HOT NEWS !

By Harriet McLeod - Reuters

A Confederate ironclad warship, scuttled by its crew to prevent it from falling into Yankee hands, will be salvaged before the long-planned dredging of the mouth of the Savannah River to handle big, modern commercial container ships.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of the dredging project, can't say how long it will take, but Savannah won't be able to handle new super-sized container ships coming through the Panama Canal in 2014 before its harbor is dredged.

The wreck of the Confederate States Ship Georgia lies 40 feet below the surface of the river under a layer of silt. The ship was scuttled by Confederate sailors in 1864 to prevent it from falling into the hands of Union General William T. Sherman's troops as they approached Savannah.

After the ship is raised, dredging can begin for the $653 million project to deepen Savannah's harbor, river and shipping channel out to sea from 42 feet to 47 feet. The project, which has been studied for 15 years, is underfunded and does not yet have full approval from the Army Corps.

Savannah District Corps spokesman Billy E. Birdwell said it would cost about $14 million to remove the wreck of the ironclad warship.

Both the Union and Confederate navies had ironclads, 19th-century wooden warships covered in heavy iron plating, and they played a part in several dramatic sea battles in the Civil War.

The wreck is owned by the U.S. Navy and the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia runs right through the site, Birdwell said. Although the Corps has had an agreement since 1984 with both states not to dredge within 50 feet of the wreck, the ship has been damaged by previous dredging, Birdwell said.

"That's how it was discovered in the first place," he said. "We struck it with a dredge."

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By Lisa J. Lucero - Scientist at work

We did not leave for the field until 9:30 a.m. Because our exploration diver Chip Petersen is using trimix (oxygen, nitrogen and helium) gases, double-checking the gas tanks before and after the hour-plus trip to Pool 1 is critical.

Using this gas mix will allow him to safely and effectively explore depths beyond traditional scuba diving, and that is where we expect to find Maya offerings.

At Pool 1, as the divers began getting their gear in order, Ernesto, Cleofo, Juan Antonio and Stanley constructed a ladder that the divers need to enter the pool, since the surface is eight feet below ground level.

Our videographer, Marty O’Farrell, noticed last season that the bottom of the pool is roughly half the size of its surface, because of the slope beginning on the south side going down toward the cave opening.

Andrew explored the shelf approximately 15 feet below the surface beneath Structure 1, the ceremonial building (likely a water shrine) on the southwest edge of the pool. Why is this significant ?

Because this underwater topography (bathymetry) determines where divers search for offerings. If the Maya made offerings from this building, they probably would have either landed on the shelf 15 feet below or rolled all the way down, 150 to 200-plus feet. The depth is the first challenge.

The second challenge is negotiating the numerous trees that have collapsed into the cenote over who knows how many centuries. Naturally, the highest density of trees is found immediately under Structure 1.

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By Devika Cariapa - Deccan Herald

After she sank, Mary Rose would have remained forgotten at the bottom of the ocean if not for the wonders of Underwater Archaeology.

Recently, the world comme­morated a hundred years since the sinking of the ‘unsinkable’ RMS Titanic.

Almost four centuries earlier, on July 19, 1545, another ‘unsinkable’ ship sank off the coast of England: Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s (he of the six wives) favourite, state-of-the-art, fully armed and loaded warship – a veteran of 33 years of fierce sea battles, manned with a battle-hardened crew.

After she sank, Mary Rose would have remained forgotten and quietly decayed at the bottom of the ocean if it wasn’t for the wonders of Underwater Archaeology.

Underwater archaeology deals with remains from the past that are submerged under lakes, rivers and oceans. This means that in addition to being an archaeologist, you have to be an ace diver as well since excavations take place only underwater !

It is painstaking work but these archaeologists are often lucky since underwater conditions sometimes preserve artefacts and structures. So it was with Mary Rose.

Mary Rose was built in Portsmouth, England between 1509 and 1511. She was named after Henry’s sister, Mary, and the symbol of the Tudor House, the Rose.

She was among the finest warships to be built with specially designed gunports armed with huge bronze and iron cannons. She must have cut a dashing sight racing along the water with her special gilded flags and banners. With her handpicked crew, she was a lethal fighting machine.

She was the flagship of the English Navy for 33 years. She was responsible for destroying many French vessels and had carried Henry’s armies into several battles.

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From This Is Staffordshire

In 1901, a group of divers excavating an ancient Roman shipwreck near the island of Antikythera, off the southern coast of Greece, found a mysterious object.

At first they thought it was a scuba-diving Bruce Forsyth but after some probing it turned out to be a lump of calcified stone that contained within it several gearwheels welded together after years under the sea.

The 2,000-year-old object, no bigger than a modern laptop, is now regarded as the world's oldest computer, devised to predict solar eclipses and, according to recent findings, calculate the timing of the ancient Olympics (this year's schedule will be made available in the Radio Times).

Following the efforts of an international team of scientists, the mysteries of the Antikythera Mechanism have now been uncovered, revealing surprising details of the object that continues to mystify.

Dated back to the early 1st century BC, technological artefacts of similar complexity and workmanship did not reappear until the 14th century, when mechanical astronomical clocks were built in Europe.

Among those fascinated by the device was the diver Jacques Cousteau, pictured above, who visited the wreck for the last time in 1978 but found no additional remains of the mechanism, the trip proving further frustrating when he cut his wetsuit on a jagged sponge.

"In terms of historic and scarcity value," says one expert, "I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa."

Whether it beats a Rolf Harris is debatable.

 
Photo Peter Ristevski

By Danny Lannen - Geelong Advertiser

Maritime archaeologist Peter Veth smiled as he described the shipwreck of the Clarence in its silent 160-year repose beneath the waves off St Leonards.

"It's not covered in gold but it's funky," Professor Veth said with a measure of satisfaction.

From the fixed barge on which he stood, the outline of the vessel was discernable through 5m of water, 300m off shore.

As far as stricken ship stories read, that of the colonial Clarence seems among the less dramatic and engaging.

The trading vessel hit a sandbar while transporting sheep from Melbourne to Hobart. All souls aboard survived. Even the 132 sheep were rescued.

But today's intersection of technology and tenacity with the passing of time is making the Clarence funky far beyond Australia's treacherous shores.

Prof Veth is director of a far-reaching archaeological excavation of the heritage-listed vessel, which has brought together experts from six countries under the leadership of the University of Western Australia.

Partners include Australian National University, Australian Institute for Marine Archaeology, heritage organisations and Australian state and territory museums.

Full story...

By Steve Scherer - London South East

The Costa Concordia, the wrecked liner which been half-submerged near the Italian island of Giglio since it hit a rock in January, could be a paradise for recreational scuba divers from around the world - if sunk instead of salvaged.

'Every night I light a candle and say a prayer for it to sink,' Aldo Baffigi, a Giglio native, says of the 290-metre-long ship with its towering smokestack and four swimming pools.

Most of the Tuscan island's 1,500 residents want the modern-day Titanic to be hauled away as soon as possible, but Baffigi is an underwater guide and owner of Deep Blue Diving College, and he knows the fascination shipwrecks have for scuba divers.

With the salvage set to begin this month, Baffigi's prayers have not yet had the desired effect

But he has not lost hope because such a massive ship has never been salvaged in one piece, and a strong storm could still send the cruise liner, precariously perched on an undersea ledge, sliding down into deeper waters.

The U.S. company Titan Salvage together with Italy's Micoperi plan to tug the 114,000-tonne ship upright onto an underwater platform, attach two air-filled flotation devices to its sides to make it buoyant, and then tow it to a nearby port.

The $300-million salvage is going to take at least a year, officials have said.

'Nothing like this has ever been done,' Italian National Research Council physicist Valerio Rossi Albertini told Reuters. One of the risks is weather, he added.

The salvage effort, which Italy's environment ministry described as 'difficult and complex', are to be detailed by Costa Cruises, Italy's civil protection agency, and the salvage companies in a press conference later this month.

Because the island's pristine waters are the heart of the island's tourist-driven economy, the more traditional salvage method of cutting the ship into pieces and hauling it away on barges was ruled out.

Full story...

From Novinite

Two divers, father and son, from Bulgaria's Black Sea city of Burgas, found in the waters near the historical town of Sozopol an utterly intriguing statue.

The bronze statue, located at a depth of 2 meters, some 20 meters away from the shoreline, portrays an elderly woman in a sit-down position. It is 1.4-meter tall and believed to be modern, not ancient work.

The Director of the Archeological Museum in Sozopol, Dimitar Nedev, has been notified. Nedev, together with two other experts from the National ArcheologyInstitute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, BAS, have already done an initial examination.

The statue is temporarily kept at the Sozopol museum until its origins are definitively established.

By Ali Ahmed al Riyami - The Oman Observer

As per the terms of the memorandum of understanding signed between Oman and China, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture has begun the second phase of a marine survey to search for the wreckage of the Chinese ship Zheng He along the coast of Oman, with the assistance of the Royal Navy of Oman, yesterday.

Through the signing of the agreement, the two countries seek to find the famous Zheng wreckage that is believed to be sunk off the coast of Oman in the 14th Century.

As such, the search reflects the important historical significance of the shipwreck to both countries and the agreement is part of the desire of both countries to strengthen bilateral co-operation in a matter of common interest.

The great Chinese Admiral, Zheng He, and his fleet sailed through these waters on three famous voyages that were mainly diplomatic and commercial in nature.

Today, the research project for the Zheng shipwreck in Omani waters carries several implications, the most important of which are scientific and cultural co-operation between the respective institutions of the two friendly countries.

This will strengthen the historical bonds of friendship between Oman and China, allowing their top practitioners and experts in the field to participate in this research project.

They have worked together continuously for two years in order to reach this phase, which will pave the way for further co-operation in the future, especially in areas of scientific and cultural value.

The Chinese delegation is being accompanied by concerned official representatives that include those from the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs.

As noted by Hassan bin Mohammed al Lawati, Director General of Antiquities and Museums, Ministry of Heritage and Culture, “The Ministry of Heritage and Culture, which holds the second phase of this project in collaboration with all stakeholders in the Sultanate, sees this project as part of an ambitious program to take care of the historical effects found offshore in the territorial waters of Oman.

The ministry is considering several alternatives for the items of the program survey and marine survey research findings.

The results of the second phase, in co-operation with China, will help in the search for appropriate frameworks to complement the project, so as to achieve an understanding about the cargo and treasures of the shipwrecks.

The joint effort will strengthen distinguished, historical relations between the Sultanate and China. These kinds of joint bilateral projects may extend to some other countries that are thought to have ship-wreckages in Omani territorial waters.