HOT NEWS !

By Beverley Ware - The Chronicle Herald

A self-described treasure hunter said Nova Scotia is not living up to its obligations to protect its marine cultural heritage.

Robert MacKinnon of Sydney spoke in Halifax Saturday at a small gathering of diving enthusiasts concerned about revisions to the province’s Treasure Trove Act.

The act allows private treasure hunters to keep 90 per cent of the "financially significant" spoils of shipwrecks. The remaining 10 per cent of what is not deemed treasure goes to the province.

The act was implemented in 1954 to deal with prospectors seeking treasure on Oak Island. Some members of the archeological community say it should be thrown out, while its supporters say it provides for plenty of checks and balances and should be left alone. The province has commissioned a review that is not yet complete.

Mr. MacKinnon said he has been involved in about 15 treasure trove recoveries in Nova Scotia through wrecks such as the Auguste and Feversham off Cape Breton. He said he is responsible for 90 per cent of all marine treasure trove that has been handed over for conservation, but he said the province isn’t taking proper care of those artifacts.

By Dan DeWitt - Tampa Bay

Considering the divers were looking for remains of an iron-hulled Civil War-era steamer, Tom Allyn's news was about as good as it could be.

"I found something — it's old and it's metallic,'' said Allyn, wearing a wet suit and standing in chest-deep water off Bayport Park on Thursday morning.

Then, moments later, marine archaeologist Billy Morris surfaced with an update that topped Allen's.

"It's a piece of steam pipe,'' Morris said.

That pipe, about 9 inches in diameter and 2 feet long — definitely iron and definitely consistent with the side-wheeler the divers were looking for — is some of the most solid evidence ever found of a dramatic and often overlooked chapter in Hernando history.

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Jesus Garcia Calero - ABC


Han bastado 48 horas. Ya nada impide que el convenio de los Ministerios de Cultura y Defensa se ponga en marcha y se permita a los buques cazaminas de la Armada colaborar con los arqueólogos para que no se vuelva a repetir un expolio como el que Odyssey pudo cometer en aguas del Estrecho de Gibraltar.

Como ya publicó ABC, Defensa y Cultura acordaron en julio realizar intervenciones arqueológicas en colaboración con las Comunidades Autónomas. Su voluntad era comenzar por Andalucía antes de acabar el verano, pero la Junta, tal vez mal asesorada, impugnó el acuerdo y amenazó con un conflicto de competencias, mientras catalogaba pecios que no podría proteger en solitario.

Ayer, en una rápida reacción, la Junta de Andalucía, por decisión de su presidente, José Antonio Griñán, ha enterrado esta beligerancia y ya ha comunicado que se muestra de acuerdo en la colaboración de la Armada en la defensa del patrimonio sumergido, con el simple añadido de una adenda al convenio interministerial que reconozca su papel en el proyecto.


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From Welt Online

Odyssey Marine Exploration has acquired a minority interest in SMM Project LLC, a company funded by a group of investors to bring together the exclusive licenses and skills of world renowned deep-ocean geologist Dr. Timothy McConachy of Bluewater Metals, the deep-ocean survey and exploration expertise of Odyssey, and the offshore coring and mining expertise of Robert Goodden.

SMM Project LLC recently purchased a majority interest in Bluewater Metals Pty Ltd, an Australian company with licenses for mineral exploration of approximately 150,000 square kilometers of ocean floor in four different countries in the South Pacific.

The group will focus on the exploration and monetization of gold and copper-rich Seafloor Massive Sulfide (SMS) deposits through a new business entity which will acquire the remaining interest in Bluewater, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding concluded between the parties.

It is anticipated that Odyssey will dedicate certain marine assets, including a ship and related marine exploration technology to the endeavor, and will own approximately 40% of the new entity.

In addition, Odyssey is expected to provide proprietary expertise and personnel management to the entity under contract, and will supervise operations to explore for deep-ocean gold, copper and silver deposits in areas covered by exploration permits currently held by Bluewater Metals.

From Island Gazette

Since the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources (NCDCR) began excavating the shipwreck believed to the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s flagship, more than 250,000 objects have been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, near Beaufort.

All recovered artifacts go through the conservation lab located at East Carolina University in Greenville. On Friday some of the latest artifacts readied for exhibit, and cannons and other works in progress, were reviewed for the news media at the lab. 

“Some artifacts are in a stone like coating and are concreted together,” explained Chief Conservator Sarah Watkins-Kenney. “We may not know what’s in them when they come up.

Some objects, like ballast stones, don’t take long to conserve. Some, like cannons and hull timbers, can take four or five years.”

Among the showcase finished artifacts were a pair of copper alloy cuff links, neither as large as a dime, which were in good condition and intact. Another item was a pewter clyster syringe, indelicacy aside, which was used for enemas.

Both took about two years to conserve.

They are among items shown that will be transferred to the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort in January, and will be exhibited by Valentine’s Day. A belt buckle, nesting weight, wine bottle and apothecary mortar also were displayed.

From Sail the World

Federal Heritage Minister Peter Garrett today announced funding of $439,928 for projects that will protect the nation's underwater cultural heritage. A total of 25 projects across Australia will receive funding under the Historic Shipwrecks Program.

'The Historic Shipwrecks Program provides important financial assistance to state and territory agencies who manage, protect and raise awareness of historic shipwrecks on behalf of the Commonwealth,' Mr Garrett said.

'This annual funding helps protect shipwrecks and their relics and promotes activities which encourage people to visit shipwreck sites and gain a better understanding of conservation issues.

'It also promotes better understanding of the stories associated with the wrecks and gives us a fascinating insight into Australia's significant maritime past and the often treacherous journeys undertaken in the past.'

Projects to receive funding include:

* New South Wales — historic shipwreck survey, recording and monitoring of Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks to expand the inventory and knowledge of known sites and newly detected or reported sites. This includes continuing investigations at the M24 Japanese midget submarine site and the convict transport shipwreck site of the Hive (1835) and its associated survivor’s camp near Jervis Bay.

* Victoria — funding will support Heritage Victoria staff to support the National Historic Shipwrecks Research Project which will focus on the preservation and reburial of historic shipwreck artefacts. The Victorian historic shipwreck Clarence (1850) has been selected because of its archaeological potential.

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By Nick Cenegy - The Daily News

For years, the scoured remains of a Civil War naval tragedy slowly rusted beneath the spinning propellers of gargantuan tankers and sky-scraping container ships.

The scuttled USS Westfield, a Union gunship, and the last vestiges of its 14 doomed crew lay obscured in sea floor sediment near the confluence of the Texas City and Houston ship channels. 

On Wednesday, however, divers and salvage crews visited the all-but-forgotten site to begin recovering what is left of the ship in preparation for a planned 5-foot deepening of the Texas City Channel.

Since the dredging will damage or destroy the archaeological site, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District and Navy salvage experts stepped in to remove artifacts from the site, as required by federal law, Sharon Tirpak, Corps project manager for the Texas City Channel, said.

The Westfield sank in an ill-fated attempt by Union sailors to destroy the ship so Confederate sailors wouldn’t capture it, she said.

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The Absecon Lighthouse was constructed to prevent shipwrecks. But stop by the lighthouse Thursday evening and the focus will be on what is probably the most famous shipwreck ever.

Thursday is when the lighthouse operators unveil their newly acquired memorabilia and exhibit material related to the sinking of the ocean liner Titanic.

The exhibit includes small pieces of debris from the ship, which sank on April 15, 1912, after striking an iceberg. It also includes movie props, newspapers and books detailing the sinking and several panels telling the story of the ocean liner, its passengers and the disaster.

The collection, valued at more than $150,000, was originally assembled in the late 1990s and intended to be part of a traveling commercial show about the shipwreck. But those plans fell through and the collection's owners - Donna Andersen, of Atlantic City, and John Glassey, of West Atlantic City, approached the lighthouse about donating the items.