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From CBS Boston

In 2014, explorer Barry Clifford claimed to have found the wreck of Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria off of the coast of Haiti in the Bay of Cap-Haitien.

But shortly after, the site was discovered by looters. Clifford said they took away anything that may have positively identified the ship. UNESCO then concluded the wreck was more likely a ship from a later era. “They never talked to us, they never asked to see our records,” said Clifford. “It’s a very serious situation.”

But Clifford, 71, insisted to WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Kim Tunnicliffe that it was the famed flagship of explorer Christopher Columbus’s fleet, and that it must be preserved.

“That ship changed the course of human history, and it’s being destroyed right now by people who are stealing things off of that wreck because UNESCO said no, that’s not it,” he said.

Clifford discovered the only authenticated pirate shipwreck in the United States in 1984–the wreck of the Whydah, pirate captain “Black Sam” Bellamy’s ship–off the coast of Wellfleet.

By Léa Surugue - International Business Times

The first maritime archaeology expedition mapping ancient submerged landscapes to take place in the Black Sea has led to the discovery of more than 40 shipwrecks associated with the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires.

Vivid descriptions of these ships can be found in historical records, but some of them had never been seen before.

The Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project is run by an international team and involves the University of Southampton's Centre for Maritime Archaeology. Funded by the Expedition and Education Foundation (EEF) – a charitable organisation for maritime research – its aim is to survey the Black Sea near Bulgaria to understand how water rose there and covered ancient lands at the end of the last Ice Age.

"We're endeavouring to answer some hotly-debated questions about when the water level rose, how rapidly it did so and what effects it had on human populations living along this stretch of the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea," explains principle investigator Professor Jon Adams.

"As such, the primary focus of this project is to carry out geophysical surveys to detect former land surfaces buried below the current sea bed, take core samples and characterise and date them, and create a palaeo-environmental reconstruction of Black Sea prehistory."

On board an offshore vessel called the Stril Explorer, the team is equipped with some of the most advanced technologies in the world for underwater archaeology.

They are surveying the sea bed using two sophisticated Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) – one of which has set new records for both depth (1,800m) and sustained speed (over 6 knots).

And what they have found has exceeded their expectations.

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By Darren Boyle - Mail Online

These haunting images show forgotten US planes from the Second World War lying on the ocean floor.

The pictures reveal how marine life has taken over these once deadly weapons. One image even shows how schools of fish have been making themselves at home inside a rusted cockpit. American photographer and scuba instructor Brandi Mueller, 32, captured the images when diving off of the coast of Roi-Namur, Marshall Islands.

The wrecked planes include the B-25 Mitchell bomber and a Curtiss C-46 aircraft. he said: 'Diving these wrecks feels like going back in time. I want to show what the wrecks have become. 'They have been underwater for over 70 years now and are beginning to deteriorate, so it sort of feels like I’m documenting them as they change.

'Eventually there won't be anything left of them.' The Marshall Islands were the setting for the Battle of Kwajalein when the United States launched an attack against the Japanese.

The island was the first of the Japanese islands to be successfully captured by the US. The battle took place between January 31 and February 3, 1944.

However, many of the planes that remain were mysteriously dumped by the US government after hostilities with the Japanese ceased.

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From Mail Online

The undersea explorer who discovered the Whydah Gally, the first authenticated pirate shipwreck in North America, believes he's found where the ship's legendary treasure lies after more than 30 years of poking around the murky waters off Cape Cod.

Barry Clifford says his expedition recently located a large metallic mass that he's convinced represents most if not all of the 400,000 coins and other riches believed to be contained on the ship.

'We think we might be at the end of the rainbow,' Clifford said in the recently opened Whydah Pirate Museum on Cape Cod, where many of the expedition's finds are now showcased.

Maritime archaeologists and historians say they're intrigued but remain skeptical, mostly because he's been disproved on other finds.

'Barry Clifford's many claims can be very exciting, if they can be verified with photographs or scientific proof,' said Paul Johnston, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington D.C. who specializes in shipwrecks.

'Until then, it's just talk.' The former slave ship, commanded by the English pirate Samuel 'Black Sam' Bellamy, went down in stormy seas off Wellfleet, Massachusetts, in 1717, killing all but a handful of the nearly 150-person crew.

It's believed the heavily laden ship sunk quickly, leaving the ill-gotten riches from over 50 ships at the bottom of the ocean. But Victor Mastone, chief archaeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, which oversees shipwrecks and other undersea finds, suggests the pirates could have simply been lying.

'Did they brag more than they should have ? Who knows ?' he said. 'We know what the pirates said they had.'
 

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By Danae Leivada - Huffington Post

Archaeologists discovered a shipwreck earlier this month off the Greek island of Delos, which was a sanctuary dedicated to the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis during the classical period of Greek antiquity between the fourth and fifth centuries B.C.

The site was a major commercial hub in the first century B.C., bustling with people and trade.

Researchers from the French Archaeological School at Athens and Greece’s Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities worked together on an underwater excavation between Sept. 5 and 15, discovering well-preserved objects dating back to the Greek-Roman period inside a submerged shipwreck.

Delos, a small island, is just two miles southwest of the famous tourist attractions of Mykonos.

Building remains, including about twenty fragments of columns and pillars, were found a little further north.

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From Radionz

It involves personnel from New Zealand, Australia, Britain and Canada.

Operation Render Safe is a three-week-long exercise to remove explosive remnants from World War II that can be found scattered over land and sea in the Solomons.

The commander of HMNZS Manawanui, Lieutenant Commander Muzz Kennett, said the New Zealand team had been working in the Russell Island group, to the northwest of Guadalcanal, aiming to ensure communities and the waters they relied on were safe.

"We have found 250 pound bombs and smaller ordnance - one village we found up to 52 pieces of ordnance that we removed and detonated some explosives to get rid of them.

"It's working really well, we have been busy, and in the last five days we have got rid of approximately 400 pounds of ordnance."

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From the Express

Interestingly, the cap of each bottle has an inscription indicating it was a favourite tipple of King Edward VII, the former Prince of Wales. The writing reads, ‘Specially Selected Very Old Scotch Whisky Same As Supplied To H.R.H The Prince Of Wales’, a role which Albert Edward occupied between 1841-1901.

The now undrinkable collection was recovered from the wreck of the SS Wallachia, which sank in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, in 1895. The 260ft steamship left Queen’s Dock, Glasgow, on a voyage to the West Indies with a valuable cargo of gin and whisky.

The vessel slipped under the waters of the Clyde and as she became submerged tons of water made contact with her boilers, causing an enormous explosion. Wallachia settled over 100ft below sea level. To reduce the danger to navigation divers cut the tall masts off and the wreck was left lying on the seabed. She lay forgotten for almost a century until divers investigating a fisherman’s snag rediscovered her in 1980.

Some of the first people to explore the wreck unearthed hundreds of dark green McEwan’s beer bottles as well as a collection of whiskies in the ship’s hold.

The vendor of the items to appear at auction inspected the wreck in 1988 and pulled seven bottles of whisky out as well as a stone flagon and a McEwan’s stout bottle, which will be sold separately.

The keen amateur diver kept the relics in storage at his home until recently, when he decided to sell up.

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From Chester Chronicle

A scuba diving author who spent years exploring one of Wales’ most important shipwrecks, sunk in a storm while carrying £120 million worth of gold, has been honoured for his work.

Chris Holden, a member of Chester Sub-Aqua Club, has been appointed as one of Britain’s first Wreck Champions by the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC), which is the UK governing body for snorkelling and scuba and has the Duke of Cambridge as its president.

The accolade is in recognition of decades of dedication to the wreck of the steam clipper The Royal Charter, which sank off the beach of Porth Helaeth in Dulas Bay on the north-east coast of Anglesey, more than 150 years ago.

Chris, 68, from Higher Kinnerton, spent years researching the history and human tragedy behind the story of the Royal Charter, which sank on October 26, 1859, with the loss of at least 459 passengers and crew.

His book Life and Death on the Royal Charter, written with his wife Lesley, is considered a definitive work on the wreck and tragedy and he has presented many lectures on the wreck over the years.

The Royal Charter was returning from Melbourne to Liverpool, laden with gold from the Australian gold fields, when she was smashed against rocks off Moelfre, Anglesey during a Force 12 storm.

The wreck has been a source of huge interest for treasure hunters. Last year a gold panner from Norfolk reported he’d found what’s thought to be Britain’s biggest gold nugget from the wreck, worth £50,000, near Moelfre on Anglesey.

But he had to hand it over as the shipwreck is Crown property. However, it’s the people who were aboard the wreck who have interested retired computer engineer Chris, who took up diving in 1971 and is a BSAC Advanced Instructor and First Class diver with Chester Sub-Aqua Club.

He first dived on the Royal Charter in 1982 and says he was fascinated to learn more about the wreck and those that lost their lives in the tragedy.

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