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This sounds suspiciously like just another way to hamstring the petrochemical industry: “We don’t care if there are 10B barrels of oil down there, that plank might be a Viking ship! Buyanelectriccarbuyanelectriccar…

maximus otter
Well, they're free to take the oil companies word for it being clear, or go down there themselves...

I suddenly feel a strange urge to buy an electric car. Odd.
 
Lake Huron wreck found after 130 years.

Searchers have found a long-lost Great Lakes ship that came to a tragic end.

Officials with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, say they have located the Ironton, a freight schooner that plunged to the bottom of Lake Huron in 1894.

The 191-foot (58-metre) cargo vessel collided with a grain hauler on a blustery night in September 1894, sinking both.
The Ironton’s captain and six sailors clambered into a lifeboat but it was dragged to the bottom before they could detach it from the ship. Only two crewmen survived.

a5747d6c629642758970cb006fad8999.jpg
A lifeboat is tethered to the Ironton in Lake Huron off Michigan’s east coast (Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary via AP/PA)

The gravesite long eluded shipwreck hunters.
Now, the mystery has been solved, officials with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, said on Wednesday.
A team of historians, underwater archaeologists and technicians located the wreckage in 2019 and deployed remotely controlled cameras to scan and document it, Superintendent Jeff Gray told AP.
The sanctuary plans to reveal the location in coming months and is considering placing a mooring buoy at the site. Officials have kept the find secret to prevent divers from disturbing the site before video and photo documentation is finished.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-41082802.html
 
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Lake Huron wreck found after 1390 years.

Searchers have found a long-lost Great Lakes ship that came to a tragic end.

Officials with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, say they have located the Ironton, a freight schooner that plunged to the bottom of Lake Huron in 1894.

The 191-foot (58-metre) cargo vessel collided with a grain hauler on a blustery night in September 1894, sinking both.
The Ironton’s captain and six sailors clambered into a lifeboat but it was dragged to the bottom before they could detach it from the ship. Only two crewmen survived.

a5747d6c629642758970cb006fad8999.jpg
A lifeboat is tethered to the Ironton in Lake Huron off Michigan’s east coast (Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary via AP/PA)

The gravesite long eluded shipwreck hunters.
Now, the mystery has been solved, officials with Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Michigan, said on Wednesday.
A team of historians, underwater archaeologists and technicians located the wreckage in 2019 and deployed remotely controlled cameras to scan and document it, Superintendent Jeff Gray told AP.
The sanctuary plans to reveal the location in coming months and is considering placing a mooring buoy at the site. Officials have kept the find secret to prevent divers from disturbing the site before video and photo documentation is finished.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/world/arid-41082802.html
Your maths is worse than mine Ramon.
 
Not wrecked, but suffering major issues:

Multiple people injured after large ship dislodges in Edinburgh dry dock


A major rescue operation is ongoing at Imperial Dock in Leith after the vessel lurched towards its right-hand side.

skynews-leith-docks-edinburgh_6096815.jpg


The Scottish Ambulance Service sent five ambulances, an air ambulance, three trauma teams and other resources to the scene, while the fire service and police also attended after being alerted at 8.35am.

Sky News believes there are multiple casualties.

https://news.sky.com/story/multiple...nburgh-dry-dock-sky-news-understands-12840073

maximus otter
 
Denarii found on uninhabited Swedish island.

Mystery of Roman coins discovered on shipwreck island has archaeologists baffled

Two silver coins minted in during the Roman Empire have been found on a remote and uninhabited island in the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists have no idea how they got there.

two worn roman coins in copper and silver

The coin on the left is a silver denarius minted in the reign of Antonius Pius, from A.D. 138 to 161. The emperor's head and some Latin characters can just be seen.The coin on the right is a silver denarius minted in the reign of Trajan, from A.D. 98 to 117. It shows the emperor's head and part of a Latin inscription. (Image credit: Johan Rönnby)


Archaeologists are baffled but excited by the discovery of two silver coins from the Roman Empire on a remote island in the Baltic Sea, halfway between Sweden and Estonia.

No clues reveal how the coins got there, but they may have been left by Norse traders, lost in a shipwreck or brought there on a Roman ship that voyaged to the far north.

Johan Rönnby(opens in new tab), an archaeologist at Södertörn University in Stockholm, was part of the team that found the coins with metal detectors in March, at a beach site marked by old fireplaces on the island of Gotska Sandön.


"We were so happy," he told Live Science. "We have this site, but we don't know what it is. But now that we have the coins there, it makes it even more interesting to continue to excavate it."


The two silver coins found on the island are both Roman "denarii"one from the reign of the emperor Trajan, between A.D. 98 and 117, and the other from the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius, between A.D. 138 and 161. They each weigh less than an eighth of an ounce (4 grams) and would have represented about a day's pay for a laborer when they were minted.

Denarii were the standard coin of ancient Rome, and their name survives today in the word for "money" in several Latin-based languages, such as "denaro" in Italian and "dinero" in Spanish.

Rönnby said coins from the Roman Empire could have stayed in circulation for a long time, because the silver they contained always remained valuable; and they might have been brought to Gotska Sandön by Norse traders who had taken shelter there from storms at sea.

But it's also possible they were carried there by survivors from a shipwreck: The waters around the island are notoriously dangerous, and the area is littered with wrecks, he said.

Another possibility is that the coins were taken to Gotska Sandön by Romans on a Roman ship, though no records of such a voyage into the Baltic exist. ...

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...n-shipwreck-island-has-archaeologists-baffled
 

German WW1 U-boat found off the coast of Shetland

The SM UC-55 submarine was sunk about eight miles south-east of Lerwick by the Royal Navy in 1917.

Divers aboard the Stromness boat Valhalla have become the first to inspect its wreckage.

The U-boat had been laying mines in the convoy channel between Orkney and Shetland before being forced to surface due to a technical fault.

The submarine met its end after a loss of trim resulted in it sinking below its maximum dive depth, resulting in some flooding but it managed to rise to the surface.

Shortly afterwards two Royal Navy destroyers appeared and opened fire, sinking it.
Jacob Mackenzie, one of the divers who visited the wreck, said it was "eerie" being down there given that the some of the crew had perished along with their vessel.

"You are aware of that, although I believe about 15 of the crew did escape the rest of the crew of course didn't so they are still inside and that's very obvious when you're looking around it," he said.

The team were able to confirm the identity of the wreck because details of the damage had been recorded in the logbooks of the Royal Navy destroyers that sank the submarine.

"It certainly didn't sink by accident. This was wartime and if you haven't been to those depths before you won't appreciate that it's pitch black, it's very quiet, it is quite eerie when you swim around doing this," he said.

"In the back of your mind as well you have to remember the fact that this is essentially a grave for probably 20 men who didn't make it out alive unfortunately."
1690316822165.png
 
An interesting find.

A view of amphorae found by Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in a wreck of an ancient Roman cargo ship at the bottom of the sea in Civitavecchia, near Rome, Italy, 25 July 2023
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, A large haul of Roman storage containers were found in the wreckage

The wreckage of an ancient Roman ship from more than 2,000 years ago has been found off the coast of Italy.

The cargo ship was found off the port of Civitavecchia, about 50 miles (80km) north-west of Rome. It dates from about the 1st or 2nd Century BC and was found laden with hundreds of amphorae - a type of Roman terracotta jar. The pottery was found mostly intact, the Carabinieri police's art squad said in a statement.

The ship, estimated to be more than 20m long, was discovered on a sandy seabed 160m (525ft) below sea level.

"The exceptional discovery is an important example of the shipwreck of a Roman ship facing the perils of the sea in an attempt to reach the coast, and bears witness to old maritime trading routes," the Carabinieri said.

The police art squad - which is in charge of protecting Italy's priceless cultural heritage - said the relic was found and filmed using a remotely operated robot.

They did not say whether experts will now try and recover it, or its precious cargo, from the sea floor.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66337902
 
Denarii found on uninhabited Swedish island.

Mystery of Roman coins discovered on shipwreck island has archaeologists baffled​

Two silver coins minted in during the Roman Empire have been found on a remote and uninhabited island in the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists have no idea how they got there.


Johan Rönnby(opens in new tab), an archaeologist at Södertörn University in Stockholm, was part of the team that found the coins with metal detectors in March, at a beach site marked by old fireplaces on the island of Gotska Sandön.
???

The coins are of interest but for me the real question is why is the site marked by old fireplaces?
 
Denarii found on uninhabited Swedish island.

Mystery of Roman coins discovered on shipwreck island has archaeologists baffled​

Two silver coins minted in during the Roman Empire have been found on a remote and uninhabited island in the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists have no idea how they got there.

two worn roman coins in copper and silver

The coin on the left is a silver denarius minted in the reign of Antonius Pius, from A.D. 138 to 161. The emperor's head and some Latin characters can just be seen.The coin on the right is a silver denarius minted in the reign of Trajan, from A.D. 98 to 117. It shows the emperor's head and part of a Latin inscription. (Image credit: Johan Rönnby)


Archaeologists are baffled but excited by the discovery of two silver coins from the Roman Empire on a remote island in the Baltic Sea, halfway between Sweden and Estonia.

No clues reveal how the coins got there, but they may have been left by Norse traders, lost in a shipwreck or brought there on a Roman ship that voyaged to the far north.

Johan Rönnby(opens in new tab), an archaeologist at Södertörn University in Stockholm, was part of the team that found the coins with metal detectors in March, at a beach site marked by old fireplaces on the island of Gotska Sandön.


"We were so happy," he told Live Science. "We have this site, but we don't know what it is. But now that we have the coins there, it makes it even more interesting to continue to excavate it."


The two silver coins found on the island are both Roman "denarii"one from the reign of the emperor Trajan, between A.D. 98 and 117, and the other from the reign of the emperor Antoninus Pius, between A.D. 138 and 161. They each weigh less than an eighth of an ounce (4 grams) and would have represented about a day's pay for a laborer when they were minted.

Denarii were the standard coin of ancient Rome, and their name survives today in the word for "money" in several Latin-based languages, such as "denaro" in Italian and "dinero" in Spanish.

Rönnby said coins from the Roman Empire could have stayed in circulation for a long time, because the silver they contained always remained valuable; and they might have been brought to Gotska Sandön by Norse traders who had taken shelter there from storms at sea.

But it's also possible they were carried there by survivors from a shipwreck: The waters around the island are notoriously dangerous, and the area is littered with wrecks, he said.

Another possibility is that the coins were taken to Gotska Sandön by Romans on a Roman ship, though no records of such a voyage into the Baltic exist. ...

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...n-shipwreck-island-has-archaeologists-baffled
Could it be possible that they were brought to the island in much later years by someone who collected ancient coins simply as a pastime?.
 
Earliest known diving bell.

A copper dome recovered from the bottom of the ocean may be the remains of a 17th-century primitive submarine known as a diving bell — one of the world's first, and the earliest ever found.

The dome was found in 1980 near the 160-foot-deep (50 meters) shipwreck of the Santa Margarita, a Spanish treasure galleon that sank in 1622 in the Florida Straits, about 40 miles (65 km) west of Key West.

The discoverers assumed the circular object was an oversized cooking cauldron, and it's been housed ever since at the Mel Fisher Museum in Sebastian, Florida.


We see a the green copper drum-shaped object leaning against a building.


Maritime archaeologists now think the object was the apex of a 17th century diving bell used in an early attempt to salvage treasure from the wreck. (Image credit: Mel Fisher Museum, Sebastian)

But new research suggests the object may actually be the top of an early diving bell lost during a salvage of the treasure ship a few years after it sank. These primitive submarines were sometimes used by divers in shallow waters; they are often open at the bottom and filled with air.

"There's all these convergences of information, and they seem to all point in one direction," Sean Kingsley, a maritime archaeologist and editor of Wreckwatch magazine, told Live Science.


Image 1 of 3


The researchers think the diving bell was based on a 1606 design by the Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz, which was later used to gather pearls in Venezuela (left). A diving bell designed in 1616 by the German inventor Franz Kessler is also shown (right).

The researchers think the diving bell was based on a 1606 design by the Spanish inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz, which was later used to gather pearls in Venezuela (left). A diving bell designed in 1616 by the German inventor Franz Kessler is also shown (right).(Image credit: public domain)


Several designs for diving bells were produced in the 17th century; one of the most famous is this 1690 design by the English scientist Edmond Halley, who discovered Halley's Comet.

Several designs for diving bells were produced in the 17th century; one of the most famous is this 1690 design by the English scientist Edmond Halley, who discovered Halley's Comet.(Image credit: public domain)


The Santa Margarita was a Spanish treasure galleon that sank in a hurricane in the Florida Strait in 1622. Several early attempts were made to salvage treasure from the wreck, but its location was lost in later centuries.

The Santa Margarita was a Spanish treasure galleon that sank in a hurricane in the Florida Strait in 1622. Several early attempts were made to salvage treasure from the wreck, but its location was lost in later centuries.(Image credit: Model by Daniel P. O’Neall, photo © Carol Tedesco)

Kingsley and maritime archaeologist Jim Sinclair — a member of the team that recovered the object — detailed their reasons for proposing the artifact is a diving bell in the magazine's latest issue.

https://www.livescience.com/archaeo...sed-to-salvage-treasure-from-a-sunken-galleon
 
Europe's oldest known shipboard cannon found.



Shipboard cannon found off the Swedish coast may be the oldest in Europe


Credit: Bo Niklasson/Bohusläns museum An international research team led by maritime archaeologist Staffan von Arbin of the University of Gothenburg has studied what might be Europe's oldest shipboard cannon. The cannon was found in the sea off Marstrand on the Swedish west coast and dates back to the 14th century.

The findings from the interdisciplinary study contribute new knowledge about the early development of artillery on land and at sea, but also bears witness to a troubled period for seafarers as well as coastal populations.

The small, muzzle-loading cast copper-alloy cannon, found by a recreational diver at a depth of 20 meters in the sea off Marstrand, is believed to come from a shipwreck. The researchers conclude that it is a shipboard cannon, and not a cannon that was being transported as cargo, because it still had parts of a charge left in its powder chamber when it was found. This means the cannon was loaded and ready for use in combat at the time it ended up on the sea floor.

"Thanks to the preserved remains of the charge, it has been possible to use radiocarbon dating to establish the age of the find," says Staffan von Arbin, maritime archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg.

"The study's findings show that the Marstrand cannon is probably from the 14th century, making it one of the oldest artillery pieces ever found in Europe."

https://phys.org/news/2023-09-shipboard-cannon-swedish-coast-oldest.html
 
Diver’s huge discovery of ancient coins off coast of Italy hints at hidden shipwreck

30,000 to 50,000 large bronze coins dating back to the fourth century AD have been found by a member of the public during a dive off the coast of Sardinia, Italy—a discovery that could point to the presence of a shipwreck, according to the Italian culture ministry.

The diver spotted some “metal remains” in shallow water near the town of Arzachena, the ministry said in a statement Saturday. These turned out to be “follis”—Roman bronze or copper coins also later used as Byzantine currency.

All the coins retrieved are in a “rare state of preservation,” with only four damaged yet still legible. According to the statement, the coins date from 324 to 340 CE and were produced by mints across the Roman empire.
1699397196747.png

 
Colombia looks to raise the ‘holy grail of shipwrecks’ possibly worth billions

'The Colombia culture minister, Juan David Correa, said the first attempts will be made between April and May, depending on ocean conditions in the Caribbean. Correa pledged it would be a scientific expedition.

“This is an archaeological wreck, not a treasure,” Correa said following a meeting with President Gustavo Petro. “This is an opportunity for us to become a country at the forefront of underwater archaeological research.”

But the ship is believed to hold 11m gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo from Spanish-controlled colonies, which could be worth billions of dollars if recovered.'

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/21/san-jose-shipwreck-recovery-treasure-colombia-spain
 
As legal quarrels continue, researchers want to carry out an archaeological and anthropological survey of the wreck,

The San José was a galleon ship owned by King Philip V of Spain (1683–1746) in the 18th century. It sailed from Portobelo in present-day Panama to Cartagena in Colombia in 1708.

The ship was sunk—still laden with treasure including 11 million gold and silver coins, emeralds and other precious cargo—during the Battle of Barú (also known as Wager's Action), part of the War of the Spanish Succession. This war was between Spain and France on one side, and Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and other European allies on the other.

The search for the San José and its treasure, sunk 600 meters deep, has now become possible thanks to advances in remotely operated underwater vehicle technology. The ship is now in the process of being pulled up from the sea floor. But who is entitled to San José's riches?

In 1979, the US salvage company Sea Search Armada made an exclusive agreement with Colombia to divide the proceeds of the San José 50:50. They had bought out the Glocca Morra Company which discovered what was thought to be the wreck of the San José in 1982.

In 2007, the US Supreme Court ruled that Colombia holds the rights to items deemed to be "national cultural patrimony". Anything else will be halved between the US salvage company Sea Search Armada and Colombia. Ownership of each item would probably have to be decided by independent experts.

However, in 2015, Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, challenged the location Sea Search Armada's suspected held the San José wreck. He confirmed that the San José's true location had been found by the Colombian navy—with the help of British maritime archaeology consultants and the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—in Colombian waters.

Spain and Peru have also claimed ownership, since the San José was a Spanish ship carrying wealth created by enslaved indigenous Peruvian workers. The descendants of the indigenous Bolivian Qhara Qhara people and enslaved African workers in New Granada, who were forced to mine precious metals, have also made a claim. ...

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-sunken-treasure-san-jos-shipwreck.html
 
Sank almost 300 years ago.

A wrecked warship discovered decades ago off the Florida Keys has been identified as a British frigate that sank in the 18th century.

National Park Service archaeologists used new research to determine that the wreckage first spotted in 1993 near Dry Tortugas National Park is the HMS Tyger, the agency said.

The findings were recently published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.

The HMS Tyger was a Fourth-Rate, 50-gun frigate built in 1647. It sank in 1742 after running aground on the reefs of the Dry Tortugas while on patrol in the War of Jenkins Ear between Britain and Spain.

Sunken Ship Florida

A diver identifies a ‘broad arrow’ marking on a copper barrel band (Brett Seymour/National Park Service via AP)

“This discovery highlights the importance of preservation in place as future generations of archaeologists, armed with more advanced technologies and research tools, are able to re-examine sites and make new discoveries,” maritime archaeologist Josh Marano said.

https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/s...-as-18th-century-british-frigate-1604427.html
 

Grave slabs recovered from England's oldest shipwreck​


A diver at the sea bed posing with a grey triangular stone bearing a circular gothic cross motif


The grave slabs will undergo conservation before going on display.


A number of grave slabs from England's oldest known shipwreck have been recovered by maritime archaeologists.

The remains of the 13th Century Mortar Wreck were discovered in Poole Bay, off Dorset, in 2020.

Cauldrons, cups, pottery and kitchen objects have already been brought to the surface.

A team from Bournemouth University has returned to the site to raise the carved slabs, along with stone mortars - made for grinding flour.
Dr Derek Pitman, head of archaeology at the university, said the wreck was "really well preserved".

"It was full of stone mortars and burial slabs. I've never seen anything like it," he said.
"It probably hit some choppy waters as it was leaving the harbour.

"It's a substantial ship and had a relatively large cargo."

A diver at the sea bed posing with a gravestone stone



Dr Pitman said it was believed the stone was brought overland from the southern Purbeck area to Poole Harbour where it was loaded on the ship but, when it sailed out to Studland Beach, it sank.

In 2022, the Mortar Wreck was given protected status making it the oldest protected wreck in England.

Its timbers date from between 1242 and 1265. Before it was found, there were no known wrecks of seagoing ships dating from the 11th to 14th Centuries in English waters.

Dr Pitman said: "I've been privileged to see them bringing things up from the ship.

"Bringing up mortars was a fairly straightforward process but they were out with a monstrous barge anchored to the sea bed, bringing up huge crates with these massive Purbeck stone slabs."

The objects will undergo conservation work. They will eventually go on display in Poole Museum which is currently closed for a £4.3m redevelopment.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxee77e88jmo
 

Now they've found the Quest. OK, it didn't sink until long after his death but it was his last ship.

Explorer Shackleton's last ship found on ocean floor​

RCGS Sidescan sonar image of Quest on seafloor
RCGS
A sonar image of the sunken vessel. It went down on 5 May 1962

Wreck hunters have found the ship on which the famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage. The vessel, called "Quest", has been located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack on board on 5 January 1922 while trying to reach the Antarctic. And although Quest continued in service until it sank in 1962, the earlier link with the explorer gives it great historic significance.

The British-Irish adventurer is celebrated for his exploits in Antarctica at a time when very few people had visited the frozen wilderness.

"His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south," said renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who directed the successful search operation.

"Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon," he told BBC News.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvv2w2e69go
 
Archaeologists Recover 900 Artifacts From Ming Dynasty Shipwrecks in South China Sea

Underwater archaeologists in China have recovered more than 900 artifacts from two merchant vessels that sank to the bottom of the South China Sea during the Ming dynasty.

The ships are located roughly a mile below the surface some 93 miles southeast of the island of Hainan. They are situated about 14 miles apart from one another.

666b96ffc6d0868f1ea96dd8.jpeg


During three phases over the past year, researchers hauled up 890 objects from the first vessel, including copper coins, pottery and porcelain, according to a statement from China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA). That’s just a small fraction of the more than 10,000 items found at the site. Archaeologists suspect the vessel was transporting porcelain from Jingdezhen, China, when it sank.

The team recovered 38 items from the second ship, including shells, deer antlers, porcelain, pottery and ebony logs that likely originated from somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Archaeologists think the ships operated during different parts of the Ming dynasty, which lasted from 1368 to 1644.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...asty-shipwrecks-in-south-china-sea-180984564/

maximus otter
 
Energy company finds earliest deep-sea shipwreck in the world, and it's Canaanite

An energy company surveying the Mediterranean seafloor has discovered the earliest shipwreck ever found in the deep sea anywhere in the world: a Canaanite merchant vessel that sank 3,400 to 3,300 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Thursday. Moreover, it designed and sent down a specially kitted robot to retrieve samples.

43331.jpg


The wreck was found a year ago at a depth of almost two kilometers (1.2 miles), 90 kilometers (55 miles) off the Israeli coast, in the middle of the sea – which was startling in and of itself. Either it was very lost or the ancients had navigational skills we weren't aware of, the IAA team says.

While the seafloors of the world are littered with shipwrecks, this is the earliest found in the deep sea from that time. In fact, until now we hadn't been confident the ancients around the Mediterranean intentionally crossed the sea at all, as opposed to sailing along the coasts.

Based on the way its cargo with hundreds of pottery jars remained in position more than three millennia, the prehistoric ship apparently foundered quite suddenly.

To be clear, it isn't the ship that Energean found, it's the cargo: hundreds of jars. Wooden beams may still lie below them, but any that had been above the sand are long gone. The jars lay in a heap about six meters by ten, not scattering at all.

43330.jpg


"The cargo had been closed in a chamber in the ship," Sharvit speculates. If the ship had capsized, the pots would have fallen out, but we see it didn't. They were still lying like in their chambers in the ship. The sonar showed the lines separating them – we even thought we had the ribs of the ship."

What had been in the jars? We may never know because they didn't scatter, but their contents are apparently gone and replaced by sediment. Probably eaten by sea creatures. But they hope to detect traces of foodstuffs or pollen or anything that could help nail down the nature of the goods – wine, olive oil, dried figs or other fruits.

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology...anaanite/00000190-30c6-d39e-a999-76ce580f0000

maximus otter
 
Energy company finds earliest deep-sea shipwreck in the world, and it's Canaanite

An energy company surveying the Mediterranean seafloor has discovered the earliest shipwreck ever found in the deep sea anywhere in the world: a Canaanite merchant vessel that sank 3,400 to 3,300 years ago, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Thursday. Moreover, it designed and sent down a specially kitted robot to retrieve samples.

43331.jpg


The wreck was found a year ago at a depth of almost two kilometers (1.2 miles), 90 kilometers (55 miles) off the Israeli coast, in the middle of the sea – which was startling in and of itself. Either it was very lost or the ancients had navigational skills we weren't aware of, the IAA team says.

While the seafloors of the world are littered with shipwrecks, this is the earliest found in the deep sea from that time. In fact, until now we hadn't been confident the ancients around the Mediterranean intentionally crossed the sea at all, as opposed to sailing along the coasts.

Based on the way its cargo with hundreds of pottery jars remained in position more than three millennia, the prehistoric ship apparently foundered quite suddenly.

To be clear, it isn't the ship that Energean found, it's the cargo: hundreds of jars. Wooden beams may still lie below them, but any that had been above the sand are long gone. The jars lay in a heap about six meters by ten, not scattering at all.

43330.jpg


"The cargo had been closed in a chamber in the ship," Sharvit speculates. If the ship had capsized, the pots would have fallen out, but we see it didn't. They were still lying like in their chambers in the ship. The sonar showed the lines separating them – we even thought we had the ribs of the ship."

What had been in the jars? We may never know because they didn't scatter, but their contents are apparently gone and replaced by sediment. Probably eaten by sea creatures. But they hope to detect traces of foodstuffs or pollen or anything that could help nail down the nature of the goods – wine, olive oil, dried figs or other fruits.

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology...anaanite/00000190-30c6-d39e-a999-76ce580f0000

maximus otter

The wreck was found a year ago at a depth of almost two kilometers (1.2 miles), 90 kilometers (55 miles) off the Israeli coast, in the middle of the sea – which was startling in and of itself. Either it was very lost or the ancients had navigational skills we weren't aware of, the IAA team says.

(Jerusalem Post) “Based on these two [findings], the academic assumption until now was that trade in that time was executed by safely flitting from port to port, hugging the coastline within eye contact. The discovery of this boat now changes our entire understanding of ancient mariner abilities: It is the very first to be found at such a great distance with no line of sight to any landmass.”

The Haaretz version gives a much better version than that of the Post, which doesn't seem to consider that there could have been an almighty cock up, navigation wise!
 
Once you pop you just can't stop.

100 bottles of champagne found in 19th Century wreck​

Tomasz Stachura / Baltictech A shipwreck on the bottom of the sea in which old champagne bottles can be seen in the middle
Tomasz Stachura / Baltictech
When divers in the Baltic Sea first saw the wreck on the sonar, they thought it was a fishing boat.

But when they went to investigate, they found a 19th Century sailing ship, "loaded to the sides" with champagne, wine, mineral water and porcelain. They counted more than 100 bottles of champagne in the wreck, off the coast of Sweden.

And now Tomasz Stachura, of Polish diving group Baltitech, believes the shipment could have been destined for a Russian tsar. Baltitech, which specialises in exploring shipwrecks in the Baltic, described the find as "treasure".

Mr Stachura, leader of the team, said: "I've been a diver for 40 years. From time to time, you see one or two bottles. But I've never seen crates with bottles of alcohol, and baskets of water, like this."

The find was made about 20 nautical miles (37km) south of the Swedish island of Oland. Two divers had said they would do "a quick dive" but then were gone for nearly two hours.

"So we already knew that there was something very interesting on the bottom," Mr Stachura added.

The clay water bottles, showing the brand name of German company Selters, helped them date the wreck to 1850 to 1867.

While champagne would be of more interest to many today, mineral water was an exclusive product "treated almost like medicine" which "only found its way to royal tables", said Mr Stachura. "Its value was so precious that transports were escorted by the police."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51y85ern11o
 
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