• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
I'm not sure why Swifty's Mrs being pissed off at him is my fault!
 
I'm not sure why Swifty's Mrs being pissed off at him is my fault!
Because you, 'Captain Morals', once talked me into handing stuff over in the metal detector thread if I ever found anything good! .. and she really liked that domino. So it's all your fault. :p
 
Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship
Repeat
Today 7:05pm - 8pm Channel 4

Review
by Jack Seale
One of the great maritime mysteries was solved in September 2014. If you missed news reports about the fate of Captain Sir John Franklin’s exploration of the Arctic, you’ll enjoy the drama of the search as this film unfolds. Franklin sailed west in 1845, hoping to traverse the uncharted Northwest Passage, the route through the archipelago north of Canada that leads to the Pacific. He and his 128 men were lost, their two ships never found.

Nowadays even modern boats struggle to stay safe amid the shifting ice. More respect for the local people as well as the conditions would have helped initial investigations, too: we could have wrapped this up years ago if we’d just asked the Inuits.

Summary
Cameras follow the multi-million-dollar expedition that discovered the Victorian ship HMS Erebus, intact and upright on the Arctic sea floor in September 2014. The story unfolds in the freezing Arctic, where search vessels battled with heavy sea-ice that threatened to stop the search entirely, to the dramatic chain of events that led to the historic discovery.

http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/e/dqjyp8/hunt-for-the-arctic-ghost-ship

It will probably be on 4oD later.
 
Yes, I just watched it on 4oD. I must have seen it before, because some parts were familiar, but other parts seemed new. Probably just my ancient memory, but it was worth seeing again anyway.

I think they may have used parts of a previous documentary along with the new bits.

Great programme.
 
Dozens of ancient shipwrecks found accidentally during Black Sea mapping

Dozens of shipwrecks, the first of their kind seen from bygone empires, have been a "complete bonus" discovery for researchers mapping the Black Sea.

The international team of scientists came across more than 40 wrecks while surveying the seabed near Bulgaria to understand how quickly land in the area was inundated following the last ice age 20,000 years ago.

"The wrecks are a complete bonus, but a fascinating discovery, found during the course of our extensive geophysical surveys," Professor Jon Adams, lead investigator on the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project, said.

The centuries-old wrecks, including ships from the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, provide the first view of vessels previously known only through historical sources.

Most other wrecks from these time periods have decomposed due to having sunk in shallower waters.

But the Black Sea discoveries can be seen with their upper decks still intact, with some ships' masts still standing and rigging in place.

Professor Adams said these wrecks were "astonishingly preserved" due to the lack of oxygen in the Black Sea below 150 metres. ...

SOURCE: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-...accidentally-during-black-sea-mapping/7962270
 
Charlestown Shipwreck Centre at Poldark site to get the Eden touch as it is bought by Tim Smit
By RWhitehouse | Posted: November 06, 2016

A museum in Charlestown dedicated to the history of shipwrecks in Cornwall has been bought by the founder of the Eden Project Sir Tim Smit.

Sir Tim said he bought the Shipwreck & Heritage Centre, which sits just yards from where Poldark and other blockbuster movies were filmed, as he wanted to preserve the artefacts and protect the heritage of the historic port as well as a personal love of archaeology scuba diving.

The museum has been acquired by Heligan Gardens Limited which runs the Lost Gardens of Heligan which Sir Tim founded.
He said: ""I have been an archaeologist and, a wreck diver since I was 18 years old and have dived all over the world. This collection is like a walk through my romantic imagination, I love it.

"The museum was my first destination when I came to Cornwall and when I heard that John (Kneale, owner) was retiring and selling up I never thought twice…we had to have it and ensure its future and, to be honest, indulge a boyhood passion in a way that we could share with everybody."

Charlestown.png

The Port of Charlestown where the Shipwreck and Heritage Centre is based

Businessman Mr Kneale owned the attraction and adjoining Bosun's Diner for 25 years before it was placed on the market in 2015. The museum is home to one of the largest collections of shipwreck artefacts in Europe.

George Elworthy, managing director of The Lost Gardens of Heligan and a resident of Charlestown, comments: "We believe that the museum is a gem that needs to be preserved and whose collection should continue to be further developed. We believe that our experience at Heligan gives us a unique understanding of how to tell a story of great power and a heritage that haunts the imagination."

http://www.cornwalllive.com/charles...-by-tim-smit/story-29871995-detail/story.html


I've been to Charlestown several times, but I'm sad to say I never had time to visit the museum.
 
Mystery as wrecks of three Dutch WWII ships vanish from Java seabed
There are fears the sunken vessels off Indonesia, which are the graves of 2,200 people, may have been salvaged for metal



HNLMS Kortenaer, which was sunk in the Battle of Java in 1942 Photograph: Royal Netherlands Navy / Koninklijke Marine / Wikipedia
Oliver Holmes South-east Asia correspondent and agencies

Wednesday 16 November 2016 05.27 GMTAn international investigation has been launched into the mysterious disappearance of three Dutch second world war shipwrecks which have vanished from the bottom of the Java Sea off the coast of Indonesia.

The Netherlands defence ministry has confirmed that the wrecks of two of its warships which sunk in 1942 have completely gone, while large parts of a third are also missing.

The wrecks were first found intact by amateur divers in 2002. But a new expedition to mark next year’s 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Java Sea discovered the ships were missing.

While sonar shows the imprints of the wrecks on the ocean floor, the ships themselves are no longer there.

The ministry said in a statement: “The wrecks of HNLMS De Ruyter and HNLMS Java have seemingly gone completely missing. A large piece is also missing of HNLMS Kortenaer.”

All three ships sunk during the Battle of the Java Sea, which turned out to be a disastrous defeat for Dutch, British, American and Australian sailors by Japanese forces in February 1942. It was one of the costliest sea battles of the war and led to the Japanese occupation of the entire Dutch East Indies.


FacebookTwitterPinterest
HNLMS De Ruyter which was sunk in the Battle of Java in 1942. Photograph: -
About 2,200 people died, including 900 Dutch nationals and 250 people of Indonesian Dutch origin, and the wrecks have been declared a sacred war grave.

“An investigation has been launched to see what has happened to the wrecks, while the cabinet has been informed,” the defence ministry said. “The desecration of a war grave is a serious offence,” it added, suggesting the wrecks may have been illegally salvaged.

The seas around Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are a graveyard for more than 100 ships and submarines sunk during the war. For years, scavengers have surreptitiously located the wrecks and stolen parts, including steel, aluminium and brass.

A recreational diving school in Malaysia told the New Straits Times last year that shipwrecks were being blown apart by with explosives by people posing as fishermen before their metal is removed.

The US military found two years ago that there had been an “unauthorised disturbance of the grave site” of the USS Houston, which sunk in the Battle of Sunda Strait, also in the Java Sea. It is the grave for nearly 650 sailors and marines.

Theo Vleugels, director of the Dutch War Graves Foundation, told the ANP news agency: “The people who died there should be left in peace.”

AFP contributed to this report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...orld-war-shipwrecks-vanish-java-sea-indonesia
 
It surprises me that it is economic to acquire scrap metal this way. And surely someone would have noticed it going on?

And unless the salvage vessel is HUGE, they could hardly process the scrap on board. But if they did it would have to be taken ashore to be sold...

The logistics seem so improbable that I prefer to think that some alien collector has beamed the ships away to some museum of Warfare on Earth, on Proxima Centauri, perhaps! :evil:
 
Because of when the ships were sunk, they would be more than just scrap metal. The steel in the ships would be uncontaminated by radioactivity and is needed in the production of equipment that needs low background radiation to work. That might make it worth the effort to recover but how did they do it unnoticed?

The primary source of low-background steel is ships that have been under water since before the Trinity test, most famously the scuttled German WWI battleships in Scapa Flow. [1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
 
Because of when the ships were sunk, they would be more than just scrap metal. The steel in the ships would be uncontaminated by radioactivity and is needed in the production of equipment that needs low background radiation to work. That might make it worth the effort to recover but how did they do it unnoticed?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
I've heard the same about old lead. But, yes a clever logistic feat, that somehow has gone unnoticed by the world's surveillance satellites.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37997640

"Three Dutch World War Two ships considered war graves have vanished from the bottom of the Java Sea, the Dutch defence ministry says.

All three were sunk by the Japanese during the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942, and their wrecks were discovered by divers in 2002.

But a new expedition to mark next year's 75th anniversary of the battle has found the wrecks are missing.

A report in the Guardian says three British ships have disappeared as well.

The Guardian says it has seen 3D images showing large holes in the seabed where HMS Exeter, HMS Encounter, the destroyer HMS Electra, as well as a US submarine, used to be.

Experts say salvaging the wrecks would have been a huge operation.

The Dutch defence ministry is to investigate the mysterious disappearance."
 
However looking at what low background steel is used in, it's obvious that you wouldn't need to salvage multiple large ships. These ships are in water at least 170 feet deep and it would have been a long term and super expensive salvage operation using highly specialised equipment. How did nobody notice?!
 
...also, these ships will still contain massive amounts of fuel oil, other substances and potential flotsam - why no oil slick or environmental disaster?
 
Cornish shipwreck rediscovered on Poldark site

A shipwreck has been rediscovered at the same spot a similar wreckage was filmed for the BBC TV drama Poldark.
The remains of Schiedam - which sank in the 17th century - were first found off the coast of Cornwall in 1971 but were then buried under shifting sands.

Divers David Gibbins and Mark Milburn made the find after many attempts at Gunwalloe Church Cove.
They were praised by Historic England for "ensuring the story of the site is not lost".

The makers of Poldark - which follows the life of Ross Poldark at the Cornish tin mines after returning from the American War of Independence - filmed the shipwreck scene in the summer of 2014.
Schiedam, part of a fleet carrying ordinance, tools, horses and people back from Tangier, sank in 1683.
Its wreck predates the setting of Poldark by about a century, but Mr Gibbins said the similarities are striking.
"You would have seen local people lining the shore just as the film crew were that day in 2014, and flotsam coming ashore at exactly the same place.
"We'd searched the cove many times for the Schiedam, but only seen sand. Then the breakthrough came one day after a storm.
"Snorkelling north over the cove, we saw not just one cannon, but three - it was incredibly exciting."

Historic England is responsible for managing the site and uses diving teams to monitor the wreckage.
Alison James, the public body's Maritime Archaeologist, said: "We are delighted to work with divers like Mark and David to help ensure that England's protected wreck sites are enjoyed and protected for years to come.
"They are helping to ensure that the story of the site is not lost and is known to a wider audience."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-38307727

Gunwalloe Church Cove is on the east side of Mounts Bay, a few miles SE of Porthleven. See Also:


Published on Jun 5, 2016

I took this video in June 2016 a few minutes after I first saw these guns while snorkelling off Gunwalloe Cove in Cornwall, England. It was an incredibly exciting dive – for many years these guns have been completely buried in sand, and it was only the severe storms of the previous months that had revealed them. They come from the wreck of the Schiedam, a Dutch merchantman captured in 1683 off Spain by Barbary pirates, recaptured soon after by the Royal Navy and then used to bring ordnance, equipment, horses and people from Tangier, after the decision had been made to abandon the English colony there in the face of Moorish threat. The ship came to grief off Cornwall in March 1684 as the fleet was returning to England, and much of her cargo remains unexcavated on the seabed, protected from interference by the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act. As Licensees authorised to dive on the site by Heritage England my colleague Mark Milburn and I are planning renewed archaeological investigations this year.
 
More here:
...
The site is now managed by Historic England and dived by a local team, two of which have now found that the site is once again uncovered.

Novelist and archaeologist David Gibbins and Mark Milburn, of Atlantic Scuba in Penryn, had searched the cove many times looking for the wreck, but had seen only sand.
They said: "The breakthrough came one day after a storm. Snorkelling north over the cove, we saw not just one cannon, but three. It was incredibly exciting.
"One of the guns was among the longest we’d ever seen on a wreck, standing proud of the seabed on a rocky ledge with the muzzle poking out, almost as if it were on a gun carriage.

"Exploring the reefs around the guns, we saw other amazing artefacts – concreted musket barrels, cannon balls, lead musket and pistol shot, and even an iron hand-grenade, the wooden plug for the fuse still intact. We knew that most of what we were seeing was cargo carried from the English colony at Tangier, making the wreck a fascinating window into a forgotten corner of history."

At the time the Schiedam was lost, in April 1684, she was part of a fleet carrying ordnance, tools, horses and people back from Tangier, the port in present-day Morocco that had been acquired by the English King Charles II as a dowry with his Portuguese wife, but had been abandoned by the English in the face of Moorish threat. The Schiedam herself was originally Dutch, a merchantman sailing from Holland, but had been captured by Barbary pirates off Spain in 1683 and her crew enslaved.

Soon afterwards she was captured again, this time by a Royal Navy ship commanded by a daring young captain named Cloudesley Shovell – later as an admiral to be lost with his fleet in 1707, in the Isles of Scilly, through a navigational error.

None other than the diarist Samuel Pepys, then an Admiralty official, was sent to Tangier to help oversee the evacuation.
Further exploration of the Schiedam is planned for next year.

http://www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/new...alloe_where_Poldark_wreck_was_filmed/?ref=rss

A lot of name-dropping there!
 
Boat wrecked off US in 2014 found on Scottish island
  • 7 hours ago
The barnacle-covered wreck of a catamaran abandoned during a rescue off the US east coast three years ago has been found on a Hebridean beach.

The four crew members of the Be Good Too were rescued by the US Coastguard 300 miles (482.8km) off the coast of Virginia on 14 January 2014.

The boat came ashore on the west side of South Uist on Monday.

Be Good Too left a marina in Jersey City bound for the Virgin Islands, when its crew encountered stormy weather.

The crew was airlifted to safety by a coastguard helicopter.

South Uist-based photographer JF Martin found the wreck on the beach.

Former crew member, sailor Charles Doane, has blogged that he "couldn't believe it at first" when he was told the boat had been found.

He said the owner of Be Good Too had died in past three years.

_93644511_catone.jpg

Image captionUpturned wreck of catamaran Be Good Too on South Uist
_93644515_cattwo.jpg

Image captionThe boat was found on Monday

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-38662220
 
First images of sunken Scapa Flow warship HMS Vanguard released
Share
_93661830_vanguard1.jpg
Image copyrightBOB ANDERSON/HMS VANGUARD EXPEDITION 2017/PA
The first images of a warship sunk in 1916 off Orkney have been released after divers were given special permission to visit the wreck.

HMS Vanguard exploded and sank at Scapa Flow with the loss of 843 lives.

Safeguarded under the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986, diving is not permitted at the site except under licence from the MoD.

A team of specialist divers aboard Orkney dive boat MV Huskyan were given permission.

_93662295_vanguardold.jpg
Image copyrightPA
Emily Turton, of MV Huskyan, said: "The main wreck is complicated with an extensive debris field.

"Surprisingly, given the nature of her loss, both the bow and stern are intact despite large pieces of wreckage having being thrown hundreds of metres away.

"It is accepted that the likely cause of the disaster was an accidental magazine explosion.

"Witness accounts on the night of her loss describe a large explosion immediately behind the bridge. We can reveal that our initial survey result supports this."

_93662298_vanguard2.jpg
Image copyrightBOB ANDERSON/HMS VANGUARD EXPEDITION 2017/PA
A report will now be compiled for the MoD, Historic Environment Scotland, Orkney Marine Services and other interested organisations.

Ms Turton added: "The purpose of this survey is to tell the story of HMS Vanguard at 100 years underwater.

"We also hope to offer a sensitive contribution to the centenary commemoration in July this year."

Scapa Flow was used in both world wars as a main harbour for the British Navy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-38677071
 
A reappearance of the Jeaune Hortense:
Stormy weather uncovers WW2 defences and lost French shipwreck at a west Cornwall beauty spot
By Tom_Gainey | Posted: February 06, 2017

The storm, which was not officially named as Doris, caused havoc on the south Cornish coast last week – even a lost shipwreck and Second World War defences have been exposed by the shifting of the sand.

Long Rock beach is a much-visited west Cornwall beauty spot, known to locals and tourists alike for its stunning views of St Michael's Mount and the bay as well as open space for dog walkers, but you may have noticed a different sight if you paid it a visit on the weekend.

The Jeaune Hortense, a French brigantine which ran aground off the Cornish coast more than 130 years ago, has been once again revealed after the sand covering it was swept away in the stormy conditions.
This happened after the notorious 2014 storms and the wreck attracted a lot of interest, with people from all over Cornwall flocking to the beach to take a look.

Video: Take a look at these photographs from this weekend - featuring a rare appearance from the Jeaune Hortense and WW2 sea defences.

The ship was swept onto the beach on May 17, 1888, as it tried to deliver the body of a Fowey man home after he had died in France.
A horse and carriage dragged Penzance lifeboat Dora to the spot – so that the crew could then row out to the brigantine and rescue the four Frenchmen aboard.

The ship was also carrying 450 head of cattle, most of which were eventually saved, but in the end it was impossible to re-float the Jeaune Hortense.

Photo%2005-02-2017,%2016%2048%2042.jpg

These poles, which looks like very old scaffolding pipes coming out of the sand, are believed to be WW2 sea defences against tanks. Credit: Greg Martin

Since then the wreck's remains have stayed under the sand, but every few years it is washed away and the hull is exposed.

The storm has also uncovered what are believed to be sea defences from the Second World War.
The defences were used in preparation in case of an attack by the enemy, which included scaffolding to stop tanks coming ashore, barbed wire and mines.

http://www.cornwalllive.com/stormy-...-beauty-spot/story-30114531-detail/story.html
 
It surprises me that it is economic to acquire scrap metal this way. And surely someone would have noticed it going on?

And unless the salvage vessel is HUGE, they could hardly process the scrap on board. But if they did it would have to be taken ashore to be sold...

The logistics seem so improbable that I prefer to think that some alien collector has beamed the ships away to some museum of Warfare on Earth, on Proxima Centauri, perhaps! :evil:

I agree, from what I've read breaking down ships is pretty cut throat and the profits are not that massive. The trouble you would have to go to bringing up from the sea bottom is mind boggling.

They have to be in very shallow waters.
 
Cuban refugee boat washes up on County Sligo beach
By Julian Fowler BBC News NI

On a sandy beach on the west coast of Ireland lies the remains of a strange looking boat.
The improvised vessel washed up on Cliffoney beach in County Sligo.
It is made from a metal frame partly covered in yellow tarpaulin, with expanded foam and water bottles used for buoyancy.
A closer inspection beneath the overturned hull, now covered in barnacles, reveals a car engine connected to a broken propeller.

The boat caught the interest of Gordon Fallis, who saw it as he was walking his dogs along the beach.
"I didn't really know what it was to be honest, so I took a few photographs of it and when I got home I posted it on a Facebook page called Lost at Sea which tracks marine debris and cargo spills and things that get washed up on beaches," he said.

He was contacted by a man from Florida who recognised the design as being similar to Cuban refugee boats.
"He advised me to have a look at the bottles again to see where they came from so I came back down and looked at the labels and indeed they were from Cuba, exactly the same brand that he had predicted, so it seems that it is actually a boat that the refugees have used to try and get to America from Cuba," he said.

Since 1995, under a policy known as "wet foot, dry foot", if Cubans are picked up at sea they are returned home or taken to a third country, but if they make it to American soil they get the opportunity to stay and become legal residents.
Between November 2015 and October 2016 the US Coast Guard apprehended 5,263 Cubans at sea.
It is thought that hundreds of thousands of Cubans attempted the journey before the policy was ended last month just before President Obama left office.

American photographer Bill Klipp has seen many similar boats that have been abandoned on small remote islands around the Florida Keys.
He is sure the boat washed up in Ireland is what is known as a Cuban "chug" - named after the sound of the crude motors as they make the slow journey across the sea.
"They're surely not moving very fast and I think it just comes from that notion that they're just barely making it, they're chugging as best as they can to get across the ocean," he said.

"Key West, where I live, is only 90 miles for Havana so it's a relatively short distance to landfall although the Florida Straits can be a pretty treacherous body of water to cross."

While it is possible that the occupants of this vessel were picked up at sea and the boat was left to drift, Bill Klipp believes it is more likely that the weather and ocean currents took it off course.
"If that boat could tell its story it would tell a story of real despair and desperation, that's for sure," he said.
"Obviously the occupants didn't make it and that's kind of a sad story there but that's unfortunately a story that's happened too much over the last couple of decades."

It is the first time such a vessel has been recorded being washed up in Europe according to Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer based in Seattle who tracks ocean debris.
He said it could take months or years for it to make the journey of more than 4,000 miles across the Atlantic.
"The drift rate depends on how much the vessel is sticking out of the water and the rate could be a matter of six months or it could be a matter of years depending on whether the vessel drifted around some of the garbage patches in the Atlantic or made a straight journey across," he said.

Mr Ebbesmeyer said the vessels "symbolise what price people are willing to pay to gain their freedom in the United States".
"I would reflect on questions. Did the people make it? Are they in the United States? Did they die? Did they perish a terrible death out in the middle of the Atlantic?"
"They're really worth moments of reflection as you walk by," he said.

Standing on Cliffoney beach as the waves of the north Atlantic break beneath a grey sky, Gordon Fallis said he is glad he discovered more about the boat.
"It's just great to be able to contact people who are able to identify it for me otherwise I would have just walked on past it thinking "that's a strange boat on the beach" and that would have been the last I would have heard of it," he said.

While the fate of those on board may never be known, the discovery has helped to bring the story of the Cuban refugees to people thousands of miles away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-38795032

A thought-provoking story. Many, many photos on page.
 
Late last year, the Netherlands defense ministry confirmed that two of its ships lost during World War II had disappeared from the bottom of the Java Sea, likely the result of illegal salvaging. Now, a trio of Japanese shipwrecks off Borneo have likewise been torn apart for scrap, highlighting what appears to be a growing problem.

As reported in The Guardian, the three shipwrecks—the Kokusei Maru, Higane Maru, and Hiyori Maru—have been stripped to practically nothing. Collectively known as the Usukan Bay Wrecks (also known as the “Rice Bowl Wrecks” on account of their cargo), all three are within a kilometer of each other, and are prized by recreational divers for their near-pristine condition and rich aquatic life. The three cargo ships were torpedoed off the coast of Borneo in 1944 by US forces, and may still hold the remains of dozens of crewmen.

The incident bears a striking resemblance to the disappearance of two Dutch wrecks lost during the Battle of the Java Sea. In both cases, blame is being pointed directly at illegal salvaging operations. But in the case of the missing Japanese wrecks, there appears to be some complicity from a local university.


http://gizmodo.com/world-war-ii-shipwrecks-are-vanishing-at-an-alarming-ra-1792179896

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...japanese-wwii-shipwrecks-torn-apart-for-scrap
 
We've just stumbled upon this link, I didn't know anything about this shipwreck off Cromer's coast. The St. Mark ... it looks military to me ? .. we can't find anything out about it online yet ..


edit: and another one ..

 
Last edited:
We've just stumbled upon this link, I didn't know anything about this shipwreck off Cromer's coast. The St. Mark ... it looks military to me ? .. we can't find anything out about it online yet ..
Could be a small coaster or supply vessel, or even a fishing boat (there's a hint of a Fishing Number on her side).

But here's the answer (found using DDG, not Gargle!):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Mark
ex-Grimsby trawler GY.210 was converted into an Oil Rig Support Vessel ( LT.327)

Built as the CAPTAIN FOLEY in 1960 by John Lewis & Sons Ltd, Aberdeen; Yard No: 294; Launched: Tuesday 24th May 1960; Registered: Tuesday 5th June 1962; Forecastle: 28 feet; Official Number: 302523. Call Sign: GHFA; Original owners: Iago Steam Trawler Co Ltd, London, No LO.33;

March 1972 became BOSTON TRISTAR and registered as GY.210;

In August 1976 bought by Colne Shipping Co Ltd, Lowestoft;

In October 1976 vessel renamed ST. MARK and registered as LT.327;

In 1980 vessel converted to an Oil Rig Support Vessel;

Fate: Sank following a collision with Vikingbank. The ST. MARK was later located off the north Norfolk coast in the vicinity of Cromer.

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?70574
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a bottle of whisky you owe me! :p
 
Could be a small coaster or supply vessel, or even a fishing boat (there's a hint of a Fishing Number on her side).

But here's the answer (found using DDG, not Gargle!):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Mark
ex-Grimsby trawler GY.210 was converted into an Oil Rig Support Vessel ( LT.327)

Built as the CAPTAIN FOLEY in 1960 by John Lewis & Sons Ltd, Aberdeen; Yard No: 294; Launched: Tuesday 24th May 1960; Registered: Tuesday 5th June 1962; Forecastle: 28 feet; Official Number: 302523. Call Sign: GHFA; Original owners: Iago Steam Trawler Co Ltd, London, No LO.33;

March 1972 became BOSTON TRISTAR and registered as GY.210;

In August 1976 bought by Colne Shipping Co Ltd, Lowestoft;

In October 1976 vessel renamed ST. MARK and registered as LT.327;

In 1980 vessel converted to an Oil Rig Support Vessel;

Fate: Sank following a collision with Vikingbank. The ST. MARK was later located off the north Norfolk coast in the vicinity of Cromer.

http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?70574
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a bottle of whisky you owe me! :p
.. and a cigar Rynn .. thank you very much ! .. ;)
 
Tankard awarded to Cornish shipwreck hero fetches £8k
25 February 2017

A tankard awarded to a smuggler and pub landlord for his "brave and noble actions" following a shipwreck has been sold at auction for £8,100.

The Norwegian ship Elizabeth Bergen smashed into cliffs at Gunwalloe, Cornwall, during a storm in 1846.
Three crew members were killed but Henry Cuttance, landlord of the Ship Inn rescued the ship's master and three other men.
The King of Norway rewarded his bravery with a silver mug.

Graham Bazley, of Penzance auctioneers WH Lane, said the tankard achieved well in excess of the guide price of £5,500 after "fierce telephone bidding".

The Elizabeth Bergen was wrecked on 20 November 1846 while carrying a cargo of salt back to Norway.
As the vessel tried to weather the storm off Cornwall's south coast it was blown aground at the base of the cliffs in Gunwalloe and, according to reports at the time, was "smashed to matchsticks" within half an hour.

Mr Cuttance hauled three of the ship's company and its master from the wreckage before sending out a search party to look for survivors.
On finding three more men cowering at the bottom of the cliffs, Mr Cuttance and his helpers lowered hot coffee and bread to the stranded men while they prepared a chair on a rope to haul them to safety in a 10-hour operation.

In recognition of Mr Cuttance's heroism the King of Norway presented him with a silver tankard.
It was auctioned earlier along with a number of other items from Mr Cuttance's colourful life, including a ledger detailing his stock and sales of smuggled goods which included cheese, brandy and bales of cotton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-39069688

Gunwalloe is a couple of miles SE of Porthleven. It faces SW, so is a notorious lee shore in the prevailing westerlies. Many an old sailing ship found itself trapped in Mounts Bay in these conditions.
 
A treasure map drawn in space.


http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/astronauts-treasure-map-space-may-lead-untold-riches

more at link above, it winds up in promotion of a tv show about searching for the wrecks.
-----------------------------------------
Unlike other stories involving cryptic maps and lost treasure, this one starts not on Earth but 160 miles above it.

In 1963, Col. Gordon Cooper, one of NASA's original seven astronauts, spent a record-setting 34 hours in orbit around the planet. While the official purpose of his mission was to study the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the human body, the U.S. government was also interested in what his eyes could tell them. To that end, they tasked Cooper with taking thousands of photos using long-range detection equipment to search for possible Soviet nuclear sites near U.S. shores.

"Man, all I do is take pictures, pictures, pictures. I’m up to 5,245 now,” Cooper told Mission Control from space.

Long before online programs like Google Maps could give us all eyes on the planet, Cooper's perspective on Earth afforded him an unprecedented opportunity to see objects not possible otherwise. And this is how, while cruising over the clear waters of the Caribbean, he started noticing some strange underwater anomalies. In fact, during his time in space, he photographed over a hundred of these shallow water sites, later deducing that they could only be shipwrecks.
 
Unknown wreck of German boat found in Scapa Flow
  • 28 April 2017
_95833056_wreck.png
Image copyrightSIMON BROWN/DEEP3D.CO.UK
Image captionExperts have created a three dimensional image of the sunken wreck
A previously undocumented German wreck has been discovered in Scapa Flow.

The vessel is believed to be a pinnace - a small boat which would have acted as a supply boat for larger ships.

It is likely to have gone down with its parent ship when the German High Seas Fleet was scuttled in 1919, following the end of World War One.

A team from Orkney diving boat MV Valkyrie came across the wreck after an unexpected object was picked up on sonar equipment.

Diver Simon Brown expected to find a lump of anti-torpedo boom net.

Instead he discovered a German vessel which has lain undiscovered for almost 100 years.

Skipper Hazel Weaver told BBC Radio Scotland: "There's lots of piles of steel boom netting dumped after the First World War and the Second World War in Scapa Flow and we assumed it was a pile of that."

_95833054_valkyrie.jpg

Image captionThe boat was discovered by the crew on board the MV Valkyrie
She said Mr Brown offered to investigate the discovery and he was in the water for about an hour.

"He took a lot of photos and came back up very, very excited," she added.

Ms Weaver said they had not come across similar vessels previously, so they consulted Kevin Heath of local diving services firm Sula Diving.

"He identified it as a motor pinnace, or diesel pinnace, from the German High Seas Fleet," she said.

"It's a remarkable discovery, especially to find such a wreck even with all the brass works still in tact."

_95833052_equipment.jpg

Image captionThe wreckage of the German vessel was picked up by sonar equipment
More than 50 German ships sunk to the bottom of Scapa Flow on 19 June 1919.

Most were removed from the water after the war but local people say seven remain on the sea bed.

Ms Weaver said there are still a lot of artefacts to be discovered below the surface of the water and experts are using sonar to survey the area.

"More are being found all the time," she said. "Other operators in Scapa Flow are also looking for these smaller items because they represent a slice of history that is more or less being forgotten now."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-39745240
 
Back
Top