HOT NEWS !

By Dalya Alberge - Online WSJ

It takes a brave soul to rewrite history by sailing against current thought. More than 500 years after Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, another seaman is doing just that, entering previously uncharted academic waters with claims that other "Europeans" -- the Minoans -- got there first, thousands of years earlier.

Gavin Menzies, 72 years old, is drawing on his experience as a former British Royal Navy submarine commander to prove in a book he is writing that the Minoans were such supreme seafarers that they crossed an ocean and discovered the New World 4,000 years ago.

Eight years after he made controversial headlines with his first American history book, "1421: The Year China Discovered America," which sold more than a million copies in 130 countries, he may spark debate anew by claiming that the Bronze Age civilization of Crete, which built magnificent palaces, devised systems of writing and developed a trading empire, got rich on vast quantities of copper mined in America.

Transworld Publishers undertook his first book, in which he claimed that a Chinese eunuch led a fleet of junks to America 71 years before Columbus.

The book led to invitations to lecture at universities including Harvard, to an honorary professorship at Yunnan University in China, to the sale of film rights to Sky Motion Pictures and to HarperCollins snapping up the sequel in 2008, "1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance."

"Revisionist history tends to sell exceptionally well," says Luigi Bonomi, a leading literary agent who represents Mr. Menzies. "There is a huge audience eager to read new things about history."

Read more...

By Denise Goolsby - MyDesert

The Salton Sea History Museum at the historic North Shore Beach & Yacht Club has launched a Web site, in anticipation of the museum's grand opening scheduled for early April.

Jennie Kelly, director of the museum and the East Valley Historical Society, is on the lookout for photos, memorabilia and old newspapers from the area — including the Salton Seafarer, North Shore News, Desert Barnacle — as well as other general history items about east valley historical sites including Desert Beach/Eilers Date Palm Beach, Thermal, Mecca, Oasis and Valerie.

The facility, a 50-year-old Albert Frey-designed building, considered an architectural treasure, is wrapping up a $3.5 million renovation.

When it reopens, it will include a community center, museum and visitors center.

Renovations began in September with a groundbreaking ceremony dedicated to former Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson, who died in August.


Read more...

From BBC News

The reconstructed face of a crew member from the Mary Rose is going on display at the ship's museum in Portsmouth.

The face of the man, thought to have been of a rank known as Bosun, was created by forensic artists from a skull recovered from the wreck. It was given to the Mary Rose Trust to be displayed along with other objects found on board the fated warship. 

The Mary Rose sank on 19 July 1545 with the loss of more than 400 lives, after 34 years of service.

Only a handful of the crew and soldiers survived and Henry VIII was reported to have heard the screams of the drowning men as he helplessly stood and watched from Southsea Castle.

Archaeologists believe the man was a Bosun because he was found with the emblem of this comparatively senior status, a Bosun's call - a whistle. There are many theories about why the ship sank, but evidence from the wreck itself suggests the ship put about with its gunports open, was hit by a squall and went down. 

Ensuring that the gunports were closed would have been the Bosun's job, which has led researchers to suggest that this man was "at least partly responsible for the disaster".

The Mary Rose settled deep into the silty bed of the Solent, which preserved the many thousands of unique artefacts in excellent condition. The wreck was discovered in the 1960s and in 1982 it was raised to the surface to be restored in dry dock in Portsmouth. 

John Lippiett, chief executive of the trust, said: "It is great to have the opportunity to see what the Bosun looked like after all these years and to welcome his arrival in our museum."

A new £35m museum building to house the wrecked ship is currently being built and is due to be complete in 2012.

By Fox 10TV

One of the guns of the confederate raider, CSS Alabama has returned to the home of its captain, Admiral Raphael Semmes. The CSS Alabama sank in about 200 feet of water off Cherbourg, France, after an engagement with the Union's USS Kearsage on June 11, 1864.

The recovered artifacts, many of them already on display at The Museum of Mobile, provide information about the CSS Alabama’s construction, her technologies, armaments and the lives of those who served on her.

Through archaeological projects such as the CSS Alabama excavation we share the story of our past.

“The City of Mobile carpenters are constructing a cannon carriage for its eventual display in the Museum of Mobile. The exhibit will open once the gallery renovation is complete.

Summer is the projected opening date,” said Jacob Laurence, curator of exhibits. “You never know what may happen with a gun that size if you are not careful and plan accordingly.”

The cannon will be a welcome addition to those items the Museum of Mobile already has on loan from the US Navy. It will become the centerpiece in the 700 square foot exhibit funded by the Mobile Museum Board. The gun is one of eight guns that were originally on the deck of the CSS Alabama.

Six were 32-pounder cannon, which means they shot a 32-pound round cannon ball and were stationed at the edges of the deck facing starboard or port.

The other two were larger pivot guns that were located in the middle of the deck and fired conical shot by contrast to the gun the Museum will display. The gun is black in color, approximately 10 feet long, and weighs 5000 pounds (2 1/2 tons).

The cannon is one of only three recovered of the original six of that size.

One is at the Navy Yard in Washington, the other in Charleston, SC.

This cannon will be on a long-term loan from the US Navy Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington D.C.

Read more...

By Brittany Carr - The Voyager

After much debate, the Pensacola City Council approved the University of West Florida plan for the Admiral John H. Fetterman State of Florida Maritime Museum and Research Center during a special meeting on Feb. 2.

The meeting was called after the Community Maritime Park Associates approved the plan on Jan. 22. The University needed a decision before Feb. 8, which was the deadline for the federal New Market Tax Credits that are crucial for funding the museum.

As it stands now, the university has received $4.5 million in private donations toward the construction of the museum. UWF President Judy Bense said she hopes enough tax credits are purchased that the museum can receive $13.4 million.

Bense said no University funds would be used for the construction of the museum.

“It will be all new money, or we’re not going to build it,” she said.

After the construction is completed, there will be recurring yearly costs of $5.4 million for programs, faculty, staff and operations of the museum and the research facilities. The University has not come forward with a plan to meet these costs.

Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archaeology Institute, said that she was pleased to see positive support for the museum, but that she understood the people who questioned the lack of funding.

“I agree with the people who express reservations, because it’s kind of risky moving ahead without all the funding in place,” Benchley said. “But if we wait for everything to be just right, we would be 20 years down the line.”

Bense said moving ahead with the museum is a calculated risk that is necessary to “provide the students and faculty with opportunities they would have never had a chance at.”

“This is a lesson to students in how to move a university forward and how to take advantage of an opportunity without having absolutely everything you need,” Bense said.

The $20 million museum is expected to be 42,000 square feet, with the ability expand it up to 62,000 square feet. On the outside, it will be designed to look like a ship at the wharf.

By Barbara Cole - IOL

The mystery of the Durban shipwreck that was uncovered during dredging operations to widen and deepen the harbour entrance has finally been solved.

"And it is great to put a name and a face to her," said a delighted Vanessa Maitland, the maritime archaeologist known as the Agatha Christie of the deep.

Maitland was called in by the SA Heritage Resources Agency to investigate the mystery last year.

The wreck, now identified as the Steam Ship (SS) Karin, had been buried in 3m of sand and was 1.18km from the north breakwater, lying in the shipping channel.

While it was not considered a threat to navigation, if it was not removed it would certainly have posed a threat to the modern, larger ships calling into the port after Transnet's extensive renovations.

Maitland, of Durban North, had to find out all she could about the wreck and advise on how best it could be removed.

She had to don her diving gear to get to the bottom of the mystery.


Read more...

Lavoz Digital

Claudio Bonifacio podría ser el protagonista perfecto de una buena novela de aventuras. En él, todo apunta al folletín. Por ejemplo: habla un andaluz mestizo y con acento italiano. Es cordial y ocurrente.

Tiene carisma. Sabe que se le considera el cazatesoros más famoso de España, pero no le gusta la etiqueta.

También intuye que, como a los buenos personajes, le acompaña un poso inevitable de ambigüedad moral, la sombra permanente de la sospecha. Lidia con eso. Es su pequeña tragedia cotidiana.

Ha dedicado su vida a buscar y rescatar galeones hundidos. Para muchos lectores de esa hipotética novela, Claudio será un héroe, un viejo lobo de mar experto en cartas de navegación, diarios perdidos, batallas y naufragios. Otros, a tenor de sus peripecias judiciales, pensarán que es simplemente un crápula.

«No soy un pirata», advierte. «En todo caso, soy un corsario, porque siempre he trabajado dentro de la legalidad, con patente de corso». Ningún juez ha demostrado todavía lo contrario. «Nunca he pretendido llenarme los bolsillos, sino llenar los museos», se justifica. «Y eso no es delito».

En los últimos 30 años, Bonifacio ha trabajado para algunas de las empresas de localización de pecios más importantes del mundo, incluida Odyssey Marine. Ha escrito artículos científicos y tratados de referencia. Ha impartido cursos para especialistas y colaborado con la UNESCO. Ha localizado buques míticos en Portugal y en El Caribe.

Pero también se ha visto relacionado con la Operación Tartesis contra el expolio del patrimonio sumergido («la causa se sobreseyó; aquel jaleo fue sólo una pompa de jabón»), y después en la 'Operación Bahía 2': «Ocurrirá lo mismo. Llevo cinco años esperando una resolución que ratifique lo que ya he gritado a los cuatro vientos: soy inocente».

Ahora, además de continuar con proyectos de sondeos y prospecciones en Latinoamérica («todos conveniados con los gobiernos de la zona»), acaba de embarcarse en un nuevo y complejo viaje: quiere aclarar las cosas, reivindicar su condición de investigador, limpiar su nombre.

Leer más...

From Radio New Zealand International

A group of divers in Tonga is facing charges after allegedly removing items from a ship which sank more than a 150 years ago.

Our correspondent reports that police have confiscated what are believed to be gold pieces from the Nuku’alofa homes of the divers.

Mateni Tapueluelu says the divers, all Tongans, had allegedly been removing the materials from the ship, which sank in 1853, for quite some time before police became aware of their activity.

“It is yet to be tested officially but these men have been charged and are due to appear in the Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

They have been charged with illegally removing materials that belong to Government from the oceans [around] Tonga.