documented cargo.

No bullion bars exist from this wreck: Despite persistent rumors, the 1994 recovery found no silver bullion; treat any 'John Barry bullion bar' claim with serious skepticism.

This is one of the deepest recoveries on record: The extreme depth and specialized recovery method are well documented; claims of casual or recent diver recovery from this site are implausible.