Do fundo do mar... Sea bottom
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sailors may have cruised the Med 14,000 years ago
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Reuters
By Michele Kambas
July 18, 2007
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Reuters
By Michele Kambas
July 18, 2007
NICOSIA - Archaeologists in Cyprus have discovered what they believe could be the oldest evidence yet that organized groups of ancient mariners were plying the east Mediterranean, possibly as far back as 14,000 years ago.
The find, archaeologists told Reuters on Wednesday, could also suggest the island of Cyprus, tucked in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean and about 30 miles away from the closest land mass, may have been gradually populated about that time, and up to 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.
"This is a major breakthrough in terms of the study of early Cyprus archaeology and the origins of seafaring in the Mediterranean," Pavlos Flourentzos, director of Cyprus's Department of Antiquities, told Reuters.
The discovery at a coastal site on the island's northwest has revealed chipped tools submerged in the sea and made with local stone which could be the earliest trace yet of human activity in Cyprus.
U.S. and Cypriot archaeologists conducting the research have known since 2004 that Cyprus was used by small groups of voyagers on hunting expeditions for pygmy elephants.
But the newly discovered expanse of the Aspros dig in the Akamas peninsula, which stretches into the sea, suggests the site held larger numbers of people, possibly for months.
"It shows that activity is much more organized than some isolated visit," said Tom Davis, director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) in Nicosia.
Flourentzos and Davis said the new find told archaeologists nomads knew the island well enough to find tool material, suggesting they were repeat visitors.
Archaeologists say the first human settlements in Cyprus date from 10,000 BC and are located inland. Logically, the coastal settlements should be older, and in Aspros dig case where a good deal of it is now in the sea, possibly up to 2,000 years older.
"We are trying to verify through carbon dating on bones in the area that this find is more ancient, possibly another 2,000 years," said Flourentzos, who co-directed the research project with Albert J Ammerman, an archaeologist at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
Virtually nothing is known about Mediterranean mariners of the era. There is a widely held belief they never ventured into open seas because of limited navigational abilities.
"We are looking at repeated activity here, it is more than a handful of people. For the first time in the east Mediterranean we are talking about serious sea-voyaging," said Davis.
"This was not a case of one guy, or a family blown off course. This is a number of persons coming to Cyprus, these were conscious, repeated visits," Davis said.
The find, archaeologists told Reuters on Wednesday, could also suggest the island of Cyprus, tucked in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean and about 30 miles away from the closest land mass, may have been gradually populated about that time, and up to 2,000 years earlier than previously thought.
"This is a major breakthrough in terms of the study of early Cyprus archaeology and the origins of seafaring in the Mediterranean," Pavlos Flourentzos, director of Cyprus's Department of Antiquities, told Reuters.
The discovery at a coastal site on the island's northwest has revealed chipped tools submerged in the sea and made with local stone which could be the earliest trace yet of human activity in Cyprus.
U.S. and Cypriot archaeologists conducting the research have known since 2004 that Cyprus was used by small groups of voyagers on hunting expeditions for pygmy elephants.
But the newly discovered expanse of the Aspros dig in the Akamas peninsula, which stretches into the sea, suggests the site held larger numbers of people, possibly for months.
"It shows that activity is much more organized than some isolated visit," said Tom Davis, director of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute (CAARI) in Nicosia.
Flourentzos and Davis said the new find told archaeologists nomads knew the island well enough to find tool material, suggesting they were repeat visitors.
Archaeologists say the first human settlements in Cyprus date from 10,000 BC and are located inland. Logically, the coastal settlements should be older, and in Aspros dig case where a good deal of it is now in the sea, possibly up to 2,000 years older.
"We are trying to verify through carbon dating on bones in the area that this find is more ancient, possibly another 2,000 years," said Flourentzos, who co-directed the research project with Albert J Ammerman, an archaeologist at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York.
Virtually nothing is known about Mediterranean mariners of the era. There is a widely held belief they never ventured into open seas because of limited navigational abilities.
"We are looking at repeated activity here, it is more than a handful of people. For the first time in the east Mediterranean we are talking about serious sea-voyaging," said Davis.
"This was not a case of one guy, or a family blown off course. This is a number of persons coming to Cyprus, these were conscious, repeated visits," Davis said.
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Monday, July 16, 2007
China retrieves Ming porcelain
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iol
July 16, 2007
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
iol
July 16, 2007
Beijing - Chinese archaeologists have retrieved more than 300 pieces of porcelain from an ancient shipwreck at the bottom of the South China Sea, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
Guangdong archaeologists used satellite navigation equipment to locate the sunken ship in early June. The vessel, dubbed South China Sea-II, is about 17 metres to 18 metres long and lying at a depth of 20 metres.
A preliminary study of the ship shows it may have sunk 400 years ago after striking a reef.
"These porcelain objects, mostly bowls, plates, pots and bottles, were believed to be produced in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)," Dr Wei Jun of the Guangdong Archaeology Institute, was quoted as saying. "They have a great archaeological value."
smugglers were using advanced technology to steal
The wreck came to light when local police got wind of fishermen recovering ancient porcelain objects from the sea.
The sunken ship was found just a few days after China began salvage operations at another wreck site dating back to the days of the Song emperors, who ruled between 960 and 1279.
South China Sea I, discovered in 1987, was the first ancient vessel discovered in the area along the "Marine Silk Road" linking imperial China with the West.
Foreign smugglers were using advanced technology to steal China's seabed treasures, mostly porcelain from ancient shipwrecks, the China Daily said in April. Many relics were being shipped to the United States and other antique markets.
Art collectors and dealers have been pursuing China's seabed heritage in earnest since early 2005, when about 15 000 pieces, mainly blue-and-white porcelain about 300 years old, were found in a shipwreck off the southeastern province of Fujian.
Guangdong archaeologists used satellite navigation equipment to locate the sunken ship in early June. The vessel, dubbed South China Sea-II, is about 17 metres to 18 metres long and lying at a depth of 20 metres.
A preliminary study of the ship shows it may have sunk 400 years ago after striking a reef.
"These porcelain objects, mostly bowls, plates, pots and bottles, were believed to be produced in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)," Dr Wei Jun of the Guangdong Archaeology Institute, was quoted as saying. "They have a great archaeological value."
smugglers were using advanced technology to steal
The wreck came to light when local police got wind of fishermen recovering ancient porcelain objects from the sea.
The sunken ship was found just a few days after China began salvage operations at another wreck site dating back to the days of the Song emperors, who ruled between 960 and 1279.
South China Sea I, discovered in 1987, was the first ancient vessel discovered in the area along the "Marine Silk Road" linking imperial China with the West.
Foreign smugglers were using advanced technology to steal China's seabed treasures, mostly porcelain from ancient shipwrecks, the China Daily said in April. Many relics were being shipped to the United States and other antique markets.
Art collectors and dealers have been pursuing China's seabed heritage in earnest since early 2005, when about 15 000 pieces, mainly blue-and-white porcelain about 300 years old, were found in a shipwreck off the southeastern province of Fujian.
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Shipwreck expert was outdoorsman, mentor to many
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Duluth News Tribune
By John Myers
July 14, 2007
In this file photo, Julius Wolff relaxes under
a photo of the Edmund Fitzgerald at the Coney
Island Deluxe restaurant. Wolff wrote a book
about Lake Superior shipwrecks and was an
expert on the Edmund Fitzgerald. He died today
Duluth News Tribune
By John Myers
July 14, 2007
In this file photo, Julius Wolff relaxes under
a photo of the Edmund Fitzgerald at the Coney
Island Deluxe restaurant. Wolff wrote a book
about Lake Superior shipwrecks and was an
expert on the Edmund Fitzgerald. He died today
at the age of 89. [1995 FILE/NEWS TRIBUNE]
How people remember Julius Wolff will depend on how they knew him.
Scoutmaster. Shipwreck expert. Marshall School benefactor. Deer hunter and outdoor enthusiast. Conservationist. Political science professor. Youth mentor. Notre Dame fan. The list could go on.
Wolff, 89, died Friday at St. Franciscan Health Center in Duluth of natural causes.
The Duluth native is perhaps best known for his 1979 book “The Shipwrecks of Lake Superior,’’ the go-to encyclopedia on the subject that was updated in 1989. He was a political science professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, retiring in 1986.
Wolff was a prolific author, writing many articles for the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine and for maritime history publications.
He helped introduce dozens of Twin Ports teens to the outdoors, leading canoe trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and duck and deer hunting expeditions.
“Most people knew him as the Lake Superior shipwreck expert, and he was. He was the definitive source to go to for Lake Superior shipwrecks and maritime history for the better part of a half-century,’’ said Thom Holden, director of the Marine Museum in Duluth. “But he also touched so many people’s lives as a teacher and a Scoutmaster and woodsman.’’
Not only did modern-day shipwreck searchers seek out and befriend Wolff, but, Holden said, several of Wolff’s students and Scouts kept in touch with their mentor over the years.
“He was, even late in his years, an avid deer hunter, and I don’t think he missed many deer seasons,’’ Holden said. “And he got help from some of those former Scouts getting into his deer stand. They were close to him even then.’’
Craig Grau, retired chairman of the UMD political science department, said Wolff was a groundbreaking professor, weaving conservation policy into his courses before environmental issues became common in college classrooms.
“He really pioneered putting environmental policy into the political science classroom,’’ Grau said. “He was right in the middle of all the Boundary Waters issue back in the ’60s and ’70s… He always amazed people with his mind, that he had so much information in it — dates and names and people. He was a loved professor.
“He introduced me to the BWCA, too, and a lot of other faculty,’’ Grau said. “He had a story on every lake, even every rock in the lake. I think he named every rock. He knew that area like the back of his hand.’’
Grau said Wolff was pushed by a UMD chancellor to expand his personal interest in Great Lakes shipping and shipwrecks. It started with a single presentation and grew into Wolff’s nationally known expertise.
“It wasn’t his idea at first. But it really took off. After the [Edmund] Fitzgerald went down, the phone rang off the hook … and it never stopped,’’ Grau said. “He was probably the university’s most well-known faculty member in Northeastern Minnesota.’’
Tom Turk of Duluth was one of the teenagers Wolff helped mentor. Always using military terminology but never a harsh disciplinarian, Wolff helped steer kids to the right path, Turk said. “The trips to the Boundary Waters and deer hunting and duck hunting were great. But the real service was the guidance he gave on how to be a responsible young man,’’ Turk said. “He valued toughness, not like wrestling toughness, but being able to get the job done, whether on a canoe trip or whatever.’’
Turk, a longtime family friend who helped care for Wolff in the professor’s later years, said Wolff was the smartest person he’d ever met.
“He was extremely intelligent, to the point of brilliant on some points. But he was also a very humble man, a kid of the Depression era who wanted to help people,” Turk said.
Julius Fredric “Fred” Wolff Jr. spent most of his life in Duluth. He was born here in 1918 and graduated from Duluth Cathedral High School in 1935. He attended Duluth Junior College and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1940.
He served in World War II in the U.S. Army as a quartermaster on Attu Island in Alaska, leaving active duty as a captain and serving in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1975, retiring as a colonel. After the war he attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, earned his master’s degree in 1947 and a doctorate in public administration in 1949.
He went to work at UMD as a political science professor and taught there for 37 years.
Wolff was a Boy Scout leader for more than 20 years. He never married.
He was a lifelong member of Cathedral of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. A service is scheduled for Aug. 8. His family asks that memorials go to the Dr. Julius F. Wolff Scholarship at UMD.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
How people remember Julius Wolff will depend on how they knew him.
Scoutmaster. Shipwreck expert. Marshall School benefactor. Deer hunter and outdoor enthusiast. Conservationist. Political science professor. Youth mentor. Notre Dame fan. The list could go on.
Wolff, 89, died Friday at St. Franciscan Health Center in Duluth of natural causes.
The Duluth native is perhaps best known for his 1979 book “The Shipwrecks of Lake Superior,’’ the go-to encyclopedia on the subject that was updated in 1989. He was a political science professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, retiring in 1986.
Wolff was a prolific author, writing many articles for the Minnesota Conservation Volunteer magazine and for maritime history publications.
He helped introduce dozens of Twin Ports teens to the outdoors, leading canoe trips to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and duck and deer hunting expeditions.
“Most people knew him as the Lake Superior shipwreck expert, and he was. He was the definitive source to go to for Lake Superior shipwrecks and maritime history for the better part of a half-century,’’ said Thom Holden, director of the Marine Museum in Duluth. “But he also touched so many people’s lives as a teacher and a Scoutmaster and woodsman.’’
Not only did modern-day shipwreck searchers seek out and befriend Wolff, but, Holden said, several of Wolff’s students and Scouts kept in touch with their mentor over the years.
“He was, even late in his years, an avid deer hunter, and I don’t think he missed many deer seasons,’’ Holden said. “And he got help from some of those former Scouts getting into his deer stand. They were close to him even then.’’
Craig Grau, retired chairman of the UMD political science department, said Wolff was a groundbreaking professor, weaving conservation policy into his courses before environmental issues became common in college classrooms.
“He really pioneered putting environmental policy into the political science classroom,’’ Grau said. “He was right in the middle of all the Boundary Waters issue back in the ’60s and ’70s… He always amazed people with his mind, that he had so much information in it — dates and names and people. He was a loved professor.
“He introduced me to the BWCA, too, and a lot of other faculty,’’ Grau said. “He had a story on every lake, even every rock in the lake. I think he named every rock. He knew that area like the back of his hand.’’
Grau said Wolff was pushed by a UMD chancellor to expand his personal interest in Great Lakes shipping and shipwrecks. It started with a single presentation and grew into Wolff’s nationally known expertise.
“It wasn’t his idea at first. But it really took off. After the [Edmund] Fitzgerald went down, the phone rang off the hook … and it never stopped,’’ Grau said. “He was probably the university’s most well-known faculty member in Northeastern Minnesota.’’
Tom Turk of Duluth was one of the teenagers Wolff helped mentor. Always using military terminology but never a harsh disciplinarian, Wolff helped steer kids to the right path, Turk said. “The trips to the Boundary Waters and deer hunting and duck hunting were great. But the real service was the guidance he gave on how to be a responsible young man,’’ Turk said. “He valued toughness, not like wrestling toughness, but being able to get the job done, whether on a canoe trip or whatever.’’
Turk, a longtime family friend who helped care for Wolff in the professor’s later years, said Wolff was the smartest person he’d ever met.
“He was extremely intelligent, to the point of brilliant on some points. But he was also a very humble man, a kid of the Depression era who wanted to help people,” Turk said.
Julius Fredric “Fred” Wolff Jr. spent most of his life in Duluth. He was born here in 1918 and graduated from Duluth Cathedral High School in 1935. He attended Duluth Junior College and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1940.
He served in World War II in the U.S. Army as a quartermaster on Attu Island in Alaska, leaving active duty as a captain and serving in the U.S. Army Reserve until 1975, retiring as a colonel. After the war he attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, earned his master’s degree in 1947 and a doctorate in public administration in 1949.
He went to work at UMD as a political science professor and taught there for 37 years.
Wolff was a Boy Scout leader for more than 20 years. He never married.
He was a lifelong member of Cathedral of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. A service is scheduled for Aug. 8. His family asks that memorials go to the Dr. Julius F. Wolff Scholarship at UMD.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Friday, July 13, 2007
New inspectors: look after our shipwrecks or face a year in prison
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Bermuda Sun
July 13, 2007
Inspectors have been appointed to help preserve Bermuda's underwater museums for future generations.
Anyone who damages one of the island's historic wrecks can expect a fine of up to $25,000 or one year in prison from the 23 new inspectors.
The inspectors have been taken on board to enforce the Historic Wrecks Act 2001 and "oversee" the activities of people who hold licenses to work on historic wrecks or sites.
Chairman of the Historic Wrecks Authority Dame Jennifer Smith said the new appointees were already involved in maritime activities. They include dive boat operators, fisheries wardens, marine police and coral reef scientists.
Philippe Rouja, a diver and technical officer in the Conservation Services Department, received his certificate of appointment as an inspector on July 11. He said the Act made it illegal for anyone to damage any part of, or remove any artifact from an historic wreck or an area classified as a marine heritage site.
He added: "However, I get the strong feeling that most people just want to enjoy the wrecks responsibly."
The Hon Neletha Butterfield, Minister of Environment, Telecommunications and E-commerce, said the wrecks were underwater museums.
She said: "Shipwrecks have played a defining role in Bermuda's history and exploring shipwrecks is a uniquely Bermudian tradition. By opening many new shipwreck sites to the public we are hoping to keep a uniquely Bermudian tradition alive.
"Shipwrecks have changed from objects of salvage, to objects for exploration and are now used for scientific investigation."
Bermuda was the world's first country to enact legislation to protect sea turtles in 1620 and Dame Smith said over the past 400 years land and marine conservation has "taken bold steps that are not always popular, but are in the interest of a sustainable future."
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Bermuda Sun
July 13, 2007
Inspectors have been appointed to help preserve Bermuda's underwater museums for future generations.
Anyone who damages one of the island's historic wrecks can expect a fine of up to $25,000 or one year in prison from the 23 new inspectors.
The inspectors have been taken on board to enforce the Historic Wrecks Act 2001 and "oversee" the activities of people who hold licenses to work on historic wrecks or sites.
Chairman of the Historic Wrecks Authority Dame Jennifer Smith said the new appointees were already involved in maritime activities. They include dive boat operators, fisheries wardens, marine police and coral reef scientists.
Philippe Rouja, a diver and technical officer in the Conservation Services Department, received his certificate of appointment as an inspector on July 11. He said the Act made it illegal for anyone to damage any part of, or remove any artifact from an historic wreck or an area classified as a marine heritage site.
He added: "However, I get the strong feeling that most people just want to enjoy the wrecks responsibly."
The Hon Neletha Butterfield, Minister of Environment, Telecommunications and E-commerce, said the wrecks were underwater museums.
She said: "Shipwrecks have played a defining role in Bermuda's history and exploring shipwrecks is a uniquely Bermudian tradition. By opening many new shipwreck sites to the public we are hoping to keep a uniquely Bermudian tradition alive.
"Shipwrecks have changed from objects of salvage, to objects for exploration and are now used for scientific investigation."
Bermuda was the world's first country to enact legislation to protect sea turtles in 1620 and Dame Smith said over the past 400 years land and marine conservation has "taken bold steps that are not always popular, but are in the interest of a sustainable future."
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Odyssey seized at sea
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St Petersburg Times
By Mark Albright
July 13, 2007
A Spanish coastguard boat (center) and the Spanish frigate
'Infanta Elena' (right) follows the 'Ocean Alert' into port in
Algerciras, southern Spain, where police were waiting to
search its holds.
Spanish authorities kicked their dispute with Tampa sunken treasure hunters up to international incident level Thursday by seizing an Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. ship for inspection off the coast of Gibraltar.
The government of British-ruled Gibraltar issued a formal protest, saying the MS Ocean Alert was "illegally boarded" in international waters, about 3.5 miles off the coast of what's commonly called "The Rock" at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Spanish Guardia Civil -- with a boatload of media in hot pursuit -- boarded the vessel and steered it into a Spanish port where it will remain for inspection a few days. Authorities confiscated Odyssey's equipment and cameras. Most of the crew reportedly was released and passports returned about seven hours into the affair.
Armed with a Spanish investigating judge's orders, the government is looking for potential Spanish loot or clues in a cat-and-mouse game over Odyssey's other salvaged shipwrecks the Spanish government may try to claim.
"It certainly shows the Spanish are quite serious about protecting their interest" in sunken treasure that salvors exhume with robotic equipment, clean and sell, said James Delgado of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M.
Gibraltar is a British territory at the southern tip of Spain. It says British waters extend three miles off the coast. Spain does not recognize the British boundary, saying it's all Spanish waters until international waters begin 12 miles offshore. Spanish patrol boats reportedly followed the Ocean Alert three miles before officers boarded the ship.
The British government raised objections to the seizure and subsequent impoundment with the foreign minister in Madrid.
The Ocean Alert is registered in Panama. The Gibraltar government renewed free-shipping concerns over the seizure.
"Assuming the Panamanian authorities have not given their consent, the arrest of the Ocean Alert would appear to be illegal," said a government statement.
"We made it clear to them that we were being illegally boarded in international waters under threat of force," Aladar Nesser, Odyssey's international business development director told a reporter at the scene.
Odyssey, however, down-played the fracas in a statement, saying the ship was forced into Spanish port at Algeciras because of a "miscommunication." But someone had alerted the Spanish media, which was out in force to record the event. And Odyssey was carrying a reporter from the Gibraltar Chronicle on board.
"The move follows two Odyssey vessels having spent the past three weeks effectively imprisoned in port while Odyssey negotiated with the Spanish government to seek a secure free passage," wrote Brian Reyes, reporter for the Gibraltar Chronicle.
The Spanish government has been furious since Odyssey quietly flew to the United States vast treasures the Spaniards think may belong to them. Odyssey in May spirited 17 tons of silver, gold and valuable artifacts supposedly worth more than $500-million to an undisclosed location in the United States. The haul came from a colonial-era shipwreck code-named "Black Swan" that Odyssey discovered somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
Odyssey says there is more to the find, but has disclosed little about it. The company filed suits in U.S. District Court in Tampa two months ago seeking approval to exhume three more wrecks: one in the Mediterranean between Sardinia and Sicily; one off Gibraltar; and a third off the southern coast of England.
The Spanish government intervened in each case to determine if the wrecks have links to Spanish heritage or culture. It doesn't matter if Spanish royal treasures lost long ago are found in the hold of another country's ship, a situation the country's attorneys compare to the United States trying to recover a gold shipment lifted from Fort Knox.
Odyssey, which shares archaeological data with scientists, recently filed a 109-page statement in one case detailing nine years of meetings about the Black Swan search with Spanish authorities.
Odyssey shares, which soared 37 percent after the Black Swan announcement, closed Thursday at $6.22, down 10 cents.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
St Petersburg Times
By Mark Albright
July 13, 2007
A Spanish coastguard boat (center) and the Spanish frigate
'Infanta Elena' (right) follows the 'Ocean Alert' into port in
Algerciras, southern Spain, where police were waiting to
search its holds.
Spain confiscates a ship of the Tampa-based treasure hunters off the coast of Gibraltar.
Spanish authorities kicked their dispute with Tampa sunken treasure hunters up to international incident level Thursday by seizing an Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. ship for inspection off the coast of Gibraltar.
The government of British-ruled Gibraltar issued a formal protest, saying the MS Ocean Alert was "illegally boarded" in international waters, about 3.5 miles off the coast of what's commonly called "The Rock" at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Spanish Guardia Civil -- with a boatload of media in hot pursuit -- boarded the vessel and steered it into a Spanish port where it will remain for inspection a few days. Authorities confiscated Odyssey's equipment and cameras. Most of the crew reportedly was released and passports returned about seven hours into the affair.
Armed with a Spanish investigating judge's orders, the government is looking for potential Spanish loot or clues in a cat-and-mouse game over Odyssey's other salvaged shipwrecks the Spanish government may try to claim.
"It certainly shows the Spanish are quite serious about protecting their interest" in sunken treasure that salvors exhume with robotic equipment, clean and sell, said James Delgado of the Institute for Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M.
Gibraltar is a British territory at the southern tip of Spain. It says British waters extend three miles off the coast. Spain does not recognize the British boundary, saying it's all Spanish waters until international waters begin 12 miles offshore. Spanish patrol boats reportedly followed the Ocean Alert three miles before officers boarded the ship.
The British government raised objections to the seizure and subsequent impoundment with the foreign minister in Madrid.
The Ocean Alert is registered in Panama. The Gibraltar government renewed free-shipping concerns over the seizure.
"Assuming the Panamanian authorities have not given their consent, the arrest of the Ocean Alert would appear to be illegal," said a government statement.
"We made it clear to them that we were being illegally boarded in international waters under threat of force," Aladar Nesser, Odyssey's international business development director told a reporter at the scene.
Odyssey, however, down-played the fracas in a statement, saying the ship was forced into Spanish port at Algeciras because of a "miscommunication." But someone had alerted the Spanish media, which was out in force to record the event. And Odyssey was carrying a reporter from the Gibraltar Chronicle on board.
"The move follows two Odyssey vessels having spent the past three weeks effectively imprisoned in port while Odyssey negotiated with the Spanish government to seek a secure free passage," wrote Brian Reyes, reporter for the Gibraltar Chronicle.
The Spanish government has been furious since Odyssey quietly flew to the United States vast treasures the Spaniards think may belong to them. Odyssey in May spirited 17 tons of silver, gold and valuable artifacts supposedly worth more than $500-million to an undisclosed location in the United States. The haul came from a colonial-era shipwreck code-named "Black Swan" that Odyssey discovered somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.
Odyssey says there is more to the find, but has disclosed little about it. The company filed suits in U.S. District Court in Tampa two months ago seeking approval to exhume three more wrecks: one in the Mediterranean between Sardinia and Sicily; one off Gibraltar; and a third off the southern coast of England.
The Spanish government intervened in each case to determine if the wrecks have links to Spanish heritage or culture. It doesn't matter if Spanish royal treasures lost long ago are found in the hold of another country's ship, a situation the country's attorneys compare to the United States trying to recover a gold shipment lifted from Fort Knox.
Odyssey, which shares archaeological data with scientists, recently filed a 109-page statement in one case detailing nine years of meetings about the Black Swan search with Spanish authorities.
Odyssey shares, which soared 37 percent after the Black Swan announcement, closed Thursday at $6.22, down 10 cents.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Research team diving and digging for JC history
After 2 1/2 years of preparation, Ben Ford is boating on the waters off Jefferson County in search of the past.
"I'm interested in all things old, associated with the water," said Ford, a Ph.D. candidate and research associate of the Nautical Archaeology Program of Texas A & M University.
Mr. Ford, along with two associates, Will Burdick and Jessi Halligan, are in the early day of the field research portion of The Lake Ontario Cultural Landscape Project. Ford and his crew are studying four 1 square kilometer areas of water and shoreline in Jefferson County.
The team is searching under the water and on land for any evidence of Euro-American and Native American activity going back approximately 5000 years up to the year 1900. Objects of the search include ship wrecks, ship yards, submerged fishing piers, projectile points and primitive tools.
The project consists of two components, a marine remote sensing survey and a terrestrial pedestrian survey.
Scuba diving and sophisticated electronic gear, including sonar, GPS, and a magnetron are being utilized to complete the marine survey.
An important aspect of the terrestrial survey is a canvassing of area residents for information. In the coming weeks Ford, Burdick and Halligan will visit residents in the area seeking input by utilizing a questionnaire.
A detailed description of the project is on the internet. You can view it by clicking here.
Mr. Ford urges anyone with historical information or question concerning the project to contact him by email at benford@tamu.edu.
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www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Archaeological students check out wreckage site at Cape Alava
________________________________________________________________
Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson
July 12, 2007
CAPE ALAVA - Five students from Central Washington University in Ellensburg are getting their feet wet in the field of archaeology.
Literally wet, in fact.
A group of five students - four from CWU and one who joined the group independently - are being led by Faith Haney, a master's of science candidate in resource management, in a project to locate, chart and film the wreckage of the Austria at Cape Alava.
Examining the wreckage off the Pacific Coast near the Ozette Indian Reservation will involve group members - who are examining the ship parts today through Tuesday - wading through the low tide at the cape.
The Austria, built in Bath, Maine in 1870, wrecked at Cape Alava on Jan. 29, 1887.
Preliminary surveys have not located the hull, but the main anchor, piles of chain, life-boat davits and other parts have been spotted.
"We were really happy with the preliminary survey," Haney said.
"For a wooden artifact that is covered for part of the day in water, I think that we are doing pretty well.
"I am hopeful that we will find part of the hull."
The students - who are camping in tents at the reservation - will check out the ship parts that have already been found, film them and use global positioning systems to create definitive maps of the area.
Haney plans to follow-up on rumors about planking from the hull having been spotted.
Bob Steelquist, education, public relations, outreach education and outreach coordinator for Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and Simon Geerlofs, an independent archaeologist and specialist in marine affairs, will teach the class with Haney.
Thesis topic
Haney found out about the project while she was wandering around Port Angeles thinking about a subject for her thesis.
When she visited the sanctuary headquarters, she learned about the shipwreck - an area of study that interested her.
"It was kind of serendipitous," she said.
"I knew I wanted to do something with ships, and when I talked to them, they said they needed someone to record this shipwreck."
She let them know that she was ready to help with the project.
In addition to charting the locations of the wreckage, the group also will film their methods and research.
The final product will be entered in an archeological film festival.
Each student also will be assigned a specific artifact or feature of the site to research for an individual paper.
That research will then be compiled, along with the maps and photographs, to create an interactive Web site for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
"It is good to get the word out there [through the Web site and the film]," Haney said.
"It helps people know the value of the archeological site, and that it isn't just an interesting object to take home and put on your mantle."
The group will not excavate the shipwreck. They will merely record locations of wreckage.
They also will not dive to find artifacts. Group members will examine the area during low tide when the wreckage is exposed.
During high tide, they will compile data, discuss their findings, plan for the next day, and learn about the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest through lectures.
____
http://www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com/
Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson
July 12, 2007
CAPE ALAVA - Five students from Central Washington University in Ellensburg are getting their feet wet in the field of archaeology.
Literally wet, in fact.
A group of five students - four from CWU and one who joined the group independently - are being led by Faith Haney, a master's of science candidate in resource management, in a project to locate, chart and film the wreckage of the Austria at Cape Alava.
Examining the wreckage off the Pacific Coast near the Ozette Indian Reservation will involve group members - who are examining the ship parts today through Tuesday - wading through the low tide at the cape.
The Austria, built in Bath, Maine in 1870, wrecked at Cape Alava on Jan. 29, 1887.
Preliminary surveys have not located the hull, but the main anchor, piles of chain, life-boat davits and other parts have been spotted.
"We were really happy with the preliminary survey," Haney said.
"For a wooden artifact that is covered for part of the day in water, I think that we are doing pretty well.
"I am hopeful that we will find part of the hull."
The students - who are camping in tents at the reservation - will check out the ship parts that have already been found, film them and use global positioning systems to create definitive maps of the area.
Haney plans to follow-up on rumors about planking from the hull having been spotted.
Bob Steelquist, education, public relations, outreach education and outreach coordinator for Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, and Simon Geerlofs, an independent archaeologist and specialist in marine affairs, will teach the class with Haney.
Thesis topic
Haney found out about the project while she was wandering around Port Angeles thinking about a subject for her thesis.
When she visited the sanctuary headquarters, she learned about the shipwreck - an area of study that interested her.
"It was kind of serendipitous," she said.
"I knew I wanted to do something with ships, and when I talked to them, they said they needed someone to record this shipwreck."
She let them know that she was ready to help with the project.
In addition to charting the locations of the wreckage, the group also will film their methods and research.
The final product will be entered in an archeological film festival.
Each student also will be assigned a specific artifact or feature of the site to research for an individual paper.
That research will then be compiled, along with the maps and photographs, to create an interactive Web site for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
"It is good to get the word out there [through the Web site and the film]," Haney said.
"It helps people know the value of the archeological site, and that it isn't just an interesting object to take home and put on your mantle."
The group will not excavate the shipwreck. They will merely record locations of wreckage.
They also will not dive to find artifacts. Group members will examine the area during low tide when the wreckage is exposed.
During high tide, they will compile data, discuss their findings, plan for the next day, and learn about the maritime history of the Pacific Northwest through lectures.
____
http://www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com/
Divers not giving up quest to explain 1950 plane crash
________________________________________________________________
freep.com
By James Prichard
July 12, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- The quest to locate the Lake Michigan site where an airliner carrying 58 people went down decades ago could help uncover the cause of the mysterious crash, even if the wreckage itself never is found, says the woman leading the search that again failed to find the plane this spring.
"I feel very strongly that it's not so much finding the wreckage that's going to provide the answers. I think we're getting the answers in the course of the search for the plane," Valerie van Heest said Wednesday from her Holland home.
From late April through late May, the diver and her group, Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, scoured a 23-square-mile area of the lake off South Haven but found no sign of the crash site of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501. They were helped by a three-member underwater-search team provided by author and shipwreck hunter Clive Cussler. The organization started the search in fall 2004.
Van Heest said she is learning a lot from reading courtroom transcripts she obtained from a liability lawsuit that some of the victims' relatives filed years ago against Northwest. She has read about 300 of the 2,500 pages of transcribed testimony from witnesses and crash experts that she believes has information that will be of help during her next search.
The team also conducted searches in spring 2005 and spring 2006 and plans to return to southern Lake Michigan next year.
The flight, a DC4 carrying 55 passengers and three crew members, originated in New York City and was ultimately bound for Seattle. It crashed June 23, 1950, killing all aboard in the nation's deadliest airliner accident up to that time.
The crash happened during a raging thunderstorm but no cause could be determined.
____
www.airplanes-underwater.blogspot.com
freep.com
By James Prichard
July 12, 2007
GRAND RAPIDS -- The quest to locate the Lake Michigan site where an airliner carrying 58 people went down decades ago could help uncover the cause of the mysterious crash, even if the wreckage itself never is found, says the woman leading the search that again failed to find the plane this spring.
"I feel very strongly that it's not so much finding the wreckage that's going to provide the answers. I think we're getting the answers in the course of the search for the plane," Valerie van Heest said Wednesday from her Holland home.
From late April through late May, the diver and her group, Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates, scoured a 23-square-mile area of the lake off South Haven but found no sign of the crash site of Northwest Airlines Flight 2501. They were helped by a three-member underwater-search team provided by author and shipwreck hunter Clive Cussler. The organization started the search in fall 2004.
Van Heest said she is learning a lot from reading courtroom transcripts she obtained from a liability lawsuit that some of the victims' relatives filed years ago against Northwest. She has read about 300 of the 2,500 pages of transcribed testimony from witnesses and crash experts that she believes has information that will be of help during her next search.
The team also conducted searches in spring 2005 and spring 2006 and plans to return to southern Lake Michigan next year.
The flight, a DC4 carrying 55 passengers and three crew members, originated in New York City and was ultimately bound for Seattle. It crashed June 23, 1950, killing all aboard in the nation's deadliest airliner accident up to that time.
The crash happened during a raging thunderstorm but no cause could be determined.
____
www.airplanes-underwater.blogspot.com
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Cutty Sark renovation echoes British naval history
________________________________________________________________
Canada.com
By Paul Majendie
July 11, 2007
Canada.com
By Paul Majendie
July 11, 2007
CHATHAM, England - The masts and anchor from the Cutty Sark lie on the quayside in Chatham's historic dockyard ready for renovation. They got lucky.
For large sections of the iconic tea clipper had already been sent to Chatham for repairs before a fire swept through the Cutty Sark in May, leaving the London landmark a charred wreck.
The ship, launched in 1869 on Scotland's River Clyde to make the run to China for the lucrative tea trade, was undergoing a 25 million pound refurbishment when disaster struck.
Fortunately Chatham, where skilled shipwrights created Britain's naval might for 400 years, had already embarked on major renovations to the sailing legend.
The remnants of the Cutty Sark are a poignant and unexpected addition to Chatham Dockyard, now one of the top tourist attractions in southeast England.
Chatham, saw its naval history brought to a close when the dockyard was shut down in 1984, has since been converted into what is billed as the most complete dockyard of the age of sail to survive anywhere in the world.
The quayside where the Cutty Sark sections are being renovated is a microcosm of British naval history with three ships alongside each other in the dry dock recalling the days when Britannia ruled the waves.
Schoolchildren eagerly clamber aboard the sloop the HMS Gannet which was built on the River Medway in 1878 in the heyday of the Victorian Navy which had a worldwide role policing the waters of the British Empire.
Beside her stands HMS Cavalier, one of 96 emergency destroyers built for the Royal Navy during World War Two as escorts for ships like the luxury liners-turned-warships The Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth.
A favorite for the endless stream of school parties is a chance to clamber through the hatches and peep through the periscope of the submarine Ocelot, launched in 1962 at the height of the Cold War.
The Ocelot, boasting a Mark 8 torpedo similar to the one that sunk the Argentine warship the Belgrano during the 1982 Falklands War, was the last warship to be built for the Royal Navy at Chatham.
It was all a far cry from Chatham's heyday. From 1700 to the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the dockyard built and launched 125 ships ranging from small sloops and brigs to HMS Victory, Admiral Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
History stands still in the seabed off Sri Lanka
________________________________________________________________
DailyNews.com
By Janaka Perera
July 10, 2007
DailyNews.com
By Janaka Perera
July 10, 2007
Shipwrecks: Most historians, educators and others now celebrating `Archaeological Week', seem to be exclusively preoccupied with the Sri Lanka's agro-based inland civilisation. But a deeper understanding of our society and the island's past is not possible without the knowledge of her maritime heritage.
While saga of the ill-fated Titanic has mesmerized the world for decades, at least 100 wrecked ships lie at the sea bottom all around Sri Lanka although no proper records of these ill-fated vessels have been kept. A large number of these are legacies from the colonial past.
They have to be retrieved scientifically without detriment to their archaeological status. Around the Bay of Galle alone there are over 20 shipwreck sites - some dating possibly to the 10th century. Forty years ago Sri Lanka's top scuba diver, underwater explorer and marine biologist, the late Rodney Jonklaas hit the headlines with his sensational discovery off Elephant Island, Trincomalee of what he described as a British warship well over 200 years old.
Among his other underwater finds were several large cannon and a small pilot-anchor. Earlier Jonklaas came across an ancient galleon off the Great Bases on Sri Lanka's South-East coast. In March 1999 a Sri Lankan team together with Australian and Dutch experts in maritime history and archaeology made the discoveries over eight years ago.
These findings were exhibited for the first time at the Maritime museum, Galle. Shipwrecks have been a fascinating subject for a variety of reasons - the study of archaeology and marine life and treasure hunts among them. A ship at the bottom of the sea is a time capsule for history stands still in a sunken vessel.
A part of it is Sri Lanka 's boat ethnology. According to Professor V. Vitharana, these traditional vessels were known as maha oru (big outrigger canoe) which reached the Maldive Islands, the southern ports of India and Malacca. The last of these boats were wrecked off Maldives in 1930 and abandoned.
Yathra Doni - a 100-year-old model of this type of vessel - was preserved in the Kumarakanda Buddhist Vihara, Dodanduwa until it was brought to the Maritime Museum, Galle.
The model was constructed by J. Kariyawasam, the last of a Sinhala family of sailors of Dodanduwa. It is a classic example of the largest type of outrigger craft that ancient Sri Lankan mariners used. Dodanduwa was apparently Sri Lanka's most outstanding yatra port.
Chinese Professor Hou We Ming, senior lecturer at Sabaragamuwa University in a radio discussion last February said that ships from Seih-lan (Sinhale or Land of the Lions) - the name by which ancient Sri Lanka was known in China - were among the largest foreign vessels that called over at Chinese ports, as recorded in Chinese chronicles.
The popularisation of scuba diving after World War II had its impact on Sri Lanka, when Sir Arthur Clarke and Mike Wilson (later Swami Siva Kalki) came here after their successful expedition on the Great Barrier Reef. They came here to write on the `Reefs of Taprobane' (Sri Lanka ). Here they were joined by Jonklass. Although spear-fishing and coral reef exploration were the scuba divers' primary aims, searching for wrecks soon became their past time in a sea strewn with ship wrecks.
It was Sir Arthur Clarke's book which first carried colour photographs of off-shore shipwrecks and the ruins of the `Temple of Thousand Columns' under the seas. The photos included that of the wrecked 50,000 ton Admiralty Floating Dock in the Trincomalee Harbour.
The dock was came to grief in 1944 when it capsized soon after the British warship Valiant was placed on it for repairs during World War II.
In 1964, Sir Arthur and Mike Wilson discovered a 17th century wreck of a Dutch vessel with a cargo of silver coins and bronze canon. The site was promptly designated a archaeological reserve by the authorities. The discovery of this genuine treasure ship marked the advent of Sri Lanka's maritime archaeology.
Shipwrecks entered the local movie scene in 1961 with the making of `Ranmuthu Duwa' (Islands of Gold and Pearls) Sri Lanka's first colour cinema production - starring Gamini Fonseka and Jeevarani Kurukulasuriya. Mike Wilson directed the film.
It featured the treasure ship and a documentary titled `Blue Water White Death.' The latter also showed the wreck of the British Aircraft Carrier Hermes, which was sunk off Sri Lanka's East Coast during World War II by Japanese carrier-borne bomber aircraft that attacked Trincomalee on April 9, 1942.
On full moon nights, the silhouette of the Hermes can be seen from the surface of the sea, according to fishermen. Among her sister ships which lie wrecked close by on the seabed is the Australian destroyer Vampire.
Part of the giant hulk of S.S. Sagaing, another victim of the Japanese air raid can still be seen in the Trincomalee Harbour. She had to be beached following the attack, which her decks ablaze. She was later converted to a jetty for harbour craft and smaller vessels.
Ten ship wrecks were located off Galle between March 1 and March 18, 1992. Five of these were of iron, while two were wooden. Earlier, on March 15, a large bronze bell bearing the inscription `Amor Vincit Omnia' dated 1625, was recovered. Later investigations revealed that it was from the wreck of the VOC (Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie) - the Dutch East India Company - ship Hercules. Gale force winds wrecked the vessel in the Bay of Galle on May 22, 1661 .
The joint Sri Lanka-Australia-Netherlands Archaeological Research Programme is centered in the Galle Harbour which has been the subject of underwater archaeological survey since 1992.
Galle was the second most important harbour of the VOC in Asia. Entrance to the bay was dangerous because of the many submerged reefs and rocks. Of the six VOC ships known to be sunk in or near the harbour, three were wrecked during the vessel's arrival or departure; two were sunk within the harbour and one was wrecked outside the bay while waiting for the pilot to bring her in. The wrecking of these ships is well documented. There is little doubt that given the opportunity, local divers and fishermen would pillage the ship wreck sites.
Divers have been stripping everything of commercial value they could lay their hands on. They saw off and sell lengths of heavy ships' chains and have even sawn off ships' propellers.
In fact some years back vandals robbed parts of the Hermes - including a propeller. In Galle a local diver had retrieved a ship's bell which he had sold to an antique dealer for Rs.900. The latter in turn had sold it to a foreign tourist for Rs. 30,000.
We have to keep in mind that a powerful global commercial-financial combine is hovering over ship wrecks. Salvaging them has become a game played for very high stakes. A foreign company once tried to obtain rights from the Sri Lankan Government to salvage wrecks off the Bases Reef (Southern Coast).
It was from these wrecks that Sir Arthur removed 115 lb of silver in 1961. He donated part of the haul to the Smithsonian Institute. In the early 1980s a British couple that posed off as tourists, was caught trying to smuggle out two bronze cannons they had illegally removed from the wreck of the `L' Orient' in Trincomalee Bay.
Sri Lanka has to gear itself to monitor, evaluate, study and safeguard this wealth of archaeological material.
____
www.dofundodomar.blogspot.com
Monday, July 09, 2007
Riddle of a Confederate Submarine
________________________________________________________________
WM.edu
By Joe McClain
July 09, 2007
In its brief career, the H.L. Hunley was a success and a failure. Now, years after its resurrection, the Confederate submarine is a mystery and a research project.
The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy vessel. On a quiet February night in 1864--six years before Jules Verne's fictional 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea--the Hunley rammed a spar into the stern area, planting a torpedo into the hull of the USS Housatonic, one of the Union ships blockading Charleston harbor. The Hunley's crew reversed its crank drive, backing away from the Housatonic before detonating the torpedo, sinking the Housatonic. The Hunley surfaced to send a "mission accomplished" signal, but like Verne's Nautilus, the Hunley didn't come back.
William and Mary geology student Jason Lunze is no Captain Nemo, but shipwrecks have always fascinated him. As a kid, he would walk the beach near his grandparents' home on Mobjack Bay and pick up Colonial-era pipe stems and other artifacts. His interest in the Confederate submarine dates back to grade school.
"I was aware of the Hunley probably since I was about six years old," Jason said. "One of my first grade school teachers had noticed my interest in shipwrecks and lent me one of his personal books. At that time they were still looking for the Confederate submarine. I thought it rather fascinating but I never thought they would actually find it; it is rather a small article to find lost in a rather large ocean."
"Where" Becomes "Why"
Not only was the Hunley found, in 1995; it also was recovered. In fact, the Hunley is on public display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina. If you want to see the Hunley, you'll have to go on a Saturday, because during the week, archaeologists are working to preserve the Hunley and to solve the remaining mystery-why did it sink?
"The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel, but it was lost shortly thereafter," Jason said. "It was somewhat of a technological marvel of its day, and that can be emphasized by the secrecy in which it was moved from Mobile to Charleston. A special train car was constructed to conceal its identity during its entire journey."
Not all the work on the Hunley is being done in Charleston. Jason Lunze is adding pieces to the solution of the mystery from the College of William and Mary. A geology major and marine archaeology buff, Jason got involved through Rowan Lockwood of William and Mary's geology department, who put him in touch with M. Scott Harris of Costal Carolina University, a William and Mary alumnus who has a record of collaborating with faculty at his alma mater. Harris is temporarily reassigned, working on the Hunley team.
Jason thought work involving the sedimentation of the Hunley might make a good geology project, but Harris told him there was no suitable sedimentation work. "But he had a project on the formation of rusticles within the submarine, and I said that I'd love to work on the project," Jason said.
Bacterial Condos
Scientific examination of the bacterial colonies that create rusticles--and the minerals produced by the bacteria--can provide insight into a number of conditions, present and past, in sunken iron vessels. Jason received five rusticles removed from the sub's interior.
"The samples that I collected from the H.L. Hunley are dead colonies," Jason said. "The submarine was in-filled with sediment, which stopped their growth. This gives us a good view of what the inside conditions were like before the sediment in-fill completely killed off the colonies."
He has been using a variety of nondestructive analytical techniques to examine his rusticles. He has worked with Bob Pike of William and Mary's chemistry department, but does the majority of his work in the Surface Characterization Lab in the Applied Research Center. Jason keeps his rusticles wet, to avoid oxidation. In fact, the entire Hunley hull is kept under water in a preservation tank.
"The samples have to be dry in order to run the analytical techniques," Jason explained. "So I have to dry them out first." The drying process involves placing a rusticle sample in a desiccating vacuum chamber, adding argon gas, which helps the process by displacing air.
Jason, who expects to graduate in 2008, will be busy on rusticle tests for the next four to six months. He will write up his findings in a senior thesis and hopes to have a paper accepted into a peer-reviewed journal. He characterizes his work as "a small brick in the wall of knowledge" on the H.L. Hunley that ultimately may solve the mystery of the innovative warship that accomplished its mission, but didn't come back.
____
http://www.schnorkel.blogspot.com/
WM.edu
By Joe McClain
July 09, 2007
In its brief career, the H.L. Hunley was a success and a failure. Now, years after its resurrection, the Confederate submarine is a mystery and a research project.
The Hunley was the first submarine in history to sink an enemy vessel. On a quiet February night in 1864--six years before Jules Verne's fictional 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea--the Hunley rammed a spar into the stern area, planting a torpedo into the hull of the USS Housatonic, one of the Union ships blockading Charleston harbor. The Hunley's crew reversed its crank drive, backing away from the Housatonic before detonating the torpedo, sinking the Housatonic. The Hunley surfaced to send a "mission accomplished" signal, but like Verne's Nautilus, the Hunley didn't come back.
William and Mary geology student Jason Lunze is no Captain Nemo, but shipwrecks have always fascinated him. As a kid, he would walk the beach near his grandparents' home on Mobjack Bay and pick up Colonial-era pipe stems and other artifacts. His interest in the Confederate submarine dates back to grade school.
"I was aware of the Hunley probably since I was about six years old," Jason said. "One of my first grade school teachers had noticed my interest in shipwrecks and lent me one of his personal books. At that time they were still looking for the Confederate submarine. I thought it rather fascinating but I never thought they would actually find it; it is rather a small article to find lost in a rather large ocean."
"Where" Becomes "Why"
Not only was the Hunley found, in 1995; it also was recovered. In fact, the Hunley is on public display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina. If you want to see the Hunley, you'll have to go on a Saturday, because during the week, archaeologists are working to preserve the Hunley and to solve the remaining mystery-why did it sink?
"The H.L. Hunley was the first submarine to sink an enemy vessel, but it was lost shortly thereafter," Jason said. "It was somewhat of a technological marvel of its day, and that can be emphasized by the secrecy in which it was moved from Mobile to Charleston. A special train car was constructed to conceal its identity during its entire journey."
Not all the work on the Hunley is being done in Charleston. Jason Lunze is adding pieces to the solution of the mystery from the College of William and Mary. A geology major and marine archaeology buff, Jason got involved through Rowan Lockwood of William and Mary's geology department, who put him in touch with M. Scott Harris of Costal Carolina University, a William and Mary alumnus who has a record of collaborating with faculty at his alma mater. Harris is temporarily reassigned, working on the Hunley team.
Jason thought work involving the sedimentation of the Hunley might make a good geology project, but Harris told him there was no suitable sedimentation work. "But he had a project on the formation of rusticles within the submarine, and I said that I'd love to work on the project," Jason said.
Bacterial Condos
Scientific examination of the bacterial colonies that create rusticles--and the minerals produced by the bacteria--can provide insight into a number of conditions, present and past, in sunken iron vessels. Jason received five rusticles removed from the sub's interior.
"The samples that I collected from the H.L. Hunley are dead colonies," Jason said. "The submarine was in-filled with sediment, which stopped their growth. This gives us a good view of what the inside conditions were like before the sediment in-fill completely killed off the colonies."
He has been using a variety of nondestructive analytical techniques to examine his rusticles. He has worked with Bob Pike of William and Mary's chemistry department, but does the majority of his work in the Surface Characterization Lab in the Applied Research Center. Jason keeps his rusticles wet, to avoid oxidation. In fact, the entire Hunley hull is kept under water in a preservation tank.
"The samples have to be dry in order to run the analytical techniques," Jason explained. "So I have to dry them out first." The drying process involves placing a rusticle sample in a desiccating vacuum chamber, adding argon gas, which helps the process by displacing air.
Jason, who expects to graduate in 2008, will be busy on rusticle tests for the next four to six months. He will write up his findings in a senior thesis and hopes to have a paper accepted into a peer-reviewed journal. He characterizes his work as "a small brick in the wall of knowledge" on the H.L. Hunley that ultimately may solve the mystery of the innovative warship that accomplished its mission, but didn't come back.
____
http://www.schnorkel.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Soviet WWII sub wreck found in Baltic Sea
STOCKHOLM - A Finnish-Swedish search team has found the wreck of a Soviet submarine sunk by the Finnish navy in the Baltic Sea during World War II.
The Soviet SC305 was fired on and rammed by a Finnish submarine in November 1942, sending it to the bottom in Swedish territorial waters off the island of Aland.
"SC305 went down with the bow into the mud and is in a good shape considering the circumstances," the search party said in a statement. "The origin of the wreck and its marking was verified by film from an ROV (remotely operated vehicle)."
The Soviet submarine, one of many used to prowl shipping lanes in the Baltic Sea during the war, was found at a depth of 136 meters (446 feet). All the 38 crew members were reported lost when submarine sank.
Bjorn Rosenlof, a spokesman for the privately funded team, said it first located the wreck last year using leads to the position found in Finnish archives, but only managed to identify it after returning to get more images two weeks ago.
"When we got the ROV in just right and could read the letters (the submarine's insignia) it was just an incredible feeling that can't be described in words," he told Reuters.
They were not able to dive to the wreck as it was too deep.
The team said it considered the site a war memorial and had only given the exact position of the wreck to Swedish authorities, leaving it to them to decide if the information should be published.
The Baltic Sea is littered with wrecks from both World Wars which saw Russian and Soviet forces battled the German navy for control of the transport routes across it.
____
www.schnorkel.blogspot.com
The Soviet SC305 was fired on and rammed by a Finnish submarine in November 1942, sending it to the bottom in Swedish territorial waters off the island of Aland.
"SC305 went down with the bow into the mud and is in a good shape considering the circumstances," the search party said in a statement. "The origin of the wreck and its marking was verified by film from an ROV (remotely operated vehicle)."
The Soviet submarine, one of many used to prowl shipping lanes in the Baltic Sea during the war, was found at a depth of 136 meters (446 feet). All the 38 crew members were reported lost when submarine sank.
Bjorn Rosenlof, a spokesman for the privately funded team, said it first located the wreck last year using leads to the position found in Finnish archives, but only managed to identify it after returning to get more images two weeks ago.
"When we got the ROV in just right and could read the letters (the submarine's insignia) it was just an incredible feeling that can't be described in words," he told Reuters.
They were not able to dive to the wreck as it was too deep.
The team said it considered the site a war memorial and had only given the exact position of the wreck to Swedish authorities, leaving it to them to decide if the information should be published.
The Baltic Sea is littered with wrecks from both World Wars which saw Russian and Soviet forces battled the German navy for control of the transport routes across it.
____
www.schnorkel.blogspot.com
