Shipwreck company raises cash

Endurance Exploration Group Inc. is ready to start salvage operations of its first found shipwreck, the SS Connaught. But first, the Clearwater company needs to salvage something even more powerful: cash.

Since finding the Irish passenger liner's ocean grave, Endurance has legally staked its claim to the ship and its contents through the federal courts that could include millions of dollars' worth of gold coins along with other abandoned valuables. Connaught sank 100 miles off the New England coast, on its way to Boston during just its second voyage. Divers will need to traverse 1,000 feet of water to reach it.

That means new equipment and plenty of manpower, which Endurance expects to raise by offering 15 million shares at 25 cents each. If successful, that would infuse $3.75 million into the young company, which trades over-the-counter under the symbol EXPL.

The money also would help Endurance locate its next big payday, a wreck it has codenamed “Black Marlin,” an 18th century merchant ship believed to have hundreds of thousands of coins on board.

At 380 feet, the Connaught was the Titanic of its time, not just in size and grandeur, but also from its short life on the waters. However, unlike Titanic, Connaught stayed in history books because of the daring rescue of all 591 passengers, conducted by a simple, tiny fruit transport ship.

If Endurance is able to recover what it hopes from Connaught, company officials say the net haul could be worth upward of more than $10 million.