A post world war 2 seafaring adventure, I believe this was first published in 1946, the edition I read was a 1967 Collins Seagull Library edition. The target demographic is definitely a boys adventure story.

The Lost Gold Bars features the SS Madui which is hired for a salvage operation off the coast of South Africa, upon raising numerous gold bars from a torpedo'ed cargo ship the SS Madui is captured by, for lack of a better word, pirates. Who then forced the crew to abandon ship in rowboats, steal the gold and later ditch the vessel. The main plot follows Simon Teesdale, second mate, the initial salvage operation, the trek through the desert to survive after being forced to abandon ship, and then the search for the gold after the culprits successfully escape capture.

It's a decent yarn, on par with boys adventure stories of the era, mostly focused on the crime/adventure aspect rather than the seafaring aspect. I enjoyed it even if a rather compact story at a mere 188 pages. ( )