A US treasure hunter has announced a record find of Soviet platinum in a sunken World War II era shipwreck, BBC reported Thursday. The wreck - of a British merchant vessel - is located 80 km off the US Atlantic coast in waters 213 metres deep, Greg Brooks of Sub Sea Research said. Brooks said he had discovered the SS Port Nicholson, sunk in 1942 by a German torpedo, four years previously but delayed the announcement while he negotiated salvage rights. The platinum bars, now estimated to be worth *3 billion, were payment from the Soviet Union to the US for war supplies. But Anthony Shusta, an attorney for the British government, said he doubted the ship was carrying platinum, but that Britain may make a claim on the ship's contents when the salvage attempt begins. An operation to recover the treasure will start later this month.