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By Christine Kellett - Brisbane Times

The Federal Government has given special permission to survivors and relatives of the 1943 Centaur naval disaster to fix a memorial plaque on the shipwreck after mud spoiled plans for a legal commemoration.

The 66-year-old shipwreck, which remained a mystery until last month when it was found two kilometers below the surface in waters off Moreton Island, is protected as a war grave under the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act, meaning it cannot be touched or tampered with.

A trial to place a bronze plaque beside the wreck to commemorate the 268 lives lost to the tragedy failed when it sunk in deep mud on the sea bed.

Ian Hudson, of the 2/3 AHS Centaur Association, told brisbanetimes.com.au the Commonwealth had this afternoon granted special dispensation to the group to fix a plaque to the wreck itself.

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From BBC News

An Australian World War II hospital ship, the Centaur, has been seen for the first time since it sank more than 60 years ago with a loss of 268 lives.

Images of the wreck, more than 2km (1.3 miles) below the sea, were captured by a remote-controlled underwater camera.

The ship's location was discovered last month following a hi-tech search.

Australia says the ship, which went down in May 1943, was torpedoed by the Japanese. Japan says the circumstances surrounding its sinking are unclear.

The search team found the ship on 20 December off the Queensland coast, about 30 miles due east of the southern tip of Moreton Island.

Favourable conditions allowed the crew to send down a camera on a remotely-operated submersible vehicle over the weekend. Further dives are planned.

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From TCPalm

Now it can be told: About 20 staffers from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute took part in a hush-hush search for Amelia Earhart’s plane in the depths of the Pacific Ocean during spring 2009.

Now it can be admitted: They didn’t find the wreckage of the Lockheed Electra 10E aircraft that disappeared July 2, 1937, as Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan attempted an around-the-world flight.

But now it can be said: Members of the expedition still deem it a success because of the scientific information compiled and discoveries made along the way, including a new species of deep-water fish and the mapping of about 2,500 nautical square miles of the ocean floor, much of it within the newly established Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

“Finding Amelia’s plane was certainly not a sure thing,” said Lee Frey, senior ocean engineer at the Harbor Branch division of Florida Atlantic University and project manager of the expedition, “so we built a good scientific plan to make sure the mission was successful. As a result, we did some very useful science in a very unexplored part of the world.”

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By David Barbeler

The Australian Hospital Ship (AHS) Centaur has been positively identified with high definition video footage more than 2,000 metres below the sea surface.

Shipwreck hunters took the first ever underwater footage of the Centaur, sunk by a Japanese torpedo in 1943, at 2.50am (AEDT) on Sunday during a six hour mission to the wreck.

World renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns found the Centaur wreck on December 20 last year, 48km east of the southern tip of Moreton Island at a depth of 2,059 metres.

Also tasked with filming the Centaur, Mr Mearns - alongside a crew of 33 and a submarine robot named Remora 3 - positively identified the ship's Red Cross, a distinctive star on the bow, and a corroded identification number 47.

Several other features of the ship were also identified including the mast, anchor and guard rails.

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Jose Alberto Gonzalez - La Verdad

Cuando, en 1804, frente a la costa de Portugal, un oficial de la marina inglesa exigió al almirante Bustamante que le permitiera inspeccionar la fragata "Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes", el bravo oficial de la Armada Española no dudó en abrir fuego para defender a cañonazo limpio el rico tesoro del Virreinato de Perú que transportaba desde Lima hasta Cádiz. 

Estaban en juego no sólo el honor de la patria, que en ese momento paradójicamente estaba en paz con Inglaterra, sino también 500.000 monedas de oro y plata, entre otros bienes.

Doscientos seis años después, ni el Ministerio de Cultura se ha liado a cañonazos con la empresa cazatesoros Odyssey para recuperar la carga del navío expoliada por ésta del fondo marino en mayo del 2007, ni los responsables del Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática (Arqua), ubicado en Cartagena, se liarán a su vez a intercambiar pólvora con los del Ministerio para que el tesoro recale en este centro.

Pero, al igual que los especialistas de Cultura acaban de ganar una importante batalla en la guerra judicial con Odyssey en Estados Unidos (EE. UU.), los del Arqua usan todas sus armas de persuasión para que el Gobierno español exhiba el tesoro en el museo que él mismo construyó como referente nacional del patrimonio estatal sumergido en mares, ríos o lagos.

El juez Mark Pizzo, de Tampa (Florida), sentenció el pasado 23 de diciembre que la compañía norteamericana Odyssey Marine Exploration debía devolver a España en diez días la carga, valorada en 500 millones de dólares. En total son 17 toneladas de reales de plata y escudos de oro acuñados en el Virreinato del Perú.

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 By Rachel Thomson - The Daily World

Washaway Beach, the sandy area between North Cove and Tokeland that is infamous for rapid erosion that causes whole houses to tumble into the ocean, now has a second reason for fame.

Coastal storms in late December and early January have unearthed the remnants of a shipwreck.

The large wooden piece, measuring close to 100 feet in length, contains dozens of iron spikes jutting out of the sand, just south of Warrenton Cannery Road.

“When I heard about it, I high-tailed it down fast and took a look,” said Don Pickinpaugh, who owns some property nearby.

Pickinpaugh is one of dozens of people over the past several days who have been coming to the beach to get a look at what may be a portion of the freighter ship, Canadian Exporter, according to Rex Martin, executive director of the Westport Maritime Museum.

Martin said museum employees heard about the sighting of the piece from beachgoers and went to take pictures.

Based on its location, Martin said the piece is likely part of the freighter that wrecked at the mouth of Willapa Harbor in August of 1921, while en route to Portland from Vancouver, B.C. to complete loading some lumber bound for Asia.


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By Eti Bonn-Muller - Archaeology

Crete has seduced archaeologists for more than a century, luring them to its rocky shores with fantastic tales of legendary kings, cunning deities, and mythical creatures.

The largest of the Greek islands, Crete was the land of the Minoans (3100-1050 B.C.), a Bronze Age civilization named after its first ruler, King Minos, the "master of the seas" who is said to have rid the waters of pirates.

According to Thucydides, he also established the first thalassocracy, or maritime empire. The Minoans were renowned for their seafaring prowess, which opened trade routes with the powerful kingdoms of Egypt, Anatolia, and the Levant. 

With the island of Pseira in the background, Hadjidaki proudly displays an intact, oval-mouth amphora she has just excavated at a depth of 131 feet. (Courtesy V. Mentoyannis)

Depictions of ships abound on Minoan seals and frescoes. They are detailed enough to show that the vessels were impressive: generally, they had 15 oars on each side and square sails, and were probably about 50 feet long.

But little more was known about actual Minoan seafaring--until Greek archaeologist Elpida Hadjidaki became the first to discover a Minoan shipwreck.

Hadjidaki, a self-described "harbor girl," was born and grew up in the Cretan seaside town of Chania.

An experienced and passionate diver trained in classical archaeology, she received funding from the Institute for Aegean Prehistory in 2003 to search for early ships near Crete.

"I always wanted to find a Minoan shipwreck," she says, "so I started looking for one."
 

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By Numismatic News


An appeal of a Dec. 22 Florida court ruling that would make treasure salvaged firm Odyssey Marine Explorations, Inc., return 500,000 Spanish Colonial gold and silver coins to Spain is expected.

“We will file our notice of appeal with the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals within the required time and look forward to presenting our case in that forum,” the company said.

The coins were recovered by the firm from what is believed to be the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a Spanish vessel which exploded in 1804. It sank 100 miles west of the Strait of Gibraltar.

Spain claims the treasure on the basis that the ship was a warship of Spain and title to goods on such a ship are held by the state in perpetuity.

Odyssey disagrees and in fact launched the legal process originally to adjudicate the ownership issues once it had successfully retrieved the coins and brought them to the United States.

This past summer a court magistrate filed a report siding with Spain. The latest ruling by the district court judge was accompanied by his orders to allow Odyssey to retain the coins in its possession until the ownership question is decided.