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Someone's stealing shipwrecks, bolts and all

https://www.outsideonline.com/2168646/how-does-entire-shipwreck-disappear-bolts-and-all

more at link above
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As the seafloor came into view, answers to a few of those questions became clear. The divers had not drifted. Their anchor had held. And they were in precisely the right place. The ship, on the other hand, was not.

What these divers should have found was a 6,440-ton cruiser, complete with tower, turrets, and catapult—a ship long and large enough to launch a seaplane. Instead, they found only the impression of a hull on an empty seafloor. The vessel that had once lain there had first been discovered in 2001. It was surveyed a year later. Since then, recreational divers had visited. And sure, ocean currents can drag debris from a downed plane or even cause a renaissance galleon to resurface. But this was a massive steel ship. The only way it was going to go anywhere was if someone—or lots of someones—had moved it.
 
Yacht Sinks After Being Hit By Whale

The sailors thought they were fine at first until water started coming through cracks that appeared in the hull over the next few hours as a result of the strike.

Dad-of-two David, now back in the UK after a nerve-racking rescue by a merchant vessel which was the first ship on the scene, ended up sending out a distress signal after realising they could never make it to dry land in time at the rate they were pumping out incoming sea water.

In his first emotional words after cheating death earlier this week he said today: “I’m an experienced sailor and you prepare for all the usual hazards like bad weather but you never expect to encounter what we did.

“We’d coped beautifully with 36 hours of gales on our way back from the British Virgin Islands with winds peaking at 45 knots and the sea was relatively calm and the winds were light when the whale hit us.

“Next thing there was a tremendous strike which felt almost as if we had been punched.

“When the rescue vessel arrived I had to abandon it and set it adrift to sink. The pumps were still coping when I made the distress call but the cracks were getting bigger and bigger.

“If we had been 60 miles from dry land I would have tried to nurse it ashore but we were about 350 miles from the Azores and further from the Portuguese mainland.
 
Yes, it seems that yacht was wrecked and sunk by the whale, but this is really a search and rescue story, and if I'd come across it first I'd have posted it on the Lone Coastguard thread! :p

Especially as Falmouth Coastguard, near to me, is the designated station for liasing with foreign SAR agencies when a Casualty is too far from UK, and they picked up the initial distress call. SAR bits from the article:

"But a few hours later he decided to alert coastguards in Falmouth after hearing strange creaking noises - and on Monday morning issued a distress call after more and more water started to come in through new cracks that had gradually opened up after the collision.

He said: “It was a difficult decision. That yacht was my pride and joy. I’d owned it for seven years and done 15,000 miles on this boat alone.

“When the rescue vessel arrived I had to abandon it and set it adrift to sink. The pumps were still coping when I made the distress call but the cracks were getting bigger and bigger.
“If we had been 60 miles from dry land I would have tried to nurse it ashore but we were about 350 miles from the Azores and further from the Portuguese mainland.
...

The Portuguese rescue team instrumental in saving his life mobilised two Air Force jets, after being alerted by Falmouth coastguards, which circled overhead the stricken yacht to reassure them while they waited for a naval vessel heading from the Azores to arrive.

In the end Liberian-flagged merchant vessel Justice, which was crewed and captained by Ukrainian sailors, picked them up first on their way from Wilmington in the States to the northern port city of Aviles.

Fighting back tears, Mr Bowes said: “We’ve very grateful to everyone involved in the rescue.
“The Portuguese search and rescue team did a great job and when those aircraft were overhead it was very reassuring.
“Thanks must go also to the Ukrainian captain and crew of Justice. It was very nerve-racking getting on board with two-inch rope lines attached between the two vessels snapping as we moved up and down on the water at different rates.

“I was left on my boat on my own at one point after my two crew had made it to safety when the two bow lines snapped, effectively taken by the waves away from the rescue vessel.

“All I could take with me was one bag. I had to leave clothes and tools behind. The water level was above my yacht’s cabin floorboards when I left and was sinking obviously and we had to cast her adrift.

“The captain and crew made us very welcome with their food and cooking, lots of potatoes and Borscht.”

Cruz Martins, Captain of Ponta Delgada Port in the Azores where the rescue operation was coordinated from, added: “Their lives were in danger.
“The next step would have been jumping into the life raft, and losing communications with us, making the rescue operation even more difficult.
“The navy corvette that was mobilised would only have arrived the morning after. We had to be prepared for that.

“In the end, we can say they were very lucky for having a merchant vessel nearby. They told us that after being rescued by that vessel, the boat sank.
“Hitting a whale is not a unique occurrence, but it is rare. And they were in international waters, open waters and whales travel everywhere.”

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sailor-whose-yacht-sank-after-10518175

I'm surprised the local press here haven't picked up Falmouth's involvement. Probably because of the Bank Holiday! :twisted:
 
Man finds 17th century grenade from Schiedam shipwreck at Dollar Cove Gunwalloe Cornwall
By G_WIlkinson | Posted: June 18, 2017
Video: 3m 48s.

A man has described how he found a 17th century hand-grenade washed up on a beach from a Cornish shipwreck.
Robert Felce was walking along the low-water shoreline at Dollar Cove, at Gunwalloe near Helston, when he made the remarkable discovery.
Incredibly, the weapon was still packed with black residue, the remains of the original gun power, after 333 years under water. The grenade even contains the remains of a wooden peg which still plugs the fuse hole.

The metal ball, about the size of a cricket ball, is completely encased in a concretion of small stones and other material, which accumulates around any iron object left in seawater for a lengthy period of time.

Mr Felce, from Mullion, said he was thrilled at the chance find and had reported it to the Receiver of Wreck.
You can watch our interview with him and reporter Graeme Wilkinson above. Video by Greg Martin.

Mr Felce said: "I was delighted. It's incredible to think this piece of history has been rediscovered. The best thing was calling the bomb disposal people from Plymouth, who came into Mullion with a blue flashing light. They took out the black powder."

The grenade is most likely to have come from the wreck of the Schiedam, which was lost in Dollar Cove in 1684.

She had been a Dutch merchant ship but was captured by Barbary pirates in 1683. Shortly afterwards, she was recaptured by the English and, rather than be handed back to the Dutch, was converted into a transport ship for the Royal Navy.

The story takes and unexpected twist when the English were handed control of Tangiers in present day Morocco, as part of the dowry for the Portuguese wife of Charles II.
Unable to defend the town, they decided to pull out and the Schiedam was loaded with supplies of arms and ammunition. Split up from the convey returning home, she found herself trapped in Mounts Bay and ran aground during a storm on April 4, 1684.

etc...

http://www.cornwalllive.com/man-fin...loe-cornwall/story-30394157-detail/story.html
 
This is mainly about treasure, but shipwrecks are involved:

2. Manmade treasure

Ellie Harrison and Dallas Campbell reveal the greatest treasures we've ever created.

Dallas braves vicious currents to dive on a shipwreck where gold, silver and 5,000 emeralds have been found. Ellie tells the tale of intrigue and obsession surrounding a jewelled room in Russia decorated with millions of pounds worth of amber. She enters the secretive world of the diamond cutters - each lives with the knowledge that a slip of the hand could cost them millions of pounds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b040zb5q/the-treasure-hunters-2-manmade-treasure






 
This is mainly about treasure, but shipwrecks are involved:

2. Manmade treasure

Ellie Harrison and Dallas Campbell reveal the greatest treasures we've ever created.

Dallas braves vicious currents to dive on a shipwreck where gold, silver and 5,000 emeralds have been found. Ellie tells the tale of intrigue and obsession surrounding a jewelled room in Russia decorated with millions of pounds worth of amber. She enters the secretive world of the diamond cutters - each lives with the knowledge that a slip of the hand could cost them millions of pounds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b040zb5q/the-treasure-hunters-2-manmade-treasure
Nice find .. we're just about to watch it, we love stuff like this.
 
Plymouth shipwreck may be older than famous Mary Rose
By WMNJBayley | Posted: July 11, 2017

A Plymouth shipwreck may be even older than first thought.

The Cattewater wreck in Plymouth was discovered in 1973 during dredging close to Sutton Harbour, and was deemed so important it became the first to be given official protection.
The ship was thought to be from the early 16th century, right in the middle of the Tudor period of British history.
Now detailed analysis of finds, which are in the collection of Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, suggest it could date from as early as 1500.

31219260.jpg
Martin Read

Martin Read, lecturer in maritime archaeology at the University of Plymouth, wants to raise awareness of the vessel – and is asking local children to come up with a name for a dog whose skeleton was found in the wreckage. The ship is thought to have been a three-masted armed merchantman, probably built in southern Europe but based locally.

For 10 years Mr Read – who holds an official government licence to study the wreck – has worked with students and local divers on the site.

Cattewater wreck - the facts
  • The Cattewater wreck site is 12m by 5m. The exact size of the vessel is unknown.
  • It is estimated that the three-masted vessel weighed between 200 and 300 tonnes.
  • She was an armed merchantman vessel which had at least three cannons. Three small cannons were originally recovered from the site and are now stored at the City Museum and Art Gallery.
  • It is believed the vessel was almost certainly British and based in Plymouth. It is also believed the ballast was locally sourced.
  • The vessel's cargo is unknown but it is thought it was carrying salted fish when it sank, as barrel parts and fish bones were found at the site.
He said: “Tudor wrecks are incredibly rare and the Cattewater wreck is one of the world’s most important 16th Century discoveries.
“As a merchant ship, it provided the trade and taxes which allowed military leaders to build great naval vessels, such as Henry VIII’s Mary Rose, which sank in 1545.
“Analysis of the Cattewater finds, including preserved leather and ceramics recovered during excavations carried out in the 1970s, mean this wreck might pre-date the Mary Rose by more than four decades.”

Mr Read is hoping to bring the wreck to life in a new project with Zoe Moscrip, a postgraduate student at Plymouth College of Art.

etc...

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/ply...us-mary-rose/story-30433691-detail/story.html
 
Shipwreck found under Bristol Channel's shifting sands
28 July 2017

_97109447_brunswick1.png

Image: Bristol Port

A sunken ship has been discovered after more than 100 years buried under the shifting sands of the Bristol Channel.
The Brunswick sank on Christmas Eve 1900 as it approached Bristol, with the loss of seven lives.
Images taken by Bristol Port's hydrographic team have revealed the wreck of the cargo vessel.
Its secrets are likely to remain protected as it is already being reburied by sand and sediments.

The Brunswick was a British screw steamer built in Glasgow in 1898 and ran regularly delivering cargo between Liverpool and Bristol.
A report revealed it sank at about 5:30 GMT on 24 December after running aground in thick fog as it approached Black Nore Point, near Portishead.
...

John Chaplin from the Bristol Port company, said the discovery was the first of its type he had experienced in 17 years.
"The dynamic nature of the estuary means the sands and sediments are shifting all the time," he added.
"It just happened that this wreck has been exposed as we were surveying the area."
A second site visit has revealed that the wreck is already being covered again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-40751767
 
Wreckage of lost ship USS Indianapolis found after seven decades
Researchers say cruiser sunk by a Japanese submarine in the last days of the war has been located off the Philippines




The USS Indianapolis was sunk on 30 July 1945 with the loss of hundreds of lives. Photograph: HANDOUT/Reuters
Sunday 20 August 2017 02.52 BSTLast modified on Sunday 20 August 2017 06.11 BST

The wreckage of the second world war cruiser USS Indianapolis has been found off the coast of the Philippines 72 years after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

The hulk was found in the Philippine sea 5.5km (3.4 miles) below the surface, according to philanthropist Paul Allen, who headed the civilian research crew that located the ship.

The ship was hit in the final days of the war while sailing from Guam to the Philippines. It had just completed a secret mission delivering parts of the atomic bomb used in Hiroshima.


etc

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...ip-uss-indianapolis-found-after-seven-decades
 
No ID given for this newly-discovered U-boat. According to this site:

http://uboat.net/wwi/fates/losses.html

... 202 U-boats were lost during WWI. This wreck is a Type UB-II, which didn't enter service until 1915.


German WW1 U-boat found off Belgian coast
The wreck of a German submarine that sank during World War One has been found in the North Sea and officials believe 23 bodies may be inside it.

The type UB-II submarine is said to be in good condition, lying at a depth of 30m (100ft) off the Belgian coast.

"The submarine is in such good condition that we reckon all the bodies are still on board," said West Flanders Governor Carl Decaluwé.

The vessel is thought to have been sunk by a mine. ...

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41318195
 
Athenia: Is this the wreck of the first ship to be sunk in WW2?
By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent
_98144591_wreck_no._111.jpg
Image copyrightGSI
Image captionThe sonar contact matches the dimensions of the Athenia in all details
The remains of the first ship to be sunk in World War Two appear to have been identified on the Atlantic seabed.

Shipwreck-hunter David Mearns says sonar data shows the transatlantic passenger liner Athenia to be lying 200m down on Rockall Bank, off Ireland.

A German submarine torpedoed the ship hours after Britain declared war on Hitler in 1939 - more than 100 people, including many Americans, were killed.

Germany initially denied involvement fearing the US would join the war.

U-boat commander, Fritz Julius Lemp, had mistaken the liner for an armed cruiser and the German naval authorities tried to cover up the sub's actions...
etc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-41503664
 
Divers have returned to the Antikythera shipwreck (of Antikythera Mechanism fame ... ) to explore for more artifacts. They've already found evidence of additional bronze statues beneath the sediment at the site. And yes - they're keeping an eye out for any additional items similar or related to the mechanism.

Bronze Arm Found in Famous Shipwreck Points to More Treasure Below
... A bronze statue’s orphaned arm. A corroded disc adorned with a bull. Preserved wooden planks. These are among the latest treasures that date back to the dawn of the Roman Empire, discovered amid the ruins of the Antikythera shipwreck, a sunken bounty off the coast of a tiny island in Greece.

Marine archaeologists working on a project called Return to Antikythera announced these findings on Wednesday from their most recent excavation of the roughly 2,000-year-old wreck, which was first discovered 115 years ago. They said the haul hints at the existence of at least seven more bronze sculptures still buried beneath the seafloor. Bronze sculptures from that era are rare because they were often melted down to make swords, shields and other items. Only about 50 intact examples have survived, so if the team can salvage the submerged statues, it would be a remarkable recovery of ancient artifacts. ...

FULL STORY: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/science/antikythera-shipwreck-greece.html
 
An artefact excavated from a shipwreck off the coast of Oman has been found to be the oldest known example of a type of navigational tool.

Marine archaeologists say the object is an astrolabe, an instrument once used by mariners to measure the altitude of the Sun during their voyages.

It is believed to date from between 1495 and 1500.

The item was recovered from a Portuguese explorer which sank during a storm in the Indian Ocean in 1503.

The boat was called the Esmeralda and was part of a fleet led by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, the first person to sail directly from Europe to India.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41724022
 
The world's biggest grave robbery: Asia’s disappearing WWII shipwrecks
Exclusive: the unmarked graves of thousands of sailors are threatened by illegal metal salvagers

By Oliver Holmes, Monica Ulmanu and Simon Roberts

Friday 3 November 2017 01.22 GMTLast modified on Friday 3 November 2017 14.40 GMT



Dozens of warships believed to contain the remains of thousands of British, American, Australian, Dutch and Japanese servicemen from the second world war have been illegally ripped apart by salvage divers, the Guardian can reveal.

An analysis of ships discovered by wreck divers and naval historians has found that up to 40 second world war-era vessels have already been partially or completely destroyed. Their hulls might have contained the corpses of 4,500 crew.

Governments fear other unmarked graves are at risk of being desecrated. Hundreds more ships – mostly Japanese vessels that could contain the war graves of tens of thousands of crew killed during the war – remain on the seabed.

The rusted 70-year-old wrecks are usually sold as scrap but the ships also contain valuable metals such as copper cables and phosphor bronze propellors.

Experts said grave diggers might be looking for even more precious treasures – steel plating made before the nuclear testing era, which filled the atmosphere with radiation. These submerged ships are one of the last sources of “low background steel”, virtually radiation-free and vital for some scientific and medical equipment.

etc...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/n...ave-robbery-asias-disappearing-ww2-shipwrecks
 
HMAS AE1 was one of the first pair of submarines commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy.

She disappeared in September 1914 during her first operational cruise. Her disappearance has remained a mystery ever since, as described here:

https://www.navyhistory.org.au/disappearance-of-ae1-14-september-1914-still-a-mystery/

An overview of the AE!'s brief history, disappearance, and attempts to find her can be obtained at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_AE1

Following the initial searches for AE1 after her disappearance, there wasn't any concerted effort to locate the wreck for another 60+ years. This strikes me as one of the more mysterious aspects of the story.

The wreck of the AE1 has finally been found:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42435428
 
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I was taught in geography at school that Japan's postwar prosperity arose from the salvaging of scrap metal from sunken Allied warships. There was no mention back then of war graves, although it did cross my mind that salvagers would have to deal with corpses. Like the jumpy hole-in-the-boat scene in Jaws.

Probably more like the bit in The Abyss where they investigate the crashed submarine. They'd be stuffed with the dead.
 
We're watching Treasure from the Wreck of the Unbelievable on Netflix. It's about the astonishing treasures - gold statues, Medusa, sun gods, you name it - that Damien Hirst's diving team dragged up from the bottom of the sea. They're now on display in Venice. Astonishing. Unbelievable.
 
... He was the Robin Hood of the high seas. By the age of 29, notorious pirate Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy had looted 54 ships off the Atlantic coast of America in less than a year and divided the tons of treasures seized between his crew equally.

But battling 70mph winds and 30ft waves during a violent storm on the night of April 26, 1717, the Whydah and all but two of her men were lost. ...

The excavations and studies continue on Bellamy's Whydah wreck. The most recent development concerns human remains whose associated artifacts suggest may be Bellamy himself ...

Possible remains of world’s ‘richest pirate’ Captain Black Sam Bellamy to be compared to English descendant's DNA
... Researchers removed a human femur from a concretion – a conglomerate of iron, stone, silver and gold.

“His remains are surrounded by a giant web of tools and weapons, it’s a real time capsule, which is exciting stuff” ...

"Whatever is inside this concretion is in very good condition, including soft tissue, leather and a lot of textile pieces." ...

While the remains could be one of around 40 unaccounted sailors that were on board the ship at the time, the archaeologists believe the objects surrounding the femur make it highly likely they belong to Bellamy.

"There's a very ornate pistol that was wrapped in a ribbon. It's expensive so that might have belonged to the captain, so that's another indicator for us that it's more probable for us that it is Bellamy" ...

SOURCE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...lds-richest-pirate-captain-black-sam-bellamy/
 
Not a shipwreck, but treasure.

Boy unearths treasure of the Danish king Bluetooth in Germany

Braided necklaces, pearls, brooches, a Thor’s hammer, rings and up to 600 chipped coins were found, including more than 100 that date back to Bluetooth’s era, when he ruled over what is now Denmark, northern Germany, southern Sweden and parts of Norway.

“This trove is the biggest single discovery of Bluetooth coins in the southern Baltic Sea region and is therefore of great significance,” the lead archaeologist, Michael Schirren, told national news agency DPA.

The oldest coin is a Damascus dirham dating to 714 while the most recent is a penny dating to 983.

The find suggests that the treasure may have been buried in the late 980s – also the period when Bluetooth was known to have fled to Pomerania, where he died in 987.

Bluetooth is credited with unifying Denmark. The Viking-born king also turned his back on old Norse religion and introduced Christianity to the Nordic country.

But he was forced to flee to Pomerania after a rebellion led by his son Sven Gabelbart.

5214.jpg
 
"Bluetooth is credited with unifying Denmark. The Viking-born king also turned his back on old Norse religion and introduced Christianity to the Nordic country."

. . . he also found time to pioneer wireless technology! :bdown: :mcoat:
 
. . . he also found time to pioneer wireless technology! :bdown: :mcoat:


That was a post hoc attempt to make amends for having given Christianity a toe-hold in the Nordic region. :pipe:
 
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