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From Irish Times

Three crates of Scotch whisky and two crates of brandy buried under Antarctic ice for more than 100 years have been recovered by a heritage team restoring Irish-born explorer Ernest Shackleton’s hut.

New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team leader Al Fastier says he believes some bottles, abandoned by Shackleton at Cape Royds when he was forced to abort his Nimrod expedition to the South Pole in 1909, are still intact.

The whisky was made by MacKinlay & Co and drinks group Whyte & Mackay has asked for a sample to carry out tests with a view to possibly re-launching the defunct brand.

Mr Fastier said restoration workers found the crates under the hut’s floorboards in 2006, but they were too deeply embedded in ice to be dislodged. It was originally thought the haul consisted only of three crates of Scotch.

“The unexpected find of the brandy crates - one labelled Chas MacKinlay & Co and the other labelled The Hunter Valley Distillery Limited Allandale - is a real bonus,” Mr Fastier said.

Ice has cracked some of the bottles, but the restorers are confident the five crates contain intact bottles “given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved”.

“The smell of whisky in the surrounding ice before excavation commenced also indicated full bottles of spirits were inside, albeit that one or more might have broken," he added.

Mr Fastier said ice had cracked some of the crates and formed inside them. This would make extracting the contents delicate, but the trust would decide how to do so in coming weeks.

Richard Paterson, master blender at Whyte & Mackay, whose company supplied the MacKinlay’s whisky for Shackleton, described the find as “a gift from the heavens" for whisky lovers.

By Karin Stanton - Hawaii 24/7


A new NOAA exhibit commemorating the rich maritime heritage of Papahanaumokukuakea Marine National Monument opened Friday at Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo.

“Lost on a Reef” focuses on shipwreck sites discovered over the last the decade that represent 200 years of maritime history in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

It also highlights the work conducted by NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries maritime archaeologists to interpret and protect these sites.

“The exhibit will give visitors an opportunity to experience these fascinating maritime heritage sites and their stories up close and in a more personal way,” said Kelly Gleason, Monument maritime archaeologist, NOAA Maritime Heritage Program.

“Interpretation of these shipwreck sites helps us understand the importance of remaining connected to this place, and why it is vital to protect Papahanaumokuakea’s natural and cultural resources for years to come.”

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By Matt Deans - The Coffs Coast Advocate

Expert divers have plundered the 123-year-old shipwreck of NSW’s worst peacetime maritime disaster.

The SS Keilawarra, off North Solitary Island, collided with another steamer in 1886, killing at least 40 people.

In a modern-day act of piracy on a sophisticated scale, one of the safes aboard the Heritage-listed wreck has been cut open 75 metres down and its contents stolen.

Commercial shipwreck salvagers are believed responsible for the crime given the difficulty of using underwater oxy-cutting tools at such a depth. Experienced local divers who discovered the heist have notified authorities but it’s still unclear exactly how and when the safe was ‘cracked’.

“Usually if treasure or anything of precious value is found on a shipwreck and illegally taken there’s scuttlebutt that passes around diving circles – but up until now we haven’t heard any rumours,” Coffs Harbour diver Mark Spencer said.

Leading maritime archaeologist, NSW Heritage Branch deputy director Tim Smith, said the government was waiting on further evidence from the site.

“This is significant. Of the 1800 shipwrecks in NSW, only 10 per cent have been discovered and this was the only wreck we know of with a safe onboard,” Mr Smith said.

Under Federal and State laws, divers caught tampering with shipwrecks face fines of between $100,000 and $1 million.

By Stephen McGinty - News Scotsman

For those who like their dram chilled, it's perfect. A whisky that sustained explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole a century ago has been drilled out of the Antarctic ice.

Five crates buried under ice have been recovered by a heritage team restoring the explorer's hut. Al Fastier, the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust team leader, yesterday said he believes some bottles are still intact.

The whisky was made by McKinlay and Co, and drinks group Whyte & Mackay has asked for a sample to carry out tests with a view to re-launching the brand. 

Although ice cracked some of the bottles, which had been left there in 1909, the restorers said they are confident the five crates contain intact bottles "given liquid can be heard when the crates are moved".

Mr Fastier said the team thought there were two whisky and brandy crates and were amazed to find five. Restoration workers found the crates under the hut's floorboards in 2006, but they were too deeply embedded in ice to be dislodged.

The New Zealanders agreed to drill the ice to try to retrieve some bottles, although the rest must stay under conservation guidelines agreed to by 12 Antarctic Treaty nations.

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By Amy Kibler - Six & Special Projects Producer

Ask anyone who’s lived in North Carolina who the most famous pirate is and you’ll probably hear the name Blackbeard. The man is a legend across the state’s coastline. But did you know that the coast of Beaufort is home to the resting place of one of the pirate’s famous ships ?

We take you inside the history of the swashbuckler and the fight to save Queen Anne’s Revenge.

He put fear into the hearts of those at home and on the waters but Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, left this town one of his most prized possessions, his flagship. Before Beaufort was even on the map, Blackbeard made the area his stomping grounds. He’s believed to have hung out at what’s known as The Hammock House.

“There’s a house that’s show as the white house on the old charts that marks Beaufort Inlet and he is supposed to have spent nights there, eat, and drank grog and so forth,“ Beaufort Mayor Richard Stanley said.

After years of terror on the high seas, Blackbeard’s luck soon ran out, by running the Queen Anne’s Revenge aground in June 1718. Six months later, the pillaging pirate was killed in a battle at Ocracoke Inlet. But, it’s his beloved ship that keeps his legacy alive today.

In 1996, a group discovered the presumed shipwreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge and ever since then, archaeologists have been working to restore the pieces linked to the pirate.

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By Mark Furler - Sunshine Coast Daily

Premier Anna Bligh has announced the date for the first of two major commemorations following the discovery of the AHS Centaur. 

"A National Service of Thanksgiving and Remembrance will be held at St John's Cathedral Ann Street Brisbane on 2 March 2010 at 11 AM," the Premier said in a statement released this morning.

"The Order of Service for the ceremony is being prepared in consultation with key stakeholders but we wanted to give survivors and relatives of survivors time to make the arrangements they need to be there.

"A further ceremony proposed to be conducted at sea for Centaur relatives is yet to be scheduled and the details are being worked through with the commemoration taskforce."

In January, a memorial plaque was positioned by the expedition crew on the foredeck of the wreck of the Centaur honours those who lost their lives.

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By Matt Deans - The Advocate

The underwater photographer who captured the resting place of an Australian World War I submarine, sunk during the Battle of Gallipoli, will return to where the Diggers landed.

Coffs Harbour’s Mark Spencer will join a team of divers and archaeologists at Anzac Cove in May aiming to uncover pieces of Australian war history lost beneath the waves for 95 years.

“We are hoping to locate, map and archive anything from soldiers’ helmets, bayonets, rifles, even the cigarette lighters carried by the fallen Anzacs,” Mr Spencer said.

“To our advantage, the ocean is forever uncovering relics off Anzac Cove and Turkish divers have reported seeing magazines full of bullets near the landing sites.”

Respected journalist Mike Munro and a Channel Seven film crew plan to accompany the team to Gallipoli, filming a documentary on their discoveries, which could air nationally.

The expedition will be Mark’s first visit to Gallipoli since the history-making dive in 1998, where he sighted the sunken Australian submarine HMAS AE2 at the bottom of the Dardanelles Straits.

“On my first descent over the wreck, I allowed myself a few minutes to appreciate the significance of the moment,” he said.

“Surprisingly, I felt closer to the Anzacs 72 metres under the sea than I did standing in the trenches at Gallipoli.”

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By Tim Grobaty - Grubbco

Once, back in the early 1980s, a reporter friend of ours covered a meeting of stockholders who had invested in a treasure hunter, a world-famous guy who scoured the seafloors of the Caribbean and the Atlantic seeking sunken treasure.

Our friend came back breathless, bug-eyed and sort of pea-green with greed telling us we had to invest in this guy's next expedition.

He told us tales of great wealth: Not only did the treasure hunter dole out to each investor a check with more zeros than a soccer tournament, but he also parceled out gimcracks from his last haul: doubloons, pieces o' eight, gold crosses encrusted with rubies and sapphires, the odd amphora.

Our friend said the modern plunderer of the deep was hot on the trail of the biggest discovery ever, and he (our friend) was good for $4,000 in stock for the treasure-hunter's next expedition; another friend of ours, all caught up in the ravenous quest for easy riches, plunked down a couple of thousand, too.

Now, what are you gonna do ? In our case, we knew a sucker's game when we saw one. We also knew a ruby-encrusted cross when we saw one.

Further, we envisioned staying far afield of this folly only to see, in a few months, our friends coming back from their stockholders meeting all swaddled in velvet and ermine like the archbloke of Canterbury or one of the lesser Medieval popes, spangled in jewels and drunk on mead, the juice from roasted capon legs glistening on their chins already a-wattle with wealth.

So, we put down a thousand. We called it insurance against the gloating of our stock-holding friends. Soon, we talked yet another friend — this was back in the days when we had a lot of friends and, apparently, tons of money — into putting up a grand or two by convincing him of the wisdom of buying, if nothing else, protection from the original two friends growing wealthy without us.

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