Do fundo do mar... Sea bottom

Living along the mighty Mississippi, it is not unusual to see barges traveling up and down the river. These ships are an essential part of everyday life, but how much is known about them or the ships that have traveled before them?

Nautical archaeologists like Kevin Crisman study the remains of boat and shipwrecks and the societies that created and used them.

Crisman, associate professor of nautical archaeology at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas has been excavating shipwrecks since the late 1970s.

Crisman will speak at 6:30 p.m. today in Somsen Auditorium on the Winona State University campus. His speech will examine the transition from wind powered ships to steam powered vessels and how the transition changed the North American society and economy during the first half of the 19th century.

His specialty is ships of the last 500 years and he has investigated numerous wrecks including naval ships, horse ferries and shipwrecks of the War of 1812. Since 2002, he has been directing the excavation of the “Heroine,” a steamboat built in 1832 that was discovered under a cow pasture in Swink, Okla.

“You can learn so much more about the past by

looking at the material that’s left behind rather than looking in the history books,” he said. “The great thing about archaeology is it sometimes lets you tell the stories about people that didn’t get written down. We maybe can’t name them, but we can tell what their life was like.”

Crisman’s speech, “Something New Under the Sun: An Archeological View of Steam Power on North American Waters,” is part of WSU’s Lyceum Series and will coincide with the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s current collection titled “Wood and Wind to Steel and Steam.”

The collection is part of the Burrichter-Kierlin exhibit of marine paintings and artifacts that will be on display until Nov. 25.

Jon Swanson, curator of collections and exhibits at the museum, was a student at Texas A&M, where Crisman teaches, and worked with Crisman on the Red River project.

“He’s very passionate about what he does,” Swanson said as he described Crisman’s work ethic. “He loves research, he loves doing field work and diving.”

Admission to Crisman’s speech is $2 for the public and is free for Minnesota Marine Art Museum members, and students, faculty and staff of area colleges and universities.

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iol.co.za
June 21, 2007


The wreckage of a steamship that sank in 1850 after its boilers exploded has been discovered at the bottom of Lake Erie.

Thomas Kowalczk, an amateur shipwreck prospector, used sonar on his boat to discover the General Anthony Wayne in 15m of water, about 13km north of this northeast Ohio city, the Great Lakes Historical Society announced on Wednesday.

The side-wheel steamship, named in honour of Revolutionary War hero General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, sank in April 1850 while en route from the Toledo area to Buffalo, New York. Thirty-eight of the 93 passengers and crew on board died.

"I researched everything I could about it and knew the general area where the ship went down," Kowalczk said. "I laid out a grid search pattern and starting hunting."

Kowalczk saw an image of the wreckage on his sonar screen in September. He dived down in May and photographed the wreckage, which is in two sections.

Kowalczk and other members of the Cleveland Underwater Explorers plan to survey the wreck later this summer when underwater visibility improves.

The wreck belongs to the state and salvaging it is illegal, but divers can visit what is left of the ship after it is surveyed and the coordinates are disclosed, said Christopher Gillcrist, executive director of the historical society.


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CourierMail.com.au
By Luce Carne
June 17, 2007


THE century-old mystery of a galleon believed to be buried in a North Stradbroke Island swamp could finally be solved within months.

Rumours have long circulated that the remains of a 16th or 17th-century Spanish or Portuguese vessel lie in the snake-infested 18 Mile Swamp at the southern end of the Moreton Bay island.
Tales persist of Aborigines finding gold coins and amateur explorers stripping the ship of its anchor, fastenings and planks.

Brisbane archeologist Greg Jefferys has been searching for the wreck for nearly 20 years and is confident he is closing in.

Last week he found three metal artefacts – a brass button, a sword blade and a fishing weight – that point towards the presence of other mariners on the Australian east coast well before Captain Cook make his voyage of discovery in 1770.

Boosted by his latest findings, Jefferys has accepted an offer from geophysics company UltraMag to do a free spectral analysis of the swamp. The scan, which normally would cost about $20,000, should detect the presence of any metals in the swap's vegetation.

"I really think there is a strong possibility of uncovering where it is. I think I will find it this year," Mr Jefferys said.

He hopes the ship was carrying treasure.

"I've spoken to quite a few people over the years who have told me they've seen gold Spanish coins circulating in the Stradbroke Island community," he said.

"One guy, Frank Boyce, who lived there in the 1920s and '30s, was taken to the wreck by Aborigines after he saved the life of an Aboriginal woman who was drowning.

"He said they told him they had been taken the gold over the years to pay for things in town."

Mr Jefferys said the artefacts he found recently also were strong indicators of a Spanish presence on Stradbroke Island.

He said the rapier blade was of an unusual style, popular in 16th-century Spain.

"The construction of the brass button also puts it within 100 years of that period," he said.

"The lead weight I think was made by the wreck's survivors for fishing nets because it's very crude."

Mr Jefferys said he found the artefacts about 900m inland, suggesting the ship had gone aground hundreds of years ago and the island's sand had built up around it.

Queensland Museum maritime heritage senior curator Peter Gesner said the theory that the first European explorers of Australia were Spanish or Portuguese was "all cloak and daggers".

"If they did, they never came back," he said. "But it's very unlikely as this was not their stomping ground.

"It's quite possible something was seen but the big question is why does it have to be Spanish or Portuguese or pre-date Cook?

"Every time someone comes up with what they think is evidence we can confidently prove it's not Spanish or Portuguese.

"I'm sure (Jefferys) has found something; it's the interpretation that is wishful thinking."

Redland Shire councillor Craig Ogilvie welcomed the possibility of the wreck's discovery. "If someone can finally put the rumours to bed, that is a good thing," he said.

But he warned weekend treasure hunters to stay away from the island.

"We don't need amateur archeologists traipsing through the swamp – leave it to the professionals," he said.


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CDNN
June 14, 2007


VICTORIA, Australia -- The SS Alert, the ill-fated cargo ship that met its demise more than 100 years ago off the Victorian coast, will be preserved and protected for evermore in its watery grave.

Yesterday, news reports revealed that after nearly two years of painstaking work combing the ocean floor, a group of volunteer marine archaeologists had found the Alert, sitting beneath 80 metres of water in Bass Strait off Cape Schanck.

Now, the Victorian Government has moved to preserve the Alert permanently, affording it the highest level of heritage protection.

Disturbing, damaging or removing items from historic shipwrecks, such as the Alert, can attract a prison sentence or fines of up to $10,000 for a person, and $50,000 for a company.

Planning Minister Justin Madden said the Alert was an important part of Victoria's extensive sea history.

"I would like to congratulate the Southern Ocean Exploration team, a committed group of volunteers, for this marvellous discovery, which is yet another wonderful contribution to our maritime heritage," he said.

The SS Alert sank the night of December 28, 1893, after being caught in a ferocious storm. The ship was ill-equipped for the open water (it had been built for placid Scottish lochs) and sank without a trace.

Fifteen people went down with the ship, and only the Alert's cook, Robert Ponting, survived, by clinging to a piece of cabin door for more than 16 hours.

Until this month, the exact location of the SS Alert was not known, until Southern Ocean Exploration, led by Mark Ryan, discovered it, still largely intact.

The exact location of the wreck has been passed on to Heritage Victoria, but it will not be released publicly. At 80 metres below the surface, it is too deep for most divers to reach anyway.

The Alert is officially in Commonwealth waters. Planning Minister Justin Madden said Heritage Victoria would write to the Federal Government to recommend it be made off limits to anyone without a heritage permit.


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By Steve Kornacki

June 10, 2007

EGMONT KEY - There is little sign of the horror U.S. Navy crewmembers experienced offshore of this island on Jan. 3, 1866, when the Union Civil War tugboat the USS Narcissus ran into a shoal during a storm and exploded.

All 29 perished and were never found. However, the remains of the 115-ton tug are nestled above and beneath the ever-churning sands northwest of Egmont Key.

The vessel's shattered steam engine boiler - which burst like a bomb when the cold Gulf waters hit it - is about three miles from shore, along with its A-frame engine, drive shaft, huge propeller, double walls and other parts now covered by barnacles, sponges, algae and worms.

The tugboat graveyard, home to feeding saltwater fish for the past 141 years, now has frequent visitors wearing dive tanks, masks and wet suits. Divers from The Florida Aquarium have been studying it since last summer when the downtown Tampa aquarium received grant money from the state's Bureau of Historic Preservation.

Mike Terrell, the aquarium's dive training coordinator, is supervising the project along with contracted St. Augustine archaeologist John W. "Billy" Morris. Terrell says The Florida Aquarium plans to replicate the wreckage for display in its 93,000-gallon Shark Bay exhibit. They also hope to have it declared an underwater archaeological preserve by the state.

"There is so little Civil War history in this state," Terrell said, "and now everyone will be able to see some of it without getting wet."

For now, the privilege of perusing the boat is only for the aquarium's staff and volunteer divers. On Wednesday, a group of six ventured out to check its wreckage and another sunken vessel within a mile of it.

As the 25-foot Miss Bee Gee research boat motored past Egmont Key, Morris squinted into the rushing wind and raised his voice, saying, "Egmont looked just like that when the Narcissus went down, only the waters were much rougher. The lighthouse was there, but the light was turned out."

Confederates had turned off the lighthouse's beacon to prevent its use by Union blockade purposes. Had the light provided better guidance into Tampa Bay, would the Narcissus have missed the shoal? We'll never know.

'Damn The Torpedoes!'
The 82-foot tug, named the Mary Cook until commissioned by the Navy, took part in the Battle of Mobile Bay, where Union Adm. David Farragut exclaimed, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!"

The Narcissus survived that naval operation and a blockade of New Orleans, but was sunk by a Confederate torpedo - the term then for exploding mines - in Mobile Bay on Dec. 7, 1864. It went down in 15 minutes but no lives were lost. The Narcissus was raised and taken to Pensacola for repairs. It finished out the war there before departing to New York on New Year's Day 1866 for decommissioning.

Two days later, the tug exploded in one of the worst U.S. Navy disasters up to that point. Morris, who specializes in underwater ship archaeology, said he was part of a Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research crew that discovered the Narcissus in 1992. When he returned last August, Morris was surprised to find how much more of the remains had become exposed.

"The hurricanes from a couple years ago had something to do with it," Morris said, "but it was left more exposed mostly by the recent dredgings in the area. That all moved away 10 feet of sand.

"I'm fascinated by how intact the engine is. The details of it are spectacular. It was an inverted single-cylinder engine, and it fell over the port side upon the explosion. When we found this much of it preserved, I suggested we replicate it."

Photographs and precise measurements have been taken to assure the fiberglass version of the Narcissus is just like the actual wreckage.

An Accurate Depiction
The undisturbed pieces of the tug were mapped by staff divers and 10 trained volunteers who averaged 11 dives each. Morris said the remains belong to the Navy, and no excavating is allowed.

"When you are down there, you are focused on the task at hand," Morris said. "But on the way back in the boat, it hits you what you've just seen and touched."

Morris has been to the wreckage more than 50 times. He became hooked on underwater archaeology as a teenager in Wilmington, N.C., when the USS Monitor, the storied Civil War ironclad, was discovered in 1973.

"I fell in love with it and have done lots of Civil War naval archaeology," he said.

"Billy knows so much about ship construction that it's crazy," Terrell said.

Each of the dozens of dives to the Narcissus led by Morris followed the same procedures and disciplines.

After ship captain and aquarium staff diver supervisor Jason Minnear dropped anchor at the global positioning system coordinates for the Narcissus, Morris did a back roll off the research boat and dived to locate it before calling for the rest.

Other divers, each with a predetermined role in that day's plotting, took to the water with tape measures, level lines, plumb bobs, compasses, pencils and a slate covered with a special plastic paper to record details.

"These are field trips that people pay to go out on with National Geographic," said Dan Rosenthal of Tampa, a trained aquarium diving volunteer. "This is the kind of thing you read about in magazines."

Their efforts eventually will bring the Narcissus to the public with the aquarium exhibit, which Terrell says should be realized by late 2008 or in 2009. He also hopes that the site becomes the 14th shipwreck site recognized by the state as an underwater archaeological preserve.

Terrell said, "It's not skeletons hanging on the ship's wheel, the vision of shipwrecks for most people. But you go down there or see photos of the ship, and you can be told a very dramatic, very engaging story."


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China.org.cn

June 08, 2007

Archeologists are proffering their guesses as to the function of a ring excavated from the "Nanhai No.1" undersea archeological site, according to Guangzhou Daily reports.

Tong Mingkang, vice director of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, made the guess after he visited the archeological site in person, saying the so-called bracelet made of pure gold may actually be a semi-finished ornate door knocker.

Tong said that the ring is too big to be a bracelet; bracelets often measure six or seven centimeters in diameter, while this particular ring measures about 10 centimeters. Furthermore, bracelets are typically complete circles, while this artifact has the upper section left open. Tong said he thinks this part may have been attached to a door or a trunk.

Tong's opinion gained support from some local citizens, who concurred that the ring does indeed resemble the knockers on the doors of their traditional homes.

However, other experts firmly believe that the salvaged objects are bracelets.

Archeologist Du Yubing said that, in ancient China, the social hierarchy was strictly defined and adhered to. This ring, made from valuable gold, matches the style of the era’s imperial class. Additionally, based on the fact that the "Nanhai No.1" was exporting goods to consumers at the other end of the maritime Silk Road, Du said, this ring is more likely to be a bracelet.

Other experts say that if the gold ring is a door-knocker, there is a chance that the attachment might be found somewhere in or around the wreckage.

Nanhai No.1 was found accidentally in 1987. The ship, more than 25 meters long, is the largest cargo ship from the Song Dynasty so far discovered.

The total value of the shipwreck may be over US$100 billion.


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PilotOnline.com
By Catherine Kozak
June 07, 2007


A bill that would have provided the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum $500,000 for

Over two decades of planning, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum has come to embody what it is meant to interpret, inviting metaphors of survival and desperate struggle.

Instead of the seething seas and shifting shoals that destroyed thousands of ships off the Outer Banks, however, the yet-to-be-completed shipwreck museum on the tip of Hatteras Island has most lately been caught in the deadly doldrums of the state budget.

A bill that would have absorbed the museum into the state Department of Cultural Resources and provided $500,000 for two years for administrative costs has not been moved in the General Assembly, Rep. Tim Spear said Wednesday from his Raleigh office.

That means a proposal that could have rescued the museum from years of treading fiscal waters is likely to be dead by the end of session.

"It's just a competition for state funds," he said. "It's just a matter of priorities. I do know that under the House budget, we funded very few, if any, new local projects."

Spear, a Creswell Democrat and bill co-sponsor, said he is seeking state or private money from other pots for the museum.

"It's at a critical stage right now," he said. "It's difficult for them to continue to operate."

A feasibility study done last year by an ad hoc state committee determined that the museum is of statewide historical significance and represents a topic not adequately covered in other state institutions. Based on the study, the committee concluded that the museum would best fit within the Division of State History Museums.

Danny Couch, the museum's board chairman, said that it's more than stretched budgets that contributed to the state snub.

"To some extent, it's politics," he said. "North Carolina needs to stand up and acknowledge the maritime history we have in this state."

More than 2,000 shipwrecks lie off the coast of Hatteras and Ocracoke alone, said museum E xecutive D irector Joseph Schwarzer. When he arrived in 1995, it was thought that there were 1,000 wrecks off the entire North Carolina coast.

"It's a huge, huge cultural resource, both state and nationally," Schwarzer said.

The concept of the museum was born in 1986, not long after the discovery of the remains of the Civil War ironclad Monitor off Hatteras. The museum - partnered with the National Park Service, the owner of the 7-acre museum site - and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, broke ground in 1999.

Although the ship like exterior of the 19,000-square-foot building is complete, the interior - including the critical gallery space - is not. But even with limited exhibits, the museum has become a popular free attraction since it opened in 2003, with a total of 170,000 people visiting - 9,000 so far this year.

With $2.7 million more needed to complete the $7.3 million project, including about $1.2 million for the exhibits, Schwarzer said the state has only to gain by accepting the museum.

"We've proved our value and our worth to the state of North Carolina," he said. "I think we're becoming more and more a destination for tourism."

Schwarzer said it costs $270,065 annually to operate the museum. Right now, revenue is about $67,000 from museum vanity tags, $40,000 in donations and whatever else can be raised. It is not yet known what the profits from the newly purchased museum store will be.

Schwarzer concedes that the museum's future is uncertain beyond June.

"Right now, it's very much hand-to-mouth," Schwarzer said. "If there is no support forthcoming from the state, if there's no private support, then it will be difficult to stay open. Without money, you can't keep things rolling."


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Newsday.com
By Joe Wojtas
June 07, 2007


GROTON, Conn. -- The Ocean Technology Foundation plans to return to the North Sea in August to prove that one of the wrecks it found last summer is the Bonhomme Richard sailed by John Paul Jones.

It was in September 1779, as the cannonballs from the H.M.S. Serapis turned the Bonhomme Richard into a burning hulk, that Jones heard one of his crewman try to surrender.

It was then that Jones is said to have uttered one of the most famous lines in U.S. history.

"I have not yet begun to fight!" he yelled to the British captain.

The crew of the Bonhomme Richard eventually captured the Serapis after a bloody, three-hour battle, but the Bonhomme Richard sank off Flamborough Head in northeast England.

Last week Melissa Ryan, the project manager for the foundation, outlined what it hopes to accomplish during four days in August when it will use a remotely operated vehicle to find evidence that one of the five sites it located last summer is that of the 151-foot Bonhomme Richard.

"We're cautiously optimistic," she said. "One of them is in the right place and looks like what might be left of a buried, wooden ship that sank 228 years ago."

That wreck will be the first one the expedition visits during its around-the-clock search aboard the research vessel Oceanus, based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod.

Using the vehicle's video and still cameras and a mechanical arm that can retrieve artifacts, the team hopes to find evidence that one of the wrecks is the Bonhomme Richard. While much of the wood likely would have rotted away by now, metal items would have survived.

Ryan said such items include iron ballast that the ship was known to have been carrying as well as cannons, cooking utensils, china and knives. One of the promising sites the expedition found last summer using sonar and a magnetometer appears to contain a large amount of iron ballast.

Ryan said one way to begin to amass a circumstantial case for one of the wrecks is to find a drinking mug, which sailors used to carve their initials into. If one was found, those initials could be matched with the list of crewmen known to have been aboard the ship at the time of the battle.

Half the men aboard the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis died in the battle. One of those who survived was midshipman Nathaniel Fanning of Stonington.

The wreck sites are in 150 to 180 feet of water within 25 miles of the English coast, where people watched the battle from the cliffs on Flamborough Head.

Ryan said one of the wreck sites was previously undiscovered while the other four had been charted but there is no information about them.

Ryan said the foundation plans to return to the North Sea in future years until it can positively identify the Bonhomme Richard, do a detailed archaeological study of the wreck, and retrieve and preserve artifacts.

"This is not just looking for a shipwreck. There's much more to it than that," she said.

In addition to the U.S. Navy, the British and French governments also have an interest in the ship. The French loaned the ship to the United States and were never paid for it. Ryan said the foundation has already met with the French ambassador to the United States.

The cost of this summer's expedition is estimated at $350,000, and the foundation still needs to raise another $75,000. The Navy's Supervisor of Salvage and Office of Naval Research are providing the ROV and paying for the cost of using the Oceanus.

"Everything is coming together. We've had some nice support," Ryan said.

While there have been other efforts to find the ship, the one by the foundation is considered to have incorporated the most extensive research.

The nonprofit organization, which is head by Jack Ringelberg of Stonington and based at the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus, first created an hour-by-hour timeline of the battle. It used eyewitness accounts of the battle; information from ship's logs, such as wind direction, weather and battle damage assessments; the tides at the time; and sightings of the ship's position during the 36 hours it drifted after the battle.

The foundation then built a three-dimensional model based on the Bonhomme Richard's plans to help determine how the damaged hull would have drifted. The group then worked with a Rhode Island firm that came up with computer models to determine the direction of the drift. It is the same method the Coast Guard uses to track oil spills and lost ships.

Charts of wrecks that have been identified further reduced the search area where the five targets were located this summer.

"We know a whole lot about where it sank," Ryan said.

If the foundation can identify the wreck this summer it would come on the 100th anniversary of Jones' body being returned to the United States from France, where he had died and was buried.

Jones is now buried in a crypt at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

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On the Web: www.bonhommerichard.org


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The Buffalo News
June 07, 2006





NEW YORK — A glistening USS Intrepid, fresh from a full-body makeover, arrived in style Wednesday at Staten Island to the cheers, hoots and hollers of former crew members and World War II veterans.

“It’s like running into an old girlfriend who had a face-lift,” said 82-year-old Ray Stone, a former Navy radar man who served on board the Intrepid from 1943 to 1945.

Stone was among about 400 people who attended the arrival and a wreath-laying ceremony on the 63rd anniversary of DDay, one of the most momentous events of World War II.

“I feel so humbled to be in the presence of World War II veterans and all our veterans,” said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. “We will never forget their sacrifices.”

The 912-foot-long aircraft carrier-turned-museum was towed stern-first into the Staten Island Homeport to begin the last leg of its two-year renovation, an 18-month interior refurbishment.


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IOL.com
June 06, 2007


Seoul - A South Korean fisherman has reportedly discovered a precious haul of ancient pottery - thanks to an octopus which attached its suckers to a plate.

Kim Yong-Chul caught more than he bargained for when he went fishing on May 18, according to the website of the Chosun Ilbo newspaper seen on Wednesday.

Shards of ancient celadon pottery were attached to the suckers of several webfoot octopuses which he netted. One was stuck to a complete plate dating back to the Koryo Dynasty, which ruled the peninsula from 916 to 1392.

Kim, 58, reported the discovery to the National Maritime Museum. In an urgent exploration, the museum found 30 12th-century bowls and plates from the seabed off Taean, 90 kilometres southwest of Seoul.

"It seems that a ship carrying Koryo pottery in the 12th century was wrecked there," Mun Hwan-Seok, a museum official, was quoted as saying.

"The pottery we discovered is not of the highest quality made for royals but is seen as precious relics showing the beauty of Koryo pottery."

The museum will reward Kim after launching a full recovery next month.

Several shipwrecks filled with relics including ancient pottery have been found along the west coast, where many kilns were established in the Koryo era.


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Deseret News
By Ciaran Giles
June 06, 2007


MADRID, Spain — A Spanish court has ordered police to capture and search two vessels belonging to a Florida firm that recently announced it had found a shipwreck in the Atlantic Ocean laden with an estimated $500 million worth of Colonial-era treasure, news reports said Tuesday.

The court in the southern port city of Cadiz instructed police to capture the vessels should they leave the British colony of Gibraltar, on Spain's southern tip, and enter Spanish waters, leading radio station Cadena SER and other media outlets reported.

The reports came out late Tuesday night after the court had closed and it was not immediately possible to confirm them.

The two ships, "Odyssey Explorer" and "Ocean Alert," belong to Odyssey Marine Exploration and are believed to have been involved in the exploration that led to the discovery of the treasure disputed by Spain.

Spain last month filed claims in a U.S. federal court over Odyssey's find, arguing that if the shipwrecked vessel was Spanish or was removed from its waters, any treasure would belong to the country.

In Britain, the find generated press reports that Odyssey had salvaged the wreck of the long-sought British vessel Merchant Royal, which sank in bad weather off England in 1641. Odyssey has not confirmed or denied these reports.

Odyssey insists the shipwreck was outside any country's territorial waters but would not give the exact location or name of the ship. It has said the treasure of gold and silver coins was flown back to the United States from Gibraltar.

Speaking by telephone Tuesday from the United States, Odyssey co-chairman Greg Stemm said Spanish police were welcome to board the ships whenever they wanted.

"Everything we have done we have reported to the Guardia Civil (police). We have invited them on board the ship before and we welcome them to come on board anytime they want to see the ship or inspect what we are doing," said Stemm.

"And we have had a standing invitation for archeologists from Spain to join us since January of 2006 and we still have that invitation out there," he added.

Cadena SER said Spanish Civil Guard police were to be posted off Gibraltar port in preparation should the vessels try to leave. The court order said the ships should be taken to a Spanish port so that their holds can be searched. The ships cannot be boarded by Spanish police as long as they remain in Gibraltar.

Culture Minister Carmen Calvo described the order as "magnificent news," and said the Spanish navy would be prepared to help in the capture, if necessary.

"International laws are behind us and if anything outside the law occurred it will have an answer, and what is ours will return to Spain," the national news agency Efe quoted Calvo as saying.

The minister added that Spain had asked Britain and the United States for information regarding the customs papers used by the plane that transported the coins out of Gibraltar.


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al.com

By George Werneth
June 04, 2007

The remains of a Confederate sailor recovered from the wreckage of the famed CSS Alabama at the bottom of the English Channel will be brought to Mobile in late July for burial.

Skeletal remains of the unidentified sailor were discovered a few years ago encrusted on the bottom of a cannon, but the find was kept quiet pending further examination, according to Mobile lawyer Robert Edington, who is president of the Mobile-based CSS Alabama Association.

Edington said the remains are "definitely" those of a Confederate sailor and will be buried July 28 at Confederate Rest in Magnolia Cemetery. Some 1,100 other Confederate service members are interred there.

The Alabama, which preyed on Union merchant ships around the world during the Civil War, was sunk June 19, 1864, in a battle with the USS Kearsarge about seven miles off the coast of France.

The Alabama's commanding officer, Raphael Semmes, and about 40 of his men were plucked out of the channel by the British yacht Deerhound and taken to England. Others were picked up by the Kearsarge or by French boaters who were watching the battle.

But about a dozen crew members drowned or were never heard from. Edington said the Confederate warship had a crew of about 120.

Some 400 artifacts have been recovered since a French naval mine hunter found the wreck on Oct. 30, 1984. The wreck lies in about 200 feet of water.

The cannon was raised by American archaeologists during the summer of 2002 and sent to the Warren Lasch Conservation Laboratory in North Charleston, S.C., according to Shea McLean, the Museum of Mobile's curator of collections.

McLean said he has worked at the lab as a staff archaeologist both on the CSS Alabama and the Confederate submarine CSS Hunley.

"I found human remains sometime in 2003," McLean said. The remains were on the underside of the cannon, as if it had crushed the sailor.

McLean said the remains were eventually sent to U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, which took DNA samples.

He said there is no doubt that these are the remains of a Confederate sailor and he hopes to use the DNA to trace down the sailor's descendants, through a list of the crew.

Edington said the remains will be shipped to Mobile in conjunction with a national convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to be held in July at the newly renovated Battle House Hotel downtown. The convention is being hosted by Raphael Semmes Camp 11 of the SCV, and burial will be with full military honors.

"We are confident that this will be the last Confederate sailor to be buried," Edington said, noting a lack of other sites likely to hold any Confederate sailors' remains. No other human skeletal remains have been found at the Alabama's wreckage site.

About 200 artifacts were recovered from the CSS Alabama by the French in the 1990s and about 200 more were recovered after Americans took over the wreck exploration with French cooperation. Most of the artifacts have been turned over to the U.S. Department of the Navy for restoration.

The last dives on the wreck site occurred in 2005, and have not been resumed because of a lack of funding, Edington said.

Semmes, the commanding officer of the CSS Alabama, spent the last years of his life in Mobile and is buried in Mobile's Catholic Cemetery.



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The Charlotte Observer
June 03, 2007


BEAUFORT, N.C. --Ten years and $2 million have yet to result in a "smoking blunderbuss" that proves a shipwreck off the coast of Beaufort belonged to the notorious pirate Blackbeard.

But researchers say they haven't found anything among the cannons, coins, anchors, and other artifacts that rules it out.

"Ten years of archaeological and historical research all say it's the Queen Anne's Revenge," said Lindley Butler, of Wentworth, the historian on the shipwreck project.

Some state officials stop short of confirming the oldest shipwreck ever found in North Carolina waters belonged to Blackbeard. They say it's best to remain cautious because the state's reputation is on the line.

"I ... won't let them," said Jeffrey Crow, a deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. "There's a slim possibility that it could be another shipwreck."

But even if it turns out not to be the French slave ship many believe Blackbeard captured in 1717 and renamed Queen Anne's Revenge before it ran aground off Atlantic Beach a year later, the decade of research and examination have been worth the effort, said Jerry Cashion, chairman of the N.C. Historical Commission.

"This is the most important maritime wreck in North Carolina regardless of what it is," Cashion said. " ... It's a treasure trove."

The French frigate measured about 100 feet long with three masts and a crew of 150 to 200. The shipwreck, discovered in late 1996, is within sight of Fort Macon State Park in 23 feet of water.

"What you see is the ballast stone pile, large anchors and stacks of cannons," Butler said of the 3-foot-high pile of artifacts that covers an area about 20 feet by 25 feet. "I have never seen anything like that."

Scientists believe the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge has laid buried under the shifting sands of Beaufort Inlet.

Florida-based Intersal, a private research firm, received a state permit in 1989 to search for the QAR, the Adventure - one of Blackbeard's smaller ships, and El Salvador, a Spanish treasure ship that sank in the area in 1750.

What's believed to be the QAR was discovered by an Intersal crew on Nov. 21, 1996.

The following March, state officials announced the find and said it "may be" Blackbeard's flagship.

Archaeologists thought it would take five to six years to recover all the artifacts when they began the process in 1997. But they say a lack of money has slowed the effort. The state has spent about $1.2 million on the project with another $600,000-plus coming from grants and other private sources. Further excavation and conservation will likely cost another $1.4 million.

"As high-profile as it is, it has been indifferently funded," said Charlie Ewen, an anthropology professor at East Carolina University.

Only about 15 percent of artifacts have been recovered to date, including jewelry, dishes and thousands of other items that are being preserved and studied at a lab at East Carolina University.

Blackbeard, whose real name was widely believed to be Edward Teach or Thatch, settled in Bath and received a governor's pardon. Some experts believe he grew bored with land life and returned to piracy.

Five months after the ship thought to be Queen Anne's Revenge sank in June 1718, Blackbeard was killed by volunteers from the Royal Navy.

Divers plan to return to the site - weather permitting - later this week to recover more artifacts and, they hope, eventually remove any doubt the ship belonged to the most fearsome and famous among pirates.

"We haven't found ... the smoking blunderbuss," Crow said. "It's like a crime-scene investigation, just like 'CSI,' just like 'Law & Order.' "

But they might find that indisputable link.

"We are not going to find a license plate on it that says Blackbeard," said Steve Claggett, the state archaeologist. "These guys didn't keep diaries."


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Chennai Online

June 03, 2007


The exact age of Dwarka, the ancient submerged city off Gujarat coast, can now finally be determined.

In a major breakthrough, archaeologists have excavated from the ruins of Dwarka a wooden block that promises to solve the mystery about the exact age of the submerged city believed by many to belong to Lord Krishna.

"Now that we have found wood, we are confident of dating the excavations. We will know exactly how old is this submerged city," Alok Tripathi, superintending archaeologist of the Underwater Archaeology Wing of the Archaeological Survey of India, said.

Archaeologists will now use the carbon-dating technique to determine the exact age of the ruins. The latest excavation at the site that began early this year concluded last week.

The earlier excavations, that first began about 40 years ago, had only revealed stones, beads, glass and terracota pieces.

"The operations resulted in retrieval of wooden block from a submerged circular structure. The blocks were joined so well with the help of wooden dowels and nails that they remained in situ despite heavy surfs and strong currents for a long period," said Tripathi, who is also an expert diver.

The samples of the excavation have been brought to the capital and shall soon be given for lab testing.

Though there had been previous excavations, each cited different dates and were based on the interpretations of scholars as there was no material evidence to back those claims.

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NDTV.com
June 01, 2007


Archaeologists in Kerala have discovered a 2000-year-old port settlement probably dating back to the first BC to third AD, in Pattanam about 50 km from the modern day port city of Kochi.

The Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) in its findings suggests that this could be the lost town of Muzires mentioned in early Roman manuscripts when ancient Rome had trade links with South India.

''Periplus mentions that the Roman ship came only up to the coast and they could not directly come up to Muzires. Then smaller boats brought goods from the ships to the site,'' said K Selvakumar, archaeologist.

''This is a Roman amphora piece, the bottom bit amphora was the jar that was meant for transporting wine, olive oil, fish sauce etc. We have found 160 pieces of amphora here,'' said P J Cherian, Director, KCHR.

Research on the site spreading across nearly 24 hectares has just begun and it might take another 10-15 years for the full extent of the settlement to be revealed. But there's evidence that the port settlement was highly developed.

''At the higher level, you find a township, a kind of urban culture evolving brick structures and a pottery that is not local,'' Cherian added.

A two thousand year old sea port, its culture and its people all shrouded in a mystery waiting to be unveiled by the slow and painstaking efforts of the archaeologists.


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