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WET & HOT NEWS ! > Treasure Hunting / recovery
Rich and valuable shipwreck cargoes sought or recovered commercially.Lost gold of the Whites found in Baikal
The 03 Sep. 2010 at 20:12Treasure Hunting / recovery
By Andy Potts - The Moscow News
Submarines in the depths of Baikal may have solved one of the great mysteries of the Civil War.
The long-lost gold of White commander Alexander Kolchak could be within reach of submersibles exploring the lake as part of a scientific mission.
Environmentalists working with the mission told journalists: “Deep-sea vehicles found rectangular blocks with a metallic gleam, like gold, 400 meters below the surface.”
Local residents say that sunken railway wagons found last year match those used on the Circum-Baikal Railway during the Civil War, fuelling rumours that the Admiral’s lost riches could be nearby. And the latest find, on the bed of Cape Tolstoy, has reinforced that hope.
Doomed admiral
Kolchak was a hero of the Russian navy in World War I who went on to lead the White resistance to the 1917 revolutionaries.
For a time he was commander of much of eastern Russia, but he failed to persuade potential allies to support him, perhaps because of his overtly monarchistic politics.
Ultimately he was executed by the Bolsheviks in Feb. 1920 and his body was hidden under the ice of Irkutsk's Angara river. After that, legends grew up saying a vast horde of wealth had been lost during the chaos of the civil war.Historic Champagne Cargo Retrieved from Sea Bed
The 01 Sep. 2010 at 03:52Treasure Hunting / recovery
From Yle.fi
A group of Swedish divers have begun lifting to the surface a sunken consignment of champagne dating from the 1700’s from the seabed in the Åland Islands.
Diving for the liquid treasure of around 80 champagne bottles started last week.
The bottles are located in the hull of a vessel that sunk sometime in the eighteenth century.
Both the vessel and its cargo of champagne are property of the Åland autonomous region. It has not yet decided what to do with the bottles.
French experts have tasted the contents and determined it to be champagne.Russian Mini-Sub Finds Possible Czarist Gold
The 01 Sep. 2010 at 03:39Treasure Hunting / recovery
From VOA News
Russian authorities say a mini-submarine plumbing the depths of Lake Baikal has found several shiny metal objects that could be evidence of the legendary Czarist gold lost nearly a century ago during the country's civil war.
Explorers discovered the metal objects - described as resembling gold bullion - 400 meters below Lake Baikal's surface Monday. Attempts so far, however, to pick up the objects with a mechanical arm have failed.
Explorers have long been hunting for the treasure, some 1,600 tons of gold allegedly carried by the White Army of Admiral Alexander Kolchak as it fled the advancing Red Army during the 1918-1921 civil war.
The admiral, portrayed in a 2008 Russian film of the same name, led the pro-Czarist White Army against the Bolsheviks after the October revolution of 1917.
One version of the legendary disappearance has Admiral Kolchak's troops freezing to death in temperatures of of minus-60 degrees Celsius in the winter of 1919-1920 as they fled across the lake with the treasure. Under that story line, the imperial gold sank to the bottom of the vast lake, which contains a full 20 percent of the world's fresh water, when the Spring thaw finally arrived.Treasure hunters comb world’s deepest lake
The 31 Aug. 2010 at 06:56Treasure Hunting / recovery
By RT - Prime Time Russia
The Russian Empire's lost gold may be buried at the bottom of Lake Baikal. That is the guess of an underwater research expedition, after it caught sight of something shiny.
Expedition members think they may have found the gold that admiral Kolchak seized during the Civil War almost a century ago. This was part of the country's gold reserve and amounted to more than 180 tonnes of gold.
All trace of the hoard was lost after a train crash in the region of Lake Baikal. Last year, researchers found the remains of a train carriage. Currently, the deep-water sub "Mir" is exploring the site.
It is still unclear if the find is the real thing or not. Some believe the gold reserve is being kept in Japanese and British banks. Scientists say there is no evidence that any treasures are hidden in the lake.
"This would be totally unscientific to comb the whole lake without any proof or documents hinting that the treasure was buried there,” Anatoly Sagalevich, head of the Baikal expedition, was quoted as saying by Izvestia newspaper. “In fact, we have found much more than Kolchak’s gold – the giant solid gas hydrate deposits. In the future, these could be used as alternative fuel – without any harm to the lake.”Treasure hunter plans to salvage mercury from wreck
The 27 Aug. 2010 at 18:06Treasure Hunting / recovery
By Edward D. Murphy - Kennebec Journal
Treasure hunter Greg Brooks, who led a trouble-plagued relief mission to Haiti last winter, has set his sights on a salvage job with both business and humanitarian components.
Brooks, who is from Gorham, wants to put his sea salvage skills to work removing an estimated 16,000 pounds of valuable mercury from a 66-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Maine. He contends the mission would defuse a ticking environmental time bomb, though scientists have concluded the wreck is best left undisturbed.
The federal government prohibits any activity near the ship, but Brooks is hoping he can get the ban lifted. If he does, he would gain access not only to the mercury, but also to other cargo, including what he says is copper-platinum wire worth $200 million.
The wreck is the Empire Knight, a British freighter that struck an underwater ledge, split in two and sunk in a blizzard near Boon Island, off the coast of York, in February 1944. In 1990, the Coast Guard learned the ship carried 221 flasks of toxic mercury.
Divers subsequently recovered 1,230 pounds of the mercury and 2,200 pounds of contaminated debris, but determined that another 16,000 pounds of mercury had escaped from the casks and was in a cargo hold near the stern of the ship. Officials eventually decided it would be better to leave the mercury alone, concluding that in time, sediment will cover the ship, burying it and its toxic cargo.
Attempting to remove the mercury, officials said, could result in the mercury escaping into the sea and contaminating the food chain.
In the late 1990s, as salvage companies tried to stake claims to the wreck, federal officials created an environmental safety zone around it, prohibiting diving, salvage and other activities.
Brooks thinks it's time to lift the limits and allow him to remove the mercury, via a high-pressure vacuum and filter system. That could also clear the way for him to salvage what he believes is copper-platinum wire that was included in the wartime cargo and could be what he terms "semi-valuable" -- to the tune of $200 million or so.
Officials have said they believe the wire is copper only and pegged its value at about $1 million in the mid-1990s, although prices for the metal have risen since then.
Brooks said his research suggests the more valuable wire is aboard and added that he also believes there's a "secret cargo" of coins in the wreck. Those coins, he said, could be worth $10 million to $15 million for the metal content alone, and more than that if there are coins that are valuable to collectors -- which is likely, given the age of the wreck.Treasure hunters find gold off coast of Indian River County
The 12 Aug. 2010 at 06:59Treasure Hunting / recovery
By WPTV Web Team
Treasure hunting season is well underway in the waters off of the coast of Indian River County.
Captain Greg Bounds, Brent Brisben, and their team of treasure hunters found a four foot cannon and 22 gold coins just off of the coast of Indian River Shores on Sunday.
They estimate the coins are worth around $150,000 and date back to 1698. The canon is harder to estimate.
Brisben and his father bought out part of the territory owned by famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher, the man who discovered 40 tons of silver and gold on the Atocha wreck in the 1980s.
This is Brisben's first big find since he took over the operation. His group previously found a gold coin and gold locket.
Finding treasure is not as easy as it might appear. Many days treasure hunters return with nothing but suntans.
The group has been searching for the Lost Spanish Fleet of 1715 and the Queen's Jewels. These wrecks, and many more, have helped give the Treasure Coast its appropriate nickname.Shipwreck hunters take on project to find plane wreckage
The 02 Aug. 2010 at 15:08Treasure Hunting / recovery
By Simona Sikimic - Daily Star Lebanon
Unbeknown to the swarms of bathers who migrate to the nation’s beaches to tan and swim each year, the seemingly calm, clear shores of Lebanon’s 225-kilometer coastline are home to countless shipwrecks that hide valuable clues about thousands of years of human history.
Beneath the waves also lie the remains of a C-46 Lebanese International Airways (LIA), passenger airliner that crashed mysteriously in 1957, depositing a “considerable amount” of gold onto the ocean floor and killing all 31 passengers on board the Kuwait-bound plane.
All previous salvage operations to unearth the wreckage have come to nothing, but a high-tech treasure-hunting ship, due to embark from the Port of Beirut shortly, may now finally assemble the missing pieces of the puzzle.
“The Odyssey” is the world’s preeminent deep-ocean shipwreck exploration vessel and comprises a 40-strong crew made up of archeologists, mechanical experts and scientists. It is equipped with military-made, state-of-the-art sensor and radar technology as well as a Remotely Operated Vehicle, “ZEUS,” a kind of unmanned submarine, which is capable of reaching depths of 2,500 meters and is used for documentation and retrieval.
“Odyssey has proven its ability as one of the world leaders in underwater search and recovery, and we are very confident that we can succeed where others have failed,” said Aladar Nasser, Odyssey international relations director. “Through our investigations we are able to solve mysteries and piece together the circumstances of the final missions of the crafts.”
“This project provides an opportunity to explore an aviation mystery which was relatively recent, so we have had an opportunity to cooperate with people that were either witnesses or have been able to provide us with detailed information about the loss – that’s been particularly exciting for us.”
The fatal incident occurred some 11 minutes after takeoff after a fire reportedly broke out on board, causing the pilot to lose control of the plane. The incident was attributed either to electrical failure or human negligence but the true cause and final location of the crash have never been determined.
The task of finding the wreckage will not be an easy one and the operation is likely to take several months.
Contemporary news reports place the plane some 32-kilometers southwest of Rafik Hariri International Airport, but the nature of the crash implies that plane now rests scattered in pieces over a large area, marked with dramatic underwater topography.
The mission, which will be conducted in cooperation with the Public Works and Transportation Ministry, has been on Odyssey’s radar for nearly 15 years when it was first brought to the company’s attention by friends of the pilot. But difficulties in getting the appropriate permission, combined with prior commitments, have prevented the launch until now.
Founded by deep-ocean shipwreck pioneers and businessmen, John Morris and Greg Stem, Odyssey was born out of a belief that combining good business and sound archeology, termed “commercial marine archeology,” was the only sustainable way of funding long-term exploration.Treasure Hunters Won in Court to Harvest Spanish Wealth
The 31 Jul. 2010 at 19:01Treasure Hunting / recoveryBy Cammy Clark - The Miami Herald
In 1985 aboard the Dauntless salvage boat, Jimmy Buffett sang atop a stack of silver bars while treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his crew swilled champagne to celebrate their jaw-dropping discovery.
After 16 years that included a U.S. Supreme Court victory and the death of his son, Fisher's dream had come true.
In waters 55 feet below them, divers Andy Matroci and Greg Wareham had found a virtual reef made of chests full of silver coins, silver plates, silver bars, copper ingots, stone ballast and artifacts. It was the $450 million mother lode of the 1622 shipwreck, Nuestra Senora de Atocha.
At sea, the crews of the J.B. Magruder and Dare salvage boats continue to search along the 10-mile trail of the Atocha wreck for the rest of the Spanish galleon's buried booty - and a chance to complete the odyssey of the master salvage man, who died in 1998.
"We're looking for the stern castle, where there's another 400 silver bars and over 130,000 silver coins," said Sean Fisher, Mel's grandson, who was 7 when the treasure was found.
Fisher, who inherited some of his grandfather's charisma and enthusiasm, added: "The stern castle is also where the church kept its gold and its taxes, and we don't know how much that was because the church was more powerful than the state. The church didn't have to say what they were bringing on the ship."
Also left off the manifest and missing: about 60 pounds of emeralds from the Muzo mines of Colombia. Fisher said the gems, believed to have been smuggled on board in a 70-pound keg, are among the unknown amount of contraband sneaked aboard the Atocha to avoid the Spanish king's 20 percent tax.
The Atocha was the flagship of a 28-ship fleet traveling from Havana to Spain in early September 1622. Less than 48 hours into the six- to eight-week journey, a hurricane blew the Atocha and its sister ship, the Santa Margarita, into the reefs.
The heavy treasure of the Atocha remained where it sank, but subsequent storms scattered parts of the Atocha along a 10-mile long, 300-yard wide trail that split into two branches at about the halfway point.
The J.B. Magruder was anchored at a site nicknamed Emerald City, where nearly 7 pounds of the precious gems have been found. It is close to where the mother lode was found, in the Marquesa Keys, about 35 miles southeast of Key West.
The Dare was a few miles away, in the middle of the trail at a site dubbed the Bank of Spain, where thousands of silver coins have been discovered.
The two sites have been worked over. Still, the crews revisit them three weeks a year, when many of the 150 current investors are in town, because there's still a good chance of finding emeralds and silver coins, Fisher said. The investors help foot the treasure hunting operating costs of about $3 million a year.
Most of the time, however, the crews are searching for the stern castle - the back of the Atocha, where the wealthy noblemen, the clergy and the captain kept their valuables.
The crews include another Fisher grandson, Josh Fisher, 28. Jose "Papo" Garcia, who used to treasure-hunt in his native Cuba, captains the Dare, and Matroci, one of the two divers who found the treasure , helms the J.B. Magruder.Diving ban imposed on Champagne Wreck
The 24 Jul. 2010 at 08:14Treasure Hunting / recovery
From Yle.fi
The provincial government of the Åland Islands has imposed a ban on diving in the area where a team of divers earlier this month found what could be the world's oldest drinkable champagne.
The Finnish Coast Guard is patrolling the area to keep prevent any unauthorized dives of the 18th century wreck. The ban in a 30 square kilometre zone is to be in effect until the end of December, according to an online report by the newspaper Ålandstidningen.
The paper added that the provincial government is considering if any other measures are needed.
The wreck, which is at a depth of 55 metres, is in good condition and contained a number of intact bottles.
Christian Ekström, who headed the team that discovered the cache, guessed they might contain champagne. He took one with him to help identify the age of the wreck. The shape of the bottle indicates that it is from the 1780s.
Opening the bottle, Ekström found that it tasted it like champagne. He offered tastes to several wine experts, who were highly impressed.
Not only the champagne may be valuable, the well-preserved wreck itself may be protected. Under an earlier court decision, wrecks and their contents discovered in the waters of Åland, the semi-autonomous maritime province off Finland's south-west coast, are the property of the provincial government.Bronze cannon from 1715 shipwreck found
The 20 Jul. 2010 at 06:36Treasure Hunting / recovery
From South Florida Business Journal
Shipwreck salvage company Gold Hound LLC has found a bronze cannon with 63 gold and silver coins concealed inside, the company said Monday.
The cannon is part of the 1715 Treasure Fleet that sunk off of Sebastian nearly 300 years ago. Inside were 25 colonial Spanish gold coins and 38 silver coins, but 22 more gold coins were found alongside, according to a news release.
The bronze swivel cannon was used to fend off pirate enemies on the treasure ships' ill-fated journey back to King Philip V in Spain.
The cannon was encrusted from lying hidden in the depths for centuries, and during its conservation, it suddenly let loose its of gold and silver, with an estimated value of more than $500,000, the company said.
"We found treasure within the treasure. This is right out of 'Pirates of the Caribbean,' except this is the real thing,” said Capt. Greg Bounds, of Sebastian-based Gold Hound, in the news release. “For centuries, there has been talk of treasure possibly hidden inside of cannons, but up ’til today, that was only pirate lore. Now, it’s the real deal.”
The cannon was discovered in less than 15 feet of water about 40 miles north of West Palm Beach.
Gold Hound is a subcontractor for 1715 Fleet-Queen’s Jewels LLC, which acquired salvage rights to the fleet from the heirs of treasure hunter Mel Fisher. Queens Jewels, also based in Sebastian, was founded by William Brisben, who previously led a national Cincinnati-based real estate development firm before serving seven years as the U.S. representative to UNICEF under President George W. Bush.
Among the gold coins was an extremely rare 1698 Cuzco mint coin from a Peruvian mine that operated for just four months, adding to the importance and value of the coin, the news release said. Historians have struggled for decades to unearth more information about the mine, of which little is known.
The remaining gold coins appear to be primarily from Bogotá, Colombia, referred to as “Bogie 2s” for their denominations, the news release said. The silver coins, subject to further identification, likely originate from mines in Mexico and Bolivia.