Governments Checking the Couch Cushions

I am a sunken vessel wonk so I was excited to read news today of the discovery of 20 tons of silver on a British ship sunk by a German torpedo in 1917 off the coast of Ireland.

But this is a new on on me:

In recent years, cash-strapped governments have started looking to lost cargoes as a way to raise money.

You know your government's bad off when they are scratching around the bottom of the ocean for spare change. And in this case, the recovering company gets 80% of the loot with the British government receiving only 20%. But it's 20% of $18 mil - so there's that.