Shipwrecks & Sunken Treasure
- Thread starter MrRING
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GNC
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There was an article in The Herald today about a boat discovered yesterday off the coast of Scotland riddled with bullet holes and with nobody aboard, and no sign of what had happened to the crew. They called it a modern day Mary Celeste. Can I find anything at all about this online? Nope. Seems it's disappeared altogether.
GNC
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Ah-ha! Tracked it down!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-23163287
There's a picture of it at the link. Also, further down it says:
So it might be part of that exercise.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-h ... s-23163287
There's a picture of it at the link. Also, further down it says:
So it might be part of that exercise.
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Shiver me timbers, pieces of eight from West Cornwall shipwreck sold at auction
7:00am Sunday 24th February 2013 in News .
The 17th Century Cob and piece of eight were recovered from the wreck of HMS Association, lost at sea in 1707.
Sold by Hanson's Auctioneers in Derbyshire the coins were found after the ship, which launched from Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697 and fought at capture of Gibraltar, was dredged up 300 years later in 1967.
One was a 17th century ‘COB,’ a Spanish currency. Unusually shaped, this coin details the history of Spain, as this currency was cut crudely into shapes of an accurate weight, in preparation for its melting down and using in jewellery.
Also uncovered from the wreck was an example of the infamous pieces of eight. As the world’s first global currency these were used across the vast Spanish Empire.
These coins have featured in popular culture for centuries, often associated with merciless battles on the seven seas. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Long John Silver’s parrot had been trained to cry out “Pieces of eight!” while in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe sells his native companion Xury for sixty pieces of eight.
They also popped up in the more recent Pirates of the Caribbean.
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... on/?ref=mr
HMS Association was part of a famous disaster in 1707 - four ships of a returning British fleet under Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell were wrecked on the Scilly Isles, and 2000 lives were lost.
7:00am Sunday 24th February 2013 in News .
The 17th Century Cob and piece of eight were recovered from the wreck of HMS Association, lost at sea in 1707.
Sold by Hanson's Auctioneers in Derbyshire the coins were found after the ship, which launched from Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697 and fought at capture of Gibraltar, was dredged up 300 years later in 1967.
One was a 17th century ‘COB,’ a Spanish currency. Unusually shaped, this coin details the history of Spain, as this currency was cut crudely into shapes of an accurate weight, in preparation for its melting down and using in jewellery.
Also uncovered from the wreck was an example of the infamous pieces of eight. As the world’s first global currency these were used across the vast Spanish Empire.
These coins have featured in popular culture for centuries, often associated with merciless battles on the seven seas. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Long John Silver’s parrot had been trained to cry out “Pieces of eight!” while in Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Crusoe sells his native companion Xury for sixty pieces of eight.
They also popped up in the more recent Pirates of the Caribbean.
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... on/?ref=mr
HMS Association was part of a famous disaster in 1707 - four ships of a returning British fleet under Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell were wrecked on the Scilly Isles, and 2000 lives were lost.
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Historic shipwrecks lost in English seas to be surveyed
The site of a shipwreck whose crew was rescued by Grace Darling is one of 88 lost wrecks in the seas around England to be investigated by archaeologists.
Nine people were rescued by her and her father when SS Forfarshire sank off the Northumberland coast in 1838.
Now divers are to explore dozens of wrecks lost before 1840 in a bid to find the most important historic sites.
The project, which begins late August, includes vessels which sank off the Isles of Scilly and the Cumbrian coast.
The aim of the project, being carried out by English Heritage on the 40th anniversary of the Protection of Wrecks Act, is to give the most important sites protected status.
Maritime designation adviser Mark Dunkley, said: "Watercraft tell a fascinating story of England's military, industrial and social history, but very little is known about those that existed before 1840.
"That's why we are taking the initiative to investigate pre-1840 ships and boats, from wooden sailing vessels to the very start of iron hulled steam ships.
"We want to help ensure that future generations can understand and value these important sites."
The oldest ship to be examined is a possible Tudor wreck on Walney Island near Morecambe Bay, which is thought to be an armed vessel similar to the Mary Rose.
Other wrecks include Sir Walter Raleigh's lost vessel The Flying Joan, thought to have sunk off the Isles of Scilly in 1617 and an early barge called a Mersey flat located in the north-west.
Wrecks predating 1840 make up just 4% of the 37,000 known and dated sites, with most post-1914.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23357523
The site of a shipwreck whose crew was rescued by Grace Darling is one of 88 lost wrecks in the seas around England to be investigated by archaeologists.
Nine people were rescued by her and her father when SS Forfarshire sank off the Northumberland coast in 1838.
Now divers are to explore dozens of wrecks lost before 1840 in a bid to find the most important historic sites.
The project, which begins late August, includes vessels which sank off the Isles of Scilly and the Cumbrian coast.
The aim of the project, being carried out by English Heritage on the 40th anniversary of the Protection of Wrecks Act, is to give the most important sites protected status.
Maritime designation adviser Mark Dunkley, said: "Watercraft tell a fascinating story of England's military, industrial and social history, but very little is known about those that existed before 1840.
"That's why we are taking the initiative to investigate pre-1840 ships and boats, from wooden sailing vessels to the very start of iron hulled steam ships.
"We want to help ensure that future generations can understand and value these important sites."
The oldest ship to be examined is a possible Tudor wreck on Walney Island near Morecambe Bay, which is thought to be an armed vessel similar to the Mary Rose.
Other wrecks include Sir Walter Raleigh's lost vessel The Flying Joan, thought to have sunk off the Isles of Scilly in 1617 and an early barge called a Mersey flat located in the north-west.
Wrecks predating 1840 make up just 4% of the 37,000 known and dated sites, with most post-1914.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23357523
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Marine exploration firm recovers tonnes of silver from the ocean depths: PICTURE
1:00pm Friday 26th July 2013 in News
Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company with strong links to Falmouth, has recovered a further 61 tons of silver bullion this month from a wreck site, 300 miles south west of Ireland, working at a depth of nearly three miles.
This recovery of bullion from the Gairsoppa, a 412-foot British cargo ship that sank in February 1941, consists of 1,574 silver ingots weighing about 1,100 ounces each or almost 1.8 million troy ounces in total, sets a new record for the deepest and largest precious metal recovery from a shipwreck. The silver has been transported to a secure facility in the United Kingdom.
Including the silver recovered in 2012, Odyssey has now recovered 2,792 silver ingots from the Gairsoppa or more than 99% of the insured silver reported to be aboard the Gairsoppa when she sank.
Under the terms of Odyssey's contract with the UK Department for Transport, which follows standard commercial practices, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net salved value of the cargo. The contract was awarded to Odyssey following a competitive tender process.
Sources, including Lloyd's record of War Losses, indicate additional uninsured government-owned silver may have been aboard the Gairsoppa when she sank, but to date no uninsured silver has been located.
"This was an extremely complex recovery which was complicated by the sheer size and structure of the Gairsoppa as well as its depth nearly three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic," commented Greg Stemm, Odyssey's chief executive officer. "To add to the complications, the remaining insured silver was stored in a small compartment that was very difficult to access.”
The recovery operations were conducted from the Seabed Worker mobilised with 5,000 metre depth-rated remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and heavy launch and recovery systems. Additional specialized deep-ocean equipment was mobilized by Odyssey on the ship for the project.
The Seabed Worker has returned to sea to continue Odyssey's 2013 North Atlantic Expedition, which includes the Mantola, a British cargo vessel lost in 1917 and found in 2011 by Odyssey, as well as the Gairsoppa.
The Mantola reportedly carried approximately 600,000 troy ounces of silver insured under the UK War Risk insurance program.
Odyssey discovered the Gairsoppa in 2011. The salvage operation was filmed in 2012. The programme will be broadcast in August on Channel 5 in the UK
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... RE/?ref=mr
1:00pm Friday 26th July 2013 in News
Odyssey Marine Exploration, a company with strong links to Falmouth, has recovered a further 61 tons of silver bullion this month from a wreck site, 300 miles south west of Ireland, working at a depth of nearly three miles.
This recovery of bullion from the Gairsoppa, a 412-foot British cargo ship that sank in February 1941, consists of 1,574 silver ingots weighing about 1,100 ounces each or almost 1.8 million troy ounces in total, sets a new record for the deepest and largest precious metal recovery from a shipwreck. The silver has been transported to a secure facility in the United Kingdom.
Including the silver recovered in 2012, Odyssey has now recovered 2,792 silver ingots from the Gairsoppa or more than 99% of the insured silver reported to be aboard the Gairsoppa when she sank.
Under the terms of Odyssey's contract with the UK Department for Transport, which follows standard commercial practices, Odyssey will retain 80% of the net salved value of the cargo. The contract was awarded to Odyssey following a competitive tender process.
Sources, including Lloyd's record of War Losses, indicate additional uninsured government-owned silver may have been aboard the Gairsoppa when she sank, but to date no uninsured silver has been located.
"This was an extremely complex recovery which was complicated by the sheer size and structure of the Gairsoppa as well as its depth nearly three miles below the surface of the North Atlantic," commented Greg Stemm, Odyssey's chief executive officer. "To add to the complications, the remaining insured silver was stored in a small compartment that was very difficult to access.”
The recovery operations were conducted from the Seabed Worker mobilised with 5,000 metre depth-rated remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and heavy launch and recovery systems. Additional specialized deep-ocean equipment was mobilized by Odyssey on the ship for the project.
The Seabed Worker has returned to sea to continue Odyssey's 2013 North Atlantic Expedition, which includes the Mantola, a British cargo vessel lost in 1917 and found in 2011 by Odyssey, as well as the Gairsoppa.
The Mantola reportedly carried approximately 600,000 troy ounces of silver insured under the UK War Risk insurance program.
Odyssey discovered the Gairsoppa in 2011. The salvage operation was filmed in 2012. The programme will be broadcast in August on Channel 5 in the UK
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... RE/?ref=mr
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I couldn't find any threads about Longitude, so I'll add this here:rynner2 said:
A good audio slideshow about the problem of longitude - Simon Schaffer narrates:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23514521
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Antarctic: Where 'zombies' thrive and shipwrecks are preserved
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
Ernest Shackleton's famous ship, the Endurance, which he had to abandon in 1915 on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition, is probably still in very good condition on the ocean floor.
This is one conclusion from research that studied how sunken wood degrades in southern polar waters.
Experiments that submerged planks for over a year found they returned to the surface in near-pristine condition.
Scientists point to the absence in the region of wood-boring "ship worms".
Anywhere else in the world, these molluscs would normally devour sunken wood rapidly.
But Adrian Glover from London's Natural History Museum says the currents that circle the Antarctic likely prevent the organisms from getting anywhere near the continent.
It means the remains of old wooden shipwrecks, such as the oak- and pine-constructed Endurance, which was pierced by ice, may be remarkably well preserved in their water graves at the bottom of the sea.
"I think it's a reasonable hypothesis to suggest Endurance is still in good condition, certainly based on our experiments and what we know about low microbial rates of degradation in the cold Antarctic deep sea," Dr Glover told BBC News.
"Marine archaeologists and historians have long dreamt of finding the wreck and recovering artefacts from Shackleton's expedition. But I'm interested in how deep-sea ecosystems function and how they recycle large organic inputs. All that oak and pinewood down there would be an amazing experiment in itself, and it would be fascinating to see it."
Dr Glover's international team reports its latest Antarctic research in this week's edition of the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
The scientists recount how they put samples of whale bone and wood on platforms and then lowered them to the sea bed.
They wanted to study the activity of some of the strangest creatures in the deep ocean.
These are the Osedax, or "zombie", worms that consume the skeletons of dead cetaceans, and their wood-eating Xylophaga bivalve mollusc cousins.
The team had a simple idea to test: that Osedax should be abundant in a region that has relatively high populations of whales, but that Xylophaga ship worms ought to be extremely rare. The latter's scarcity should be expected given that no significant tree growth has occurred in the Antarctic for millions of years, which means the amount of wood going into the Southern Ocean is minimal and therefore insufficient to sustain mollusc populations.
And this is indeed what the team found.
After 14 months under water, the bones on the platforms were covered in zombie worms, including two previously undescribed species, but the wood was untouched.
The results support the idea that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which sweeps around the White Continent, acts as a barrier to Xylophaga, preventing their larvae from entering the region from other ocean basins.
The study has also provided new insights into the evolutionary history of Osedax by comparing all the whale-bone-eating species now known to science with other, similar taxonomic groups.
It points to the zombie worms being most closely related to a clade of tiny mud-dwelling creatures that use specialist bacteria to consume chemicals in oxygen-poor sediments.
"Previous research had suggested that Osedax had diverged from groups that inhabited sulphidic hydrothermal vents and cold hydrocarbon seeps," explained Dr Glover. "But as we added in more taxa and more genetic evidence, it implied they are more closely related to these mud-dwelling 'beard' worms. And that makes sense that the ancestor should be a sediment-dweller given what we think about the distribution of whale bones on the sea floor."
Prof Lloyd Peck from the British Antarctic Survey was not involved in the study.
He said the cold Southern Ocean around the continent presented too great a challenge for a wide variety of organisms that could be found elsewhere in the world.
It might be that the way Xylophaga species digested wood simply did not function sufficiently well for the molluscs to establish themselves in the region - even if their larvae could cross the ACC and find rare sources of wood to colonise.
"It takes animals in the Antarctic marine environment a very, very long time to process a meal," he told BBC News.
"These wood-boring molluscs use enzymes that break down the wood externally and then they digest it. It could just be that things operate so slowly that this way of life doesn't work."
Shackleton's Endurance is thought to have settled about 3km (10,000ft) below the Weddell Sea surface. A number of groups have talked about trying to locate it.
David Mearns, from the UK-based company Blue Water Recoveries, is putting together one such plan. He said the new research reinforced his view that the wreck was in a good state.
"She was badly holed in the stern by large chunks of ice that broke through the ship's sides below the water line and caused her to flood," he explained.
"As the damage was too bad to be repairable, Sir Ernest was left with no other option than to abandon ship and set up camps on the ice. While Endurance will be a wreck, I expect to find her hull largely intact. She would have suffered additional impact damage when hitting the seabed, but I don't expect this to be too bad."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23682521
By Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent, BBC News
Ernest Shackleton's famous ship, the Endurance, which he had to abandon in 1915 on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition, is probably still in very good condition on the ocean floor.
This is one conclusion from research that studied how sunken wood degrades in southern polar waters.
Experiments that submerged planks for over a year found they returned to the surface in near-pristine condition.
Scientists point to the absence in the region of wood-boring "ship worms".
Anywhere else in the world, these molluscs would normally devour sunken wood rapidly.
But Adrian Glover from London's Natural History Museum says the currents that circle the Antarctic likely prevent the organisms from getting anywhere near the continent.
It means the remains of old wooden shipwrecks, such as the oak- and pine-constructed Endurance, which was pierced by ice, may be remarkably well preserved in their water graves at the bottom of the sea.
"I think it's a reasonable hypothesis to suggest Endurance is still in good condition, certainly based on our experiments and what we know about low microbial rates of degradation in the cold Antarctic deep sea," Dr Glover told BBC News.
"Marine archaeologists and historians have long dreamt of finding the wreck and recovering artefacts from Shackleton's expedition. But I'm interested in how deep-sea ecosystems function and how they recycle large organic inputs. All that oak and pinewood down there would be an amazing experiment in itself, and it would be fascinating to see it."
Dr Glover's international team reports its latest Antarctic research in this week's edition of the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.
The scientists recount how they put samples of whale bone and wood on platforms and then lowered them to the sea bed.
They wanted to study the activity of some of the strangest creatures in the deep ocean.
These are the Osedax, or "zombie", worms that consume the skeletons of dead cetaceans, and their wood-eating Xylophaga bivalve mollusc cousins.
The team had a simple idea to test: that Osedax should be abundant in a region that has relatively high populations of whales, but that Xylophaga ship worms ought to be extremely rare. The latter's scarcity should be expected given that no significant tree growth has occurred in the Antarctic for millions of years, which means the amount of wood going into the Southern Ocean is minimal and therefore insufficient to sustain mollusc populations.
And this is indeed what the team found.
After 14 months under water, the bones on the platforms were covered in zombie worms, including two previously undescribed species, but the wood was untouched.
The results support the idea that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which sweeps around the White Continent, acts as a barrier to Xylophaga, preventing their larvae from entering the region from other ocean basins.
The study has also provided new insights into the evolutionary history of Osedax by comparing all the whale-bone-eating species now known to science with other, similar taxonomic groups.
It points to the zombie worms being most closely related to a clade of tiny mud-dwelling creatures that use specialist bacteria to consume chemicals in oxygen-poor sediments.
"Previous research had suggested that Osedax had diverged from groups that inhabited sulphidic hydrothermal vents and cold hydrocarbon seeps," explained Dr Glover. "But as we added in more taxa and more genetic evidence, it implied they are more closely related to these mud-dwelling 'beard' worms. And that makes sense that the ancestor should be a sediment-dweller given what we think about the distribution of whale bones on the sea floor."
Prof Lloyd Peck from the British Antarctic Survey was not involved in the study.
He said the cold Southern Ocean around the continent presented too great a challenge for a wide variety of organisms that could be found elsewhere in the world.
It might be that the way Xylophaga species digested wood simply did not function sufficiently well for the molluscs to establish themselves in the region - even if their larvae could cross the ACC and find rare sources of wood to colonise.
"It takes animals in the Antarctic marine environment a very, very long time to process a meal," he told BBC News.
"These wood-boring molluscs use enzymes that break down the wood externally and then they digest it. It could just be that things operate so slowly that this way of life doesn't work."
Shackleton's Endurance is thought to have settled about 3km (10,000ft) below the Weddell Sea surface. A number of groups have talked about trying to locate it.
David Mearns, from the UK-based company Blue Water Recoveries, is putting together one such plan. He said the new research reinforced his view that the wreck was in a good state.
"She was badly holed in the stern by large chunks of ice that broke through the ship's sides below the water line and caused her to flood," he explained.
"As the damage was too bad to be repairable, Sir Ernest was left with no other option than to abandon ship and set up camps on the ice. While Endurance will be a wreck, I expect to find her hull largely intact. She would have suffered additional impact damage when hitting the seabed, but I don't expect this to be too bad."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23682521
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Poole Swash Channel Wreck: Rudder brought ashore
The rudder of a 17th Century merchant vessel shipwrecked off the Dorset coast is being brought ashore later.
The so-called Swash Channel Wreck was discovered in a sand and shingle bank outside Poole Harbour that was struck by a dredger in 1990.
Its 8.4m (28ft) rudder, carved with the image of a man's face, is being lifted onto Poole Quay by Bournemouth University marine archaeologists.
Little is known about the name and origins of the vessel and its crew.
Almost 80% of the port side of the Dutch ship has survived since it sank early in the 17th Century.
A £450,000 conservation project funded by English Heritage has already seen several parts of the ship raised, including rare examples of carved Baroque woodwork.
The rudder was raised from the wreck site in July and has been kept underwater at Poole's quayside.
It is due to be wrapped and taken to York for conservation and research work to be carried out on it.
The rudder is the last major piece due to be raised. The wreck has since been covered in sand to protect it from the seawater.
Along with other artefacts, it is due to go on show in Poole Museum next year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23731189
More on this here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23602554
The rudder of a 17th Century merchant vessel shipwrecked off the Dorset coast is being brought ashore later.
The so-called Swash Channel Wreck was discovered in a sand and shingle bank outside Poole Harbour that was struck by a dredger in 1990.
Its 8.4m (28ft) rudder, carved with the image of a man's face, is being lifted onto Poole Quay by Bournemouth University marine archaeologists.
Little is known about the name and origins of the vessel and its crew.
Almost 80% of the port side of the Dutch ship has survived since it sank early in the 17th Century.
A £450,000 conservation project funded by English Heritage has already seen several parts of the ship raised, including rare examples of carved Baroque woodwork.
The rudder was raised from the wreck site in July and has been kept underwater at Poole's quayside.
It is due to be wrapped and taken to York for conservation and research work to be carried out on it.
The rudder is the last major piece due to be raised. The wreck has since been covered in sand to protect it from the seawater.
Along with other artefacts, it is due to go on show in Poole Museum next year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23731189
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-23602554
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Silver salvage work stops after 1.8 million ounces dragged up from the deep
2:00pm Wednesday 21st August 2013 in News
Record breaking salvage work in the Atlantic to recover silver bullion from two British shipwrecks has been suspended for the year following a hugely successful three months long operation.
The Seabed Worker [pictured], the ship chartered by Odyssey to conduct the salvage job, paid a fleeting visit to Falmouth last week before heading off to Bergen on the completion of her charter. The ship had been working on the shipwrecks of the Gairsoppa and Mantola some 300 miles south west of southern Ireland.
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc, a pioneer in the field of deep-ocean exploration, has confirmed that the planned 90-day charter of the Seabed Worker for 2013 North Atlantic operations has been completed with outstanding results for the company.
The Odyssey team achieved a record recovery of 1.8 million troy ounces of silver from nearly three miles deep, bringing the total silver recovered from the Gairsoppa shipwreck to more than 3.2 million troy ounces.
Greg Stemm, Odyssey’s chief executive officer said: “This project will generate sufficient funding to support major upcoming shipwreck and mineral exploration projects.
“Newly developed technology was proven effective, including a specialised cutting tool that allowed access to secure compartments five decks down in a complicated steel shipwreck, which will be useful with targets in our current commodity shipwreck portfolio and opens up additional project opportunities.
“These results, along with planned monetisation of mineral exploration projects, put us in position to fund our scheduled exploration and recovery activities through this year and most of 2014.”
Mark Gordon, Odyssey president and COO added: The Gairsoppa project was followed by unprecedented work on the more complicated structure of the Mantola, using a newly developed precision cutting tool commissioned by Odyssey to gain entry into a storeroom on the fifth deck, down to where the silver is believed to be located.
“Although we were able to gain access to the target area and clear some of the other materials during this rotation extending the charter to complete clearing of this area did not make business sense given the current price of silver and the cost of continuing the charter.
“We plan to return to the Mantola in the future with upgraded versions of some of the technology we developed during this expedition.”
Odyssey may return to the Gairsoppa site as researchers onshore continue painstaking research of records to corroborate existing documents that suggest additional uninsured silver may still be onboard the cargo ship.
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... ep/?ref=mr
2:00pm Wednesday 21st August 2013 in News
Record breaking salvage work in the Atlantic to recover silver bullion from two British shipwrecks has been suspended for the year following a hugely successful three months long operation.
The Seabed Worker [pictured], the ship chartered by Odyssey to conduct the salvage job, paid a fleeting visit to Falmouth last week before heading off to Bergen on the completion of her charter. The ship had been working on the shipwrecks of the Gairsoppa and Mantola some 300 miles south west of southern Ireland.
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc, a pioneer in the field of deep-ocean exploration, has confirmed that the planned 90-day charter of the Seabed Worker for 2013 North Atlantic operations has been completed with outstanding results for the company.
The Odyssey team achieved a record recovery of 1.8 million troy ounces of silver from nearly three miles deep, bringing the total silver recovered from the Gairsoppa shipwreck to more than 3.2 million troy ounces.
Greg Stemm, Odyssey’s chief executive officer said: “This project will generate sufficient funding to support major upcoming shipwreck and mineral exploration projects.
“Newly developed technology was proven effective, including a specialised cutting tool that allowed access to secure compartments five decks down in a complicated steel shipwreck, which will be useful with targets in our current commodity shipwreck portfolio and opens up additional project opportunities.
“These results, along with planned monetisation of mineral exploration projects, put us in position to fund our scheduled exploration and recovery activities through this year and most of 2014.”
Mark Gordon, Odyssey president and COO added: The Gairsoppa project was followed by unprecedented work on the more complicated structure of the Mantola, using a newly developed precision cutting tool commissioned by Odyssey to gain entry into a storeroom on the fifth deck, down to where the silver is believed to be located.
“Although we were able to gain access to the target area and clear some of the other materials during this rotation extending the charter to complete clearing of this area did not make business sense given the current price of silver and the cost of continuing the charter.
“We plan to return to the Mantola in the future with upgraded versions of some of the technology we developed during this expedition.”
Odyssey may return to the Gairsoppa site as researchers onshore continue painstaking research of records to corroborate existing documents that suggest additional uninsured silver may still be onboard the cargo ship.
http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/10 ... ep/?ref=mr
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[video]
Florida family finds sunken treasure
Hunting for sunken treasure has finally paid off for one family after they found $300,000 of gold off the Florida coast.
Rich Schmitt and his family found Spanish gold chains and coins from the wreckage of a convoy of ships that sunk after being hit by a hurricane in 1715.
The state of Florida will take some of the gold for display in a museum.
Anne-Marie Tomchak reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23954855
Florida family finds sunken treasure
Hunting for sunken treasure has finally paid off for one family after they found $300,000 of gold off the Florida coast.
Rich Schmitt and his family found Spanish gold chains and coins from the wreckage of a convoy of ships that sunk after being hit by a hurricane in 1715.
The state of Florida will take some of the gold for display in a museum.
Anne-Marie Tomchak reports.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23954855
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Not many shipwrecks get to see the light of day again:
Historic clipper City of Adelaide 'floats again' for first time since 1991
Hundreds of people have watched in Irvine as the oldest surviving clipper ship in the world floated for the first time in more than 20 years.
The City of Adelaide has been on dry land at the Scottish Maritime Museum in North Ayrshire since being salvaged in 1992 after sinking in the River Clyde.
The vessel is now being moved to Australia.
A tug began to push the vessel, which has been loaded on to a pontoon barge, towards the sea.
The plan is to take the ship initially to London.
She will then be loaded into the hold of a giant cargo ship to be transported to Australia.
Some campaigners wanted City of Adelaide returned to Sunderland, where it was built in 1864, but lost out to a rival Australian bid.
The City of Adelaide was built on the River Wear to carry people emigrating to southern Australia.
In 1893 it became a hospital ship, but in 1924 was converted into a training ship at Irvine, and renamed HMS Carrick.
In 1991 the ship sank at the Princes Dock, Glasgow, and lay on the bottom of the River Clyde for a year before being raised and taken to Irvine.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-24009434
Historic clipper City of Adelaide 'floats again' for first time since 1991
Hundreds of people have watched in Irvine as the oldest surviving clipper ship in the world floated for the first time in more than 20 years.
The City of Adelaide has been on dry land at the Scottish Maritime Museum in North Ayrshire since being salvaged in 1992 after sinking in the River Clyde.
The vessel is now being moved to Australia.
A tug began to push the vessel, which has been loaded on to a pontoon barge, towards the sea.
The plan is to take the ship initially to London.
She will then be loaded into the hold of a giant cargo ship to be transported to Australia.
Some campaigners wanted City of Adelaide returned to Sunderland, where it was built in 1864, but lost out to a rival Australian bid.
The City of Adelaide was built on the River Wear to carry people emigrating to southern Australia.
In 1893 it became a hospital ship, but in 1924 was converted into a training ship at Irvine, and renamed HMS Carrick.
In 1991 the ship sank at the Princes Dock, Glasgow, and lay on the bottom of the River Clyde for a year before being raised and taken to Irvine.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-24009434
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City of Adelaide clipper: Protest targets Greenwich ceremonyrynner2 said:
Campaigners are due to stage a demonstration at a ceremony in London to rename the world's oldest surviving clipper ship.
The City of Adelaide - also known as The Carrick - was built in Sunderland in 1864 and is to be taken to Australia to become a tourist attraction.
The Duke of Edinburgh is to officially rename the vessel at a ceremony beside the Cutty Sark in Greenwich later.
A group from Sunderland wants the vessel returned to the River Wear.
The grade A-listed ship, which is five years older than the Cutty Sark, has lain on a Scottish slipway since 1992.
It is about to be moved to Australia by an Adelaide consortium which beat a group of Sunderland enthusiasts in a competition to secure the vessel in 2010.
The ship's rudder, which became detached from the main vessel several years ago, is already on display in Adelaide.
The Sunderland City of Adelaide Recovery Fund (Scarf) wants the vessel to return to its home port to be the centrepiece of a maritime heritage centre.
Peter Maddison, from Scarf, said: "We need her on Wearside to create jobs and reinforce the city's shipbuilding heritage.
"We are still hopeful our campaign will result in the City of Adelaide coming home."
In 1893 the vessel became a hospital ship, but in 1924 was converted into a training ship at Irvine, and renamed HMS Carrick.
In 1991 the ship sank at the Princes Dock, Glasgow, and lay on the bottom of the River Clyde for a year before being raised and taken to Irvine.
For years, it lay rotting on a slipway at the Scottish Maritime Museum, with the cost of repairs put in excess of £10m.
The Australian charity, Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Ltd (CSCOAL), took control of the ship last month.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-24564663
ramonmercado
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Deep dive recovers treasure, images at link.
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Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria wreck 'found'
A US underwater investigator has said he believes he has found the wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus's famed expedition.
Barry Clifford said evidence "strongly suggests" a ruin off Haiti's north coast is the Santa Maria.
Mr Clifford's team has measured and taken photos of the wreck.
He says he is working with the Haitian government to protect the site for a more detailed investigation.
The Santa Maria, along with the La Nina and La Pinta, were part of Columbus's expedition in 1492, which explored islands in the Caribbean in an attempt to find a westward passage to Asia.
The flagship was lost during the expedition, shortly before Columbus returned to Spain.
"All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus's famous flagship, the Santa Maria," said Mr Clifford.
"I am confident that a full excavation of the wreck will yield the first-ever detailed marine archaeological evidence of Columbus' discovery of America," he added.
Mr Clifford said he identified the potential location of the Santa Maria through earlier archaeological findings that pinpointed a likely location for Columbus's fort - a building that experts always thought was erected near to where the ship ran aground.
He also used information from the explorer's diary, and a recent diving mission near the site further burnished Mr Clifford's belief the wreck was the Santa Maria.
Mr Clifford told US broadcaster CNN the "smoking gun" was a cannon of 15th Century design found at the site.
A marine archaeologist who accompanied Mr Clifford on that mission told the newspaper there was "very compelling evidence" but an excavation of the site would be necessary to confirm the wreck's identity.
Further investigation will be supported by the government of Haiti and the History Channel, which plans to make a documentary programme about the wreck.
Mr Clifford is best known for the excavation of the first fullly verified pirate shipwreck, the Whydah.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27397579
A US underwater investigator has said he believes he has found the wreck of the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus's famed expedition.
Barry Clifford said evidence "strongly suggests" a ruin off Haiti's north coast is the Santa Maria.
Mr Clifford's team has measured and taken photos of the wreck.
He says he is working with the Haitian government to protect the site for a more detailed investigation.
The Santa Maria, along with the La Nina and La Pinta, were part of Columbus's expedition in 1492, which explored islands in the Caribbean in an attempt to find a westward passage to Asia.
The flagship was lost during the expedition, shortly before Columbus returned to Spain.
"All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus's famous flagship, the Santa Maria," said Mr Clifford.
"I am confident that a full excavation of the wreck will yield the first-ever detailed marine archaeological evidence of Columbus' discovery of America," he added.
Mr Clifford said he identified the potential location of the Santa Maria through earlier archaeological findings that pinpointed a likely location for Columbus's fort - a building that experts always thought was erected near to where the ship ran aground.
He also used information from the explorer's diary, and a recent diving mission near the site further burnished Mr Clifford's belief the wreck was the Santa Maria.
Mr Clifford told US broadcaster CNN the "smoking gun" was a cannon of 15th Century design found at the site.
A marine archaeologist who accompanied Mr Clifford on that mission told the newspaper there was "very compelling evidence" but an excavation of the site would be necessary to confirm the wreck's identity.
Further investigation will be supported by the government of Haiti and the History Channel, which plans to make a documentary programme about the wreck.
Mr Clifford is best known for the excavation of the first fullly verified pirate shipwreck, the Whydah.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27397579
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Southend's 17th Century shipwreck dive slowed by bad weather
Divers said they were hindered by bad weather as they began the excavation of a 17th Century shipwreck.
English Heritage has begun a two-year exploration of the London, a warship which sank off the Essex coast in 1665.
But high winds last week prevented the archaeologists from exploring the seabed off the coast of Southend-on-Sea for three of the planned six days.
The aim of the excavation is to recover artefacts from the "rapidly deteriorating" wreck.
English Heritage's marine archaeologist Mark Dunkley said: "We are hoping to recover some rare and well-preserved items which will provide a great insight into the English Navy during an unsettled time when Britain was emerging as a global power."
Test dives have so far recovered personal items such as leather shoes and navigational dividers, buckets, pots and cooking utensils, as well as ship fixtures and fittings.
The London was on its way from Chatham to The Hope, near Gravesend, Kent, when it blew up and sunk.
In 2005, it was rediscovered during works ahead of the London Gateway Port development in Thurrock, Essex.
It is on English Heritage's at risk register because its fragile remains were being exposed by shifting sediment levels on the seabed.
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology have been commissioned to undertake the excavation.
They are scheduled to dive again in June and July and hope to make up for last week's lost time with a further series of dives in August.
Finds recovered from the site will eventually be put on permanent display by Southend Museums Service.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-27590822
Divers said they were hindered by bad weather as they began the excavation of a 17th Century shipwreck.
English Heritage has begun a two-year exploration of the London, a warship which sank off the Essex coast in 1665.
But high winds last week prevented the archaeologists from exploring the seabed off the coast of Southend-on-Sea for three of the planned six days.
The aim of the excavation is to recover artefacts from the "rapidly deteriorating" wreck.
English Heritage's marine archaeologist Mark Dunkley said: "We are hoping to recover some rare and well-preserved items which will provide a great insight into the English Navy during an unsettled time when Britain was emerging as a global power."
Test dives have so far recovered personal items such as leather shoes and navigational dividers, buckets, pots and cooking utensils, as well as ship fixtures and fittings.
The London was on its way from Chatham to The Hope, near Gravesend, Kent, when it blew up and sunk.
In 2005, it was rediscovered during works ahead of the London Gateway Port development in Thurrock, Essex.
It is on English Heritage's at risk register because its fragile remains were being exposed by shifting sediment levels on the seabed.
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology have been commissioned to undertake the excavation.
They are scheduled to dive again in June and July and hope to make up for last week's lost time with a further series of dives in August.
Finds recovered from the site will eventually be put on permanent display by Southend Museums Service.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-27590822
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Poole Swash Channel Wreck: Artefacts go on showrynner2 said:
Salvaged items from a 17th Century merchant vessel shipwrecked off the Dorset coast have gone on display.
The so-called Swash Channel Wreck was found in a sand and shingle bank outside Poole Harbour after the bank was struck by a dredger in 1990.
Items including a carved merman and a replica of the rudder are among the highlights of the exhibition being held at Poole Museum.
Little is still known about the name and origins of the vessel and its crew.
A £450,000 conservation project funded by English Heritage has seen several parts of the ship raised, including rare examples of carved Baroque woodwork such as the moustached male head pictured above, which is part of a long rudder.
The 8.4m (28ft) rudder was lifted on to Poole Quay in 2013 and is currently undergoing conservation work by experts in York.
The two carvings of mermen, pictured below, are some of the rare survivals that would normally have been destroyed in the wrecking process or swept away.
It has been regarded by experts as the most significant maritime archaeology project since the raising of the Mary Rose in 1982.
Researchers at Bournemouth University have been attempting to discover more about the story behind the ship.
It is thought to have been an armed trading vessel heading for the Americas, but how it came to be resting on the seabed off Dorset remains unclear.
Among the theories are that the elaborate carvings on board, such as this one, could have made it top heavy, which contributed to its sinking.
Other speculation is it sank while it was attempting to reach the shelter of Studland Bay in bad weather.
Poole Museum manager Michael Spender described it as the "mystery shipwreck".
"There are still all these 'why' questions - why was the ship there and why was it so magnificent?
"The exhibition is a step on the way to understanding more about the ship," he said.
The remaining part of the wreck, some of which is shown here, has been sandbagged and remains under the water.
Almost 80% of the port side of the Dutch ship survived since it sank early in the 17th Century.
The Swash Channel Wreck exhibition is running at Poole Museum until March 2015.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-28466526
(Several large pics included.)
ramonmercado
CyberPunk
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BIG Story!
9 September 2014 Last updated at 17:48
Sir John Franklin: Fabled Arctic ship found
One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago has been found, Canada's prime minister says.
Stephen Harper said it was unclear which ship had been found, but photo evidence confirmed it was one of them.
Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration.
The Canadian government began searching for Franklin's ships in 2008 as part of a strategy to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which has recently become accessible to shipping because of melting Arctic ice.
"I am delighted to announce that this year's Victoria Strait expedition has solved one of Canada's greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum - or wind in our sails - necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew."
The find has been described as "the biggest archaeological discovery the world has seen since the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb almost 100 years ago" by a British archeologist, William Battersby, who has written extensively about the Franklin expedition.
"From the images it is clear that a huge amount of evidence will be preserved from the expedition, possibly even including the remains of the men and maybe, just possibly, some of their photographs," he said.
The loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror prompted one of largest searches in history, running from 1848 to 1859.
The mystery has gripped people for generations, in part because no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew.
Experts believe the ships were lost when they became locked in the ice near King William Island and that the crews abandoned them in a hopeless bid to reach safety.
Reports at the time from local Inuits say the men, desperate for food, resorted to cannibalism before they died.
Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them.
In total more than 50 expeditions joined the search.
Three bodies discovered over a century later in the 1980s were found to have a high lead content and to this day, many people believe the 129 crew members were poisoned by leaking lead in their poorly soldered tin cans.
More recent research suggests the canned food supplied to Franklin was not acidic enough for that to happen and the lead was more likely to have come from the internal pipe system on the ships.
The search resulted in the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago.
The discovery of Franklin's vessels is considered one of the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology.
A team of Canadian divers and archaeologists has been trying to find the ships since 2008.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29131757
Map, pics, etc,on page.
9 September 2014 Last updated at 17:48
Sir John Franklin: Fabled Arctic ship found
One of two British explorer ships that vanished in the Arctic more than 160 years ago has been found, Canada's prime minister says.
Stephen Harper said it was unclear which ship had been found, but photo evidence confirmed it was one of them.
Sir John Franklin led the two ships and 129 men in 1845 to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
The expedition's disappearance shortly after became one of the great mysteries of the age of Victorian exploration.
The Canadian government began searching for Franklin's ships in 2008 as part of a strategy to assert Canada's sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which has recently become accessible to shipping because of melting Arctic ice.
"I am delighted to announce that this year's Victoria Strait expedition has solved one of Canada's greatest mysteries, with the discovery of one of the two ships belonging to the Franklin Expedition," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a statement.
"Finding the first vessel will no doubt provide the momentum - or wind in our sails - necessary to locate its sister ship and find out even more about what happened to the Franklin Expedition's crew."
The find has been described as "the biggest archaeological discovery the world has seen since the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb almost 100 years ago" by a British archeologist, William Battersby, who has written extensively about the Franklin expedition.
"From the images it is clear that a huge amount of evidence will be preserved from the expedition, possibly even including the remains of the men and maybe, just possibly, some of their photographs," he said.
The loss of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror prompted one of largest searches in history, running from 1848 to 1859.
The mystery has gripped people for generations, in part because no one knows for sure exactly what happened to the crew.
Experts believe the ships were lost when they became locked in the ice near King William Island and that the crews abandoned them in a hopeless bid to reach safety.
Reports at the time from local Inuits say the men, desperate for food, resorted to cannibalism before they died.
Sir John Franklin's wife spearheaded an attempt to find him, launching five ships in search of her husband and even leaving cans of food on the ice in the desperate hope he would find them.
In total more than 50 expeditions joined the search.
Three bodies discovered over a century later in the 1980s were found to have a high lead content and to this day, many people believe the 129 crew members were poisoned by leaking lead in their poorly soldered tin cans.
More recent research suggests the canned food supplied to Franklin was not acidic enough for that to happen and the lead was more likely to have come from the internal pipe system on the ships.
The search resulted in the discovery of the Northwest Passage, which runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific through the Arctic archipelago.
The discovery of Franklin's vessels is considered one of the most sought-after prizes in marine archaeology.
A team of Canadian divers and archaeologists has been trying to find the ships since 2008.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29131757
Map, pics, etc,on page.
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I can't wait for some of the finds from this. I love love love anything to do with Antarctic exploration. For anyone who enjoys gazing upon stuff like this (and I apologise that this isn't exclusively related to shipwrecks) the Antarctic Heritage Trust frequently posts bits & pieces on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Antarctic.Heritage.Trust
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- Messages
- 38
rynner2 said:You've got it arse-about-face, m'dear: Franklin's expedition was to the Arctic!
I have, you're right
In my haste of joy I forgot my (Ant)arctic delineation. Still, the AHT post some pretty interesting stuff.
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Mary Rose scientists to investigate site 'damage'
Scientists are to investigate possible damage to monitoring equipment at the site of the wrecked Mary Rose warship in Portsmouth harbour.
Maritime archaeologist Christopher Dobbs said anchors or fishing gear could have disturbed data loggers placed at the site a few months ago.
Most of the ship is on display in Portsmouth but pieces of the bow and other artefacts are buried in silt.
Mr Dobbs said there were "treasures" still buried underwater in the Solent.
The Mary Rose Trust has issued a reminder to people using Portsmouth Harbour to be wary of the site.
Specialist equipment which monitors the site has stopped working and Mr Dobbs, from the Trust, said: "It would damage the site and our experiments if things are dragged on the seabed, whether it's anchors or fishing gear.
"We want to make sure the equipment is alright, do further checks to make sure nothing is being eroded away or dragged away either by biological causes or human causes."
A 984 ft (300m) exclusion zone is in place around the site and it is well marked on charts and a large yellow and black buoy covers it.
The 16th Century warship was discovered in 1971 and it was raised from the seabed in 1982.
The dive is due to go ahead on 22 September.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-29162461
Scientists are to investigate possible damage to monitoring equipment at the site of the wrecked Mary Rose warship in Portsmouth harbour.
Maritime archaeologist Christopher Dobbs said anchors or fishing gear could have disturbed data loggers placed at the site a few months ago.
Most of the ship is on display in Portsmouth but pieces of the bow and other artefacts are buried in silt.
Mr Dobbs said there were "treasures" still buried underwater in the Solent.
The Mary Rose Trust has issued a reminder to people using Portsmouth Harbour to be wary of the site.
Specialist equipment which monitors the site has stopped working and Mr Dobbs, from the Trust, said: "It would damage the site and our experiments if things are dragged on the seabed, whether it's anchors or fishing gear.
"We want to make sure the equipment is alright, do further checks to make sure nothing is being eroded away or dragged away either by biological causes or human causes."
A 984 ft (300m) exclusion zone is in place around the site and it is well marked on charts and a large yellow and black buoy covers it.
The 16th Century warship was discovered in 1971 and it was raised from the seabed in 1982.
The dive is due to go ahead on 22 September.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-29162461
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Here's a tale I'd not heard before, linked to the Franklin expedition:
The painting reputed to make students fail exams
By Magazine Monitor
A collection of cultural artefacts
Sir John Franklin's fabled Arctic ship that vanished more than 160 years ago was found this week. But a painting related to its mysterious demise hanging in one university has been haunting exam students for decades, writes Tom Heyden.
"The polar bears made me do it," are the eeriest words to emerge from the urban legend of Edwin Landseer's painting - a grisly depiction of two polar bears hanging at Royal Holloway, University of London. Since the first exams were taken there in the 1920s and 1930s, it's been a painting associated with failure. "If you sit directly in front of it in an exam, you will fail - unless it's covered up," goes the myth, according to the college's curator Dr Laura MacCulloch. :shock:
The painting of two polar bears devouring a ship's remains - as well as those of the humans onboard - was inspired by the mysterious disappearance of Sir John Franklin, who led two ships and 129 men to their doom in 1845 trying to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The macabre spectacle is probably enough to distract even the most conscientious student. But bad luck rumours started almost immediately. There's an obvious connection to failure, says MacCulloch. I'm going to fail my exam just like they failed to find the Northwest Passage, one might conclude - and then I'll get eaten by a polar bear.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazin ... r-29175003
The painting reputed to make students fail exams
By Magazine Monitor
A collection of cultural artefacts
Sir John Franklin's fabled Arctic ship that vanished more than 160 years ago was found this week. But a painting related to its mysterious demise hanging in one university has been haunting exam students for decades, writes Tom Heyden.
"The polar bears made me do it," are the eeriest words to emerge from the urban legend of Edwin Landseer's painting - a grisly depiction of two polar bears hanging at Royal Holloway, University of London. Since the first exams were taken there in the 1920s and 1930s, it's been a painting associated with failure. "If you sit directly in front of it in an exam, you will fail - unless it's covered up," goes the myth, according to the college's curator Dr Laura MacCulloch. :shock:
The painting of two polar bears devouring a ship's remains - as well as those of the humans onboard - was inspired by the mysterious disappearance of Sir John Franklin, who led two ships and 129 men to their doom in 1845 trying to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. The macabre spectacle is probably enough to distract even the most conscientious student. But bad luck rumours started almost immediately. There's an obvious connection to failure, says MacCulloch. I'm going to fail my exam just like they failed to find the Northwest Passage, one might conclude - and then I'll get eaten by a polar bear.
etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazin ... r-29175003