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Diver claims to have found UK submarine wreck off Sardinia
Associated Press in Rome
Wednesday 25 May 2016 19.34 BST

Diver Massimo Bondone told the La Nuova Sardegna daily he found the P311 at a depth of 80 metres (262 ft) off the isle of Tavolara during a dive last weekend.
Paola Pegoraro of the Orso diving club, which provided logistics for the dive, told the Associated Press the sub had been positively identified by the two Chariot “manned torpedoes” affixed to the outside.

The P311 left Malta in December 1942 with 71 crew to take part in Operation Principle, an Allied attack on Italian warships off Sardinia.
According to the online resource Naval History, contact was lost on December 31 after the sub apparently hit a mine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...to-have-found-uk-submarine-wreck-off-sardinia

Hopefully the remains of the crew will be recovered and re-interred with full military honours.
 
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Diver claims to have found UK submarine wreck off Sardinia
Associated Press in Rome
Wednesday 25 May 2016 19.34 BST

Diver Massimo Bondone told the La Nuova Sardegna daily he found the P311 at a depth of 80 metres (262 ft) off the isle of Tavolara during a dive last weekend.
Paola Pegoraro of the Orso diving club, which provided logistics for the dive, told the Associated Press the sub had been positively identified by the two Chariot “manned torpedoes” affixed to the outside.

The P311 left Malta in December 1942 with 71 crew to take part in Operation Principle, an Allied attack on Italian warships off Sardinia.
According to the online resource Naval History, contact was lost on December 31 after the sub apparently hit a mine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...to-have-found-uk-submarine-wreck-off-sardinia


Interestingly this submarine was due to be named Tutankhamen but was sunk before it had the chance to be named.

The sub went down 20 years and one month after the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb by Howard Carter.

I've never heard the two events connected before, perhaps another embellishment to add to the Curse of Tutankhamen tale – which we strangely seem to have no thread about.
 
A CGI recreation of The Titanic sinking in realtime ..

 
Wow, I didn't realise it took such a looong time to go down.
 
What a morbid way to spend two hours and forty minutes.
 
The London: Shipwreck collection to 'rival best in country'
6 August 2016

A diver who has helped to recover "thousands of items" from a 17th Century shipwreck has said the finds "rival the best collections" in the country.
The London sank off Southend-on-Sea in 1665 and was only rediscovered in 2005.

Artefacts salvaged from the wreck since 2010 have included shoes, pieces of instruments and a compass.
Steven Ellis, a licensed diver from Leigh-on-Sea, said the finds were remarkably well-preserved.
Mr Ellis, who works as a fishmonger, said The London was the last surviving "large ship" built between 1642 and 1660 for the Anglo/Dutch War from "such an important period of time".

An estimated 300 people drowned when the ship mysteriously exploded on a journey along the coast to Gravesend and sank on 8 March 1665.

Mr Ellis said: "I've been diving it since 2010 and we've brought loads of bits up.
"We've found two gun carriages, all kinds of personal items like shoes, a compass - loads of stuff.
"You can see by the shoe how well-preserved things are."
"When they eventually go on display, there is going to have to be a whole wing of the museum for them," he said.

Mr Ellis, who worked closely with teams from Historic England, said he had found a number of human remains during his exploration of the ship.
He said: "It's like detective work. It's not just diving and bringing stuff up, it's putting the artefacts together, working out where you are, what it would have been like.
"I'm no expert but we have got experts around us. I always say it's like a Sunday League footballer being phoned up by the Premiership."

Southend Museum Service is intending to put the exhibits on display and planning on making finds from The London a key part of a new museum on the seafront, when it eventually opens.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-36985971
 
Discovery Hunting Treasure Using NASA Astronaut's Secret Map in New Docuseries (Exclusive)
cooperstreasure-h_2016.jpg

Gordon Cooper Courtesy of Discovery Channel
READ MOREDiscovery Channel Sets Premiere Date for Harley-Davidson Miniseries, Adds Three to Cast (Exclusive)


Before his death in 2004 from heart failure, Cooper shared his files of meticulous research with his longtime friend Miklos in the hope that his exploration would continue and the treasure would ultimately be found.

Along with a group of experienced explorers and researchers, Miklos is now setting out to uncover this treasure and fulfill his friend's dream.

Cooper's Treasure is produced for Discovery Channel for AMPLE, with Ari Mark and Phil Lott executive producing. For Discovery, Joseph Boyle is exec producer and Brian Peterson is coordinating producer.

More at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/discovery-hunting-treasure-using-nasa-879318
 
'Discovery of the year': sunken British ship found in Russian Arctic
Russians find wreck of The Thames, which sank in 1878 in attempt to open a sea route between the UK and Siberia
Alec Luhn in Moscow
Tuesday 9 August 2016 14.45 BST

Researchers have discovered the wreck of a pioneering British steamship that sank in the Russian Arctic in 1878.

The Thames was a 120-tonne steamship captained by decorated explorer Joseph Wiggins during his attempts to open a trade route between the UK and Siberia through the Arctic Ocean. Two researchers from the Russian Geographical Society, which is chaired by President Vladimir Putin, found its wreck in shallow waters on the Yenisei river near the village of Goroshikha just south of the Arctic Circle.


The ship was the first ocean vessel to enter the Yenisei, the largest river flowing into the Arctic, and one of the first to navigate the North-east Passage shipping route.

“It’s difficult to say how well the steamship was preserved. The ship is full of silt and sand, and only part of the stern superstructure is visible,” expedition member Alexander Goncharov told the Interfax news agency. He said further archeological work was needed to see if the ship could be raised.

An article in the regional newspaper Nash Krasnoyarsk Krai called it the “discovery of the year” and said it would “replace scepticism with a positive attitude toward the reclamation of the Russian north”. As climate change rapidly warms the Arctic, Russia has been staking its claim to the region’s trade routes and oil and gas reserves.

Wiggins was an early believer in the possibilities of sea trade with Siberia, which was rich in timber, furs, coal and even mammoth bones. Going against the conventional wisdom that ice cover made the Arctic route unnavigable, the merchant captain self-financed an expedition to the Gulf of Ob in 1874, proving the Kara Sea was passable. Journalist-explorer Henry Morton Stanley, who was already famous for finding missionary David Livingstone in eastern Africa, had sought to accompany this expedition but was refused permission by his employer.

Undeterred by a failed mission in 1875 and backed by new investors, Wiggins reached the Yenisei in The Thames in 1876 and left the ship to winter on the river. According to the Russian Geographical Society, he tried to continue upriver the next year but the ship ran aground and froze to the bottom. He was forced to sell it for parts and return to Britain overland, and The Thames sank during the spring thaw in 1878.

Later that year, Wiggins sailed to the Gulf of Ob and brought back a shipment of wheat, the first Siberian produce to be transported to Britain through the Kara Sea. Although development of Arctic sea trade with Russia
was hindered by shipwrecks, Wiggins was honoured by Emperor Alexander III in St Petersburg after he transported rails for the Trans-Siberian railway up the Yenisei in 1893. The Royal Geographical Society recognised his work to open the Kara Sea route with the 1894 Murchison award.

The Russian Geographical Society researchers also discovered what they believe to be the wreck of the Russian schooner Northern Lights when a storm forced their motorised catamaran on to the largest of the Brekhovsky islands in the Yenisei Gulf. Four of six crew members died of scurvy after the ship was forced to winter there in 1876, and it was wrecked during the spring thaw. Its remains are a rare example of Siberian shipbuilding of the era, Goncharov said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...hip-the-thames-found-on-edge-of-arctic-circle

Map and photos on page.
 
Two-century-old shipwreck to emerge from sea at Devon beach

At low tide this week a ship wrecked more than 200 years ago is expected to reappear, the stumps of its decaying timbers poking through the sand of a north Devon beach – most likely the remains of the Sally, which left a Bristol wine merchant devastated when it ran aground with its cargo of port in September 1769.

Seems it emerges at very low tides at Westward Ho!

3500.jpg
 
HMT Arfon: Sunken WWI mine trawler protected

The sunken wreck of a fishing trawler that swept for mines during World War One has been given special protection.
The steam boat Arfon had remained untouched on the bed of the English Channel for almost 100 years until it was discovered in 2014.
The trawler swept mines laid by German U-boats off the Dorset coast until 10 of its 13 crew members died when it struck a mine in April 1917.

The new protection restricts access to the site.
Historic England said the trawler's mine-sweeping gear, deck gun and engine room were still intact on the seabed off St Alban's Head.
But the government heritage agency feared the Arfon, built in Goole, East Yorkshire, in 1908, could be vulnerable to uncontrolled salvage.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport granted it protection under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, which means access to the site is restricted to divers with a licence from Historic England.
Joe Flatman, the body's head of listing programmes, said: "The Arfon shipwreck is a rare survivor of a type of vessel once very common around the coastline of Britain but which has now entirely disappeared, surviving only in documents and as wrecks like this one.
"Trawlers, minesweepers and other coastal patrol vessels played a crucial role in keeping the sea lanes around the British Isles open during both world wars, a part of the war effort that is often overlooked."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-37117334

Photos on page. The position of the wreck probably explains why it remained undiscovered for so long - there are strong tides and overfalls off St Alban's Head, not good conditions for diving.
 
what is an overfall Ryn? :)
 
Explorer claims he's located famous pirate ship's treasure

YARMOUTH, Mass. (AP) - The undersea explorer who discovered the Whydah Gally, the first authenticated pirate shipwreck in North America, believes he's found where the ship's legendary treasure lies after more than 30 years of poking around the murky waters off Cape Cod.

Barry Clifford tells the Associated Press his expedition recently located a large metallic mass that he's convinced represents most if not all of the 400,000 coins and other riches believed to be contained on the ship.

"We think we might be at the end of the rainbow," Clifford said in the recently opened Whydah Pirate Museum on Cape Cod, where many of the expedition's finds are now showcased.

Maritime archaeologists and historians say they're intrigued but remain skeptical, mostly because he's been disproved on other finds. ...

FULL STORY:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PIRATE_SHIP_TREASURE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20161007_ap_468a3714c6b646ca810a493014a6c1f5.html
 
There have been so many shipwrecks around the Cornish coast that you'd need a brain the size of a planet to know all the stories. Here's one that's new to me:
Spanish sailors who died in a Cornish wreck will be remembered thanks to "heartwarming" donations
By WBtgainey | Posted: October 12, 2016

Enough money has been raised to mark the final resting place of four Spanish sailors who perished more than 50 years ago when their ship was wrecked off the coast of Cornwall.

Manuel Corral Castinera, 29, Carlos Coello De Castro, 31, Manuel Esperante Esperante, 41, and Domingo Vidal Bianco, 30 - whose son Domingo was only 12 months old at the time - were hundreds of miles from home when the Juan Ferrer got into trouble near Porthcurno.

A south-westerly gale and poor visibility led to the 640 tonne Spanish coaster running aground on the rocks at Boscawen Point on October 23, 1963. Only four of the 15 crew survived the tragedy. [Boscowen Pt. is between Porthcurnow and Lamorna Cove.]

Now two people from west Cornwall, who work at the Penlee Lifeboat Station, have described the response to their public plea for donations to help the purchase of a memorial stone as "heart-warming".
Elaine Trethowan and Martin Brockman from Penlee Lifeboat's Heritage Team discovered the unmarked mass grave of the four young Spanish seamen set about raising the money so that they could be remembered with a headstone, giving them the dignity they deserve.

Of the night of the wreck, Mrs Trethowan said: "Eleven members of the vessel's crew of 15 did not live to tell the tale of what happened next.
"Only four - including the Juan Ferrer's 32-year old captain Luis Ruiz - could recount the desperate battle against a very angry sea.
"We have raised £500 to properly honour those who lost their lives."

Mrs Trethowan, whose father Nim Bawden was a member of the Solomon Browne crew from Penlee who went to the sailors' aid on that fateful night, said the unmarked grave was found while the new Penlee Lifeboat History book was being researched.
"With the support of the remaining family and friends, in Galicia, Spain, who were not aware of the final resting place of their loved ones, it is hoped that we can place a worthy and permanent tribute on their grave," she said.

Four survivors were taken to Newlyn Fishermen's Mission and after being treated at West Cornwall Hospital, they were then flown back to Spain from London.

The recovered bodies of the dead sailors were shipped back to Spain on the Juan Ferrer's sister coaster but the remaining four bodies that were found afterwards were buried at the Roman Catholic section of Penzance Cemetery.

http://www.westbriton.co.uk/spanish...ng-donations/story-29796996-detail/story.html

Pics, etc, on page.
The Solomon Browne Lifeboat itself was lost on the same stretch of coast in 1981. That wreck I do remember... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penlee_lifeboat_disaster

Interesting that a 640 tonne ship needed a crew of 15. I worked for a few months on a 600 tonne coaster, and mostly there were only 3 or 4 of us on board!
 
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I went for a walk on Cromer beach today and because the tide seemed unusually low, I decided to have another look at the wreck of the SS Fernebo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNLB_Louisa_Heartwell_(ON_495)#Steamship_Fernebo

On arrival, so much more was exposed than normal so I got busy seeing what I could find. I even turned into some sort of tour guide for some tourists at one point, one of them ended up giving me a hand when the rest of them had left. Today I've returned with:

Pieces of wood from the boat
A bracket
A rivet
A measuring stick
Old rubber piping
A piston/funnel/neither ... it looks more like a WW2 artillery gun but seems to be made of some kind of aluminium, it's very light and has three thin discs of the same metal loose that fell out of a rusted hole in the side of it .. I'll be looking to carefully cleaning all of this stuff over the next few days
A Will's Capstan Cigarettes domino (that was inside the above in oily silt) that's in good condition

We took our haul to the lifeboat museum but the manager, predictably, was only interested in accepting the domino. I told her I was going to give that one to Cromer museum (out of spite truth be told, I was pissed off with her for not taking the lot for free, she then had the cheek of accusing me of 'cherry picking' ... I didn't even bother to point out the irony of this to her)

I'll probably be back down there tomorrow.
 
A piston/funnel/neither ... it looks more like a WW2 artillery gun but seems to be made of some kind of aluminium
A klaxon horn, maybe? With a much-longer neck than this 'un (therefore, lower/deeper toned).

The thin internal disks makes me think of sound diaphragm reasonators, these would've had carbon granule layers and mica insulators originally...
Old-Klaxon-12v-Horn-Classic-Cars-Commercials.jpg
 
A klaxon horn, maybe? With a much-longer neck than this 'un (therefore, lower/deeper toned).

The thin internal disks makes me think of sound diaphragm reasonators, these would've had carbon granule layers and mica insulators originally...
Old-Klaxon-12v-Horn-Classic-Cars-Commercials.jpg
I don't know, the part I have is longer and thinner. I'll be taking it around to a collector friend's house today, he tells me that a WW2 plane deliberately crashed into the beach/cliff to avoid hitting the town at the same location as the Fernebo (no fatalities after the pilot retrieved his co pilot from the sea that is) so it could also be part of that plane, hopefully one of its guns. Although the wrecked plane was recovered parts of it have been known to wash up from time to time
 
It could also be part of that plane, hopefully one of its guns
If there's any chance of live ordnance sitting there do not disturb it. Cannon rounds can explode when dried-out.

No weaponry would be lightweight, especially 0.303 or 50cal WW2 rifled guns, nor would it be alloy. If it isn't a ship's horn, might it be a fluids tank from the aircraft, or an exhaust plenum extension? I suppose it could be a flare launching chute, or some kind of internal channeling formwork.
 
If there's any chance of live ordnance sitting there do not disturb it. Cannon rounds can explode when dried-out.

No weaponry would be lightweight, especially 0.303 or 50cal WW2 rifled guns, nor would it be alloy. If it isn't a ship's horn, might it be a fluids tank from the aircraft, or an exhaust plenum extension? I suppose it could be a flare launching chute, or some kind of internal channeling formwork.
It seems to be made of aluminium .. and yep, I know a chap who used to work on the cliffs and occasionally someone would find an unexploded bomb, it's something the West Runton fossil hunters are warned about.

Funnily enough, as I was leaving the beach with my stash (about 4pm), the coastguards had taped of a 20 ft squared area of the beach off because someone had reported a gas canister .. they were all grumbling that it was a waste of time because the thing was so rusted but were waiting to see if the bomb disposal experts were coming or not. It all goes on in Cromer you know !.
 
Right ! .. I've been into the EDP office today, reminded them that I'm that bloke who always brings weird stuff in, the regular journalist met with me and did his usual short hand notes, I pressed hard that I want this stuff to stay in Cromer because it's part of Cromer's history and a combination of apathy and red tape seems to be blocking my efforts so they may eventually be thrown in a skip one day .. that's as far as I've got. He's taken my number, I've agreed to be photographed (FFS!) :mad:, the editor might be interested yada yada yada ..
 
I wanted to post this on the Lost and Found thread but can't, er, find it.

Heard about it on R4 this morning.

Wreck of German U-boat found off coast of Stranraer


Seems the U-boat was abandoned because it was believed to be under attack from a sea monster!


The wreck of a German U-boat that sank almost 100 years ago has been discovered by engineers laying subsea power cables.

Remarkable sonar images show the missing World War One submarine is largely intact and lying off the Galloway coast.

Experts believe the vessel could be the UB-85, a sub that sank in 1918, according to official records.

However, naval folklore suggests it may have been attacked by a "sea monster".

Mysterious sinking
The entire crew of the U-boat is reported to have abandoned ship due to the "monster attack".

Once aboard the British ship HM Drifter Coreopsis, their commander, Captain Krech described their encounter.

He is said to have spoken of a beast with "large eyes, set in a horny sort of skull…with teeth that could be seen glistening in the moonlight".

He apparently claimed that the sub was so damaged in its battle with the "monster", it could no longer submerge.
etc
 
Right ! .. I've been into the EDP office today, reminded them that I'm that bloke who always brings weird stuff in, the regular journalist met with me and did his usual short hand notes, I pressed hard that I want this stuff to stay in Cromer because it's part of Cromer's history and a combination of apathy and red tape seems to be blocking my efforts so they may eventually be thrown in a skip one day .. that's as far as I've got. He's taken my number, I've agreed to be photographed (FFS!) :mad:, the editor might be interested yada yada yada ..
The Mrs is so pissed off with me right now and it's all Rynner's fault! .. ;)

I've just donated all of my SS Fernebo finds to a top ranking RNLI bloke in Cromer, he's just come to my house to pick them up with a view to displaying them at the life boat station next year which will be the 100 year anniversary of the ship exploding and the surrounding heroics recorded that day and night. She's mainly pissed off because I also gave him the domino with 'Will's Capstan Cigarettes' embossed on it that I found in the funnel/gun shaped object LOL .. Oh well .. maybe I can get the domino back after all the fuss has died down .. that's one in the eye for the Henry Blogg Museum and the Cromer Museum who couldn't be arsed to accept my free offerings :evil: ... and exactly the appropriate spiritual home for them in my opinion .. next time there's a shout, the men will be running past these objects.
 
If it's any consolation, one domino on its own isn't worth much. But it's an interesting curio.
 
If it's any consolation, one domino on its own isn't worth much. But it's an interesting curio.
I found one single domino from the same set on ebay for £2 so I haven't just given away a fortune .. someone somewhere might be able to connect 'the dots' somehow about it being there ? ..
 
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