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By Stephanie Valera - Geek.com

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient, Roman-era wooden ship, complete with cargo, off the eastern coast of Cyprus.

In a statement, Cyprus’ Department of Antiquities said the wreck is the “first undisturbed Roman shipwreck” found in the Mediterranean island nation’s waters. The ship belongs to the period after Rome annexed the island in 58 BC.

Amphorae found in and around the wreck identify the ship as a merchant vessel that transported cargo between Syria and the southern coast of modern Turkey, known in ancient times as Cicilia.

The wreck was found near the resort town of Protaras by volunteer divers with the University of Cyprus’ underwater archaeological research team.

A team from the university’s Maritime Archaeological Research Laboratory (MARELab) was also at the site to document the ship and protect it from looters while archaeologists prepare to conduct a preliminary investigation.

Aside from being the first undisturbed Roman shipwreck ever found in Cyprus, the find marks a milestone as the expedition was the first underwater project to be fully financed by the Cyprus government.

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By Michael Wing - Epoch Times

The ancient Greeks once sailed the seas aboard ships like the ones depicted on ancient murals and vases from the time of Plato. In modern times, though, we have never actually laid eyes on one—that is, until now.

In the depths of the Black Sea, more than 80 kilometers off the coast of Burgas, Bulgaria, an ancient Greek merchant ship, resembling paintings of the vessel used by Homer’s Odysseus, was discovered by an Anglo-Bulgarian research team in October 2018.

From carbon dating, the ship is thought to be over 2,400 years old, making it the world’s oldest ship ever found that is still intact.

The vessel measures 23 meters long (75 feet), and its rudder, rowing benches, as well as the contents of its cargo hold remain preserved despite being two-dozen centuries old.

The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (MAP) team located the ship at a depth of 2,000 meters below the surface (well beyond the reach of modern divers) using two underwater robotic explorers to digitally map the wreck in 3D.

They also took samples for carbon dating. “It’s when the ROV [remote operated vehicle] drops down through the water column and you see this ship appear in the light at the bottom so perfectly preserved it feels like you step back in time,” MAP researcher Dr. Helen Farr told BBC.

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By Yonhap - Korea Herald

A man in his 60s has been arrested on suspicion of possessing ancient pottery that is believed to have been taken illegally from an underwater resting place off the southwestern coast of South Korea, police said Thursday.

The 63-year-old suspect, whose name was withheld, is accused of having hidden ancient Chinese celadon and other treasures retrieved in the 1980s from the Sinan underwater relics burial site in waters off South Jeolla Province in violation of the Act on Protection and Inspection of Buried Cultural Heritage, police said.

The man is also suspected of having attempted to smuggle some of the treasures into Japan for sale, according to the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency.

Police detained the suspect March 20 and seized 57 ceramic objects from his home in Seoul and other places.

The police and the Cultural Heritage Administration launched a joint investigation last February after obtaining intelligence indicating that the suspect was trying to sell stolen treasures in Japan.

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By Michael Hollan - Fox News

 

Wine lovers will soon have the opportunity to purchase 400-year-old bottles recovered from an actual shipwreck.

Two bottles of Shipwreck Wine, believed to be from a 14-bottle collection dating back to the late 17th century, were scheduled to be auctioned off on June 5th and 6th.

Christie’s, a British auction company, is handling the sale. According to their website, the bottles are the oldest bottles of wine the auction house has ever brought to market. It’s believed that the bottles date back to between 1670 and 1690, though experts are unsure of the exact year.

They were discovered in 2010 in a shipwreck off the coast of Germany.

The bottles will be auctioned during Christie’s Finest and Rarest Wines and Spirits sale in London.

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By Jackie Dunham - CTVNews

Human remains discovered in Quebec’s Gaspe region in 2011 and 2016 were those of Irish immigrants who died in a shipwreck in 1847 after fleeing famine, Parks Canada has confirmed.

The government agency said the bones of three individuals between the ages of seven and 12 washed up on a beach at Cap-des-Rosiers in Forillion National Park in 2011 following a violent storm. Five years later, Parks Canada workers carried about a preventative archeological dig at Cap-des-Rosiers and found the remains of 18 more individuals, mostly women and children.

Historians theorized the remains were from the Carricks shipwreck in 1847. The ship carrying 180 passengers from Sligo, Ireland sank off the coast of Cap-des-Rosiers before it was able to reach its final destination of the Port of Quebec. Between 120 and 150 people died when the ship sank, according to historical records. Only 48 people survived.

Researchers analyzed the human remains in the bioarcheology laboratory at the University of Montreal and confirmed they were indeed from the shipwreck. They did this by accounting for the location where the bones were discovered and the context of their burial, which were buried on the beach.

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By Catherine Graue on Pacific Beat - ABC.net
 

There are new warnings that thousands of World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific, still containing millions of litres of oil, pose a potential environmental disaster. Those involved in a new remediation program say they're in a race against time.

It's estimated more than 3000 ships sank during the war in waters across Asia and the Pacific. Studies have shown that they're coming to the end of their life spans, with their metal walls now corroding.

Paul Adams and his team at the Major Projects Foundation have spent the past year assessing the wrecks and have narrowed the number down to 55 they say need urgent attention — in waters off countries like Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Palau.

The foundation's director, Paul Adams, last year bought an old New Zealand warship with his wife Wilma, and they have made it their mission to prevent a major oil spill.

He says the cost of not doing anything will be huge.

"Some of these tankers out there, we're talking about millions of litres. The clean-up cost will be enormous. It might be $4 or $5 million now to take the oil out, it'll be $50, $60, $70 [million] if we don't," he told Pacific Beat.

"Not to mention the environmental damage, which is irreparable. It's something that needs to be done urgently, and we are running out of time, there's no question about that".

They're now partnering with the University of Newcastle and the Pacific's leading environmental group, SPREP, to bring scientists, engineers and historians together for a remediation program.Fijian Awei Bainivalu is a PhD student at the university and on the team, piloting a process known as bio-remediation that could be one of the technologies used to remove the oil.

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From Art Daily

A rare U.S. gold coin struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1857 and recovered five years ago from a world-famous California Gold Rush shipwreck set a record price for any 1857 San Francisco Mint $20 denomination gold coin. It was sold for $282,000 in a public auction in New Orleans, Louisiana conducted by Lincoft, New Jersey on May 16, 2019. 

The coin was recovered in 2014 from the S.S. Central America, the fabled “Ship of Gold, that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1857. The Supernova was discovered on the ocean floor among piles and stacks of coins that originally were in boxes of Double Eagles being shipped to New York by San Francisco businesses.

Described by Legend President Laura Sperber as “the most beautifully and amazingly colorful toned gold coin we have ever seen!,” the sunken treasure Double Eagle was independently graded Mint State 67 (on a 1 to 70 scale) by Professional Coin Grading Service.

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From Daily Mail
 

Six rare bottles of Scotch salvaged from the shipwreck that inspired Whisky Galore! are to be sold at auction. The SS Politician ran aground off Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides during bad weather in February 1941 – with 264,000 bottles in Hold Number Five.

Some islanders conducted an unofficial ‘salvage’ mission – and even donned their wives’ dresses so that engine oil leaking on to their clothes would not give them away afterwards.The wreck was immortalised by Compton Mackenzie in his 1947 novel Whisky Galore! and the Ealing comedy which followed two years later.

The six bottles will be auctioned at Bonhams in Edinburgh on June 5. They are a Ballantine’s, a VAT 69, and four bottles of Gilbey’s. Each one is expected to fetch £6,000 to £8,000.Unlike much of the contents of Hold Five, they were salvaged legally in 1990 and are accompanied by official documentation from HM Customs.

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