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By Jerzy Shedlock

Between 1910 and 1920 an average of one ship per month ran aground in the waters surrounding Alaska.

Although unfortunate for captains and crews at the time, the wrecks would provide a playground decades later for Steve Lloyd, an Anchorage based scuba diver and shipwreck explorer.

“I’ve always been fascinated by ghost towns, shipwrecks, abandoned factories and anything with a hidden story that’s somehow tied to the past,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd discussed his various shipwreck searches and other Alaska scuba diving adventures to a crowd of 50 people at Tustumena Elementary School last week. His discoveries include three lost Alaska shipwrecks.

The Alaska Steamship Company liner S.S. Farallon, which ran aground in lower Cook Inlet in January 1910, was Lloyd’s first subject during his presentation. He located the Farallon in 1998.

The ship’s lifeboats carried 38 survivors to the shore of Iliamna Bay where they constructed tents from the Farallon’s sails. The survivors — all men — were stranded in winter with little provisions or hope of rescue.

Unique to the shipwreck was amateur photographer and the ship’s mail clerk John E. Thwaites. He took high-quality photos of the wrecked ship and the crew’s trials of survival —for example, frostbitten men with burlap wrapped on their feet.

Details of the shipwreck, and the mission of six men who struck out in an open boat to seek help, are fleshed out in Lloyd’s book “Farallon: Shipwreck and Survival on the Alaska Shore,” published in 2000 by Washington State University Press.

During the presentation Lloyd showed clips of a BBC documentary of Alaska survivor stories that included the Farallon, which was filmed in 2001. He was the film’s historical and location advisor and underwater videographer.

“For the film’s camp scenes, we used my front yard in Anchorage,” he said.

By Joe Dashiell - WDBJ7

In a work area outside The Mariner's Museum, members of the conservation team are focused on the smallest details, slowly scraping away years of sediment and chemical concretion that obscure many of the artifacts that were recovered from the wreck of the USS Monitor.

Eric Nordgren is the Senior Conservator.

"That's a lot of work, a lot of time, but very rewarding when you expose that original surface that hasn't been seen since the crew walked on it in 1862."

The crew last walked on the surface in December, 1862.  The civil war ironclad went down in a storm on New Year's Eve as it was being towed off the coast of North Carolina. When divers from the Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration brought the ships's turret to the surface in 2001, they also recovered two sets of human remains.

Joe Hoyt is a Maritime Archeaologist with the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary. "We're actively trying to do genealogical work and forensic archaeology to identify those individuals, and identify descendants of those individuals."

Many of the sailors were immigrants.  Their historical records are often hard to come by, but the staff of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is optimistic the mystery will soon be solved.

 
Photo Jouni Polkko

From Yle

The National Board of Antiquities has asked police to begin an investigation into the unauthorised removal of objects from historic shipwrecks in Finnish waters. Objects have been removed from some underwater sites and damage inflicted on some finds.

The thefts are believed to have taken place during the summer months of this year.

According to the National Board of Antiquities, two 19th century shipwrecks, the steamship Sandviken and a trading vessel, the Edmund, have both been targeted by thieves. The Sandviken, in waters off Kirkkonummi in the south, has had its ship's bell stolen. The aft cabin of the Edmund, in waters near Järvön in the Gulf of Bothnia, has been emptied of objects including bottles and clay jars. The structure of the Edmund has also been damaged.

Thieves have also taken porcelain dishes and bottles from the wreck of an 18th century warship in waters off of Porvoo.

Experts say that without proper conservation, objects brought up from the wrecks will not survive for long.

Old shipwrecks are protected by law. Divers are allowed to visit such sites, but the wrecks and associated artifacts may not be disturbed or in any way damaged.

By Emily Smith - CNN

Pat Croce is a man on a mission -- a mission to find his all time favorite pirate.

The highly successful businessman, who rose from being a trainer in the locker room to president of one of the most storied franchises of the NBA, is on a quest to find the body of English explorer Sir Francis Drake, who was buried out at sea more than 400 years ago.

Sir Francis Drake was an adventurer and a true pirate of the 16th century. Drake is credited with being the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He led several voyages, many of them aimed at capturing Spanish territories and taking their treasure. While he made enemies with Spain, he enchanted Queen Elizabeth I, who is believed to have fondly called him "my pirate".

But the Spanish got their revenge. Drake's voyage to the West Indies was disastrous, with the Spanish fleets prepared for the English. The adventure was to be his last and in 1596 he fell ill with dysentery. Dressed in armor, Drake's body was placed in a lead casket and thrown overboard off the coast of Panama. Days later two ships in the fleet were scuttled nearby, ensuring they wouldn't get into the hands of Drake's enemy, the Spanish.

Now, centuries after he was laid to rest, Croce is on a quest to locate Drake's coffin. "I'm a businessman with a passion for pirates and I'm all about taking action on your passion," Croce enthuses.

Croce has invested a great deal of time and money -- somewhere in the region of hundreds of thousands of dollars according to some experts -- into finding Drake's final resting place. Last month he had a major breakthrough.

Armed with high-tech equipment, a team of archeologists and divers and using the information given to him by a researcher he has hired -- Croce set about combing the seabed in an area off the Panama coast. What they came across Croce describes as a tremendous find.

They uncovered two ships that appeared to be burnt out, lying perpendicular to one another, in an area which Croce now likes to call 'Drake's alcove'. They didn't find a name on either ships, or the ships' bells, yet Croce and experts are quite convinced the ships are the "Delight" and "Elizabeth" -- the two ships in Drake's final voyage that were scuttled.

Full story...

From Hurriyet Daily News

The Underwater Archaeology Museum, one of the most popular venues for tourists visiting the Aegean holiday resort town of Bodrum, receives plenty of visitors, even in winter. The museum will add two more rooms of underwater discoveries in the next few months.

Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum, known as the only underwater museum in Europe, attracts great attention from tourists even at the end of the tourist season.

The museum, visited by more than 300,000 people a year, has 13 display rooms where the world’s oldest sunken wrecks are exhibited. Two more display rooms will be added to the existing ones this year.

Featuring thousands of historical works of art, ship wrecks and artifacts including the treasures of Queen Nefertiti, the museum is a very important one for Turkey’s culture tourism industry.

Located in the harbor of the Aegean province of MuÄ�la’s popular holiday resort town of Bodrum, the Bodrum Underwater Archaeology Museum was visited by 300,000 tourists in the first 10 months of the year, spending nearly 2 million Turkish liras.

The 2,400-year-old Carian Princess room and the room of 3,500-year-old Uluburun sunken ship, which is the world’s oldest surviving sunken ship, draws the greatest amount of interest from visitors. Among the other popular specimens are the Eastern Rome sunken room, Glass sunken room, Early Bronze Age sunken room, English Tower, German Tower, Turkish Bath, dungeon and amphorae.

The removal of the wrecks and artifacts from the water and their conservation are explained to visitors by experts via slide shows.

By Oscar Valenzuela - Hawaii News Now

Polynesian seafarers were the first known navigators through the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, then came the western explorers and by the early 19th century whaling ships began making their way to the Japan whaling grounds.

"...In search of whale oil which was kind of like liquid gold of its time so this is what would send whaling vessels halfway around the world in search of whales." said Marine Archaeologist Dr. Kelly Gleason, the Maritime Heritage Coordinator for the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Unbeknownst to these early whaling crews there were unseen perils that would compromise their voyages. "At that time the atolls weren't very well charted so they very much acted like a ship trap." said Dr. Gleason.

A barrage of hidden reefs would snag unsuspecting mariners."They would just creep right up on them and so all of a sudden they found themselves run aground." she continued.

On February 11th, 1823 the whaling ship Two Brothers ran aground and was lost in the Northwest chain.

Over the years others had tried and failed to locate the site, as noted in one coastal survey published in the year 1919: Several vessels had searched for the location of the two brothers reef but the shallow reef in question could not be found casting it's very existence as doubtful.

Then, 188 years later, Dr. Gleason had pieced together enough evidence to declare a new maritime heritage discovery. She had found the Two Brothers wreck.

The story was covered worldwide. A tale bout the twice cursed Captain George Pollard who'd previously lost another ship, the Essex, to an angered whale. The incident inspired the classic novel Moby Dick.

"Finding a shipwreck site with a story as compelling as that of the Two Brothers is even more meaningful and exciting." Gleason stated.

No known images of the original Two Brothers ship exists, but on a recent expedition back to the wreck site, Hawaii News Now was allowed to shoot exclusive footage of the wreck, capturing never before seen video images of the ship's scattered remains on the shallow reef that pierced Captain Pollard's ship.

Full story...

By David Malmquist

A new partnership between the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Watermen's Museum in historic Yorktown Virginia will give local students a unique opportunity to dive into Colonial history -- literally.

The project, funded by a 1-year grant from the National Science Foundation, will allow the students to pilot unmanned robotic submarines in an attempt to monitor the conservation status of shipwrecked vessels scuttled by Lord Cornwallis during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781 -- the last major battle of the American Revolution.

Leading the project are Dr. Mark Patterson, head of the Autonomous Systems Laboratory at VIMS, and Dr. David Niebuhr, Director of the Watermen's Museum. The students are from Point Option High School in Newport News, the Williamsburg Montessori Middle School, and Peasley Middle School in Gloucester. VIMS graduate student Jennifer Elliott, who is teaching at Peasley as part of the VIMS GK-12 partnership, will also be involved.

The project capitalizes on the recent discovery in the York River of two new shipwrecks from the siege of Yorktown. Previous archeological work had revealed the presence of nine other wrecks, including the HMS Betsy, the target of intensive study during the 1970s and 1980s. These wrecks are listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places.

The two new wrecks were discovered by pioneering marine archeologist Dr. John Broadwater -- leader of the Betsy study -- during a survey done for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Patterson also independently discovered one of the sunken vessels during a mission with Fetch I, an "autonomous underwater vehicle" or "AUV" developed in his lab. Both explorers made their discoveries using side-scan sonar units manufactured by Marine Sonic Technology of Gloucester. These can be operated from a boat, or deployed on a robot sub like Fetch.

The researchers believe the previously buried wrecks were uncovered by strong currents during recent tropical storms, and are concerned that their exposure on the bayfloor may lead to rapid degradation. By mapping the wrecks' outlines, the students will help conservators monitor their condition and take preventive measures if necessary.

"Enabling students to use advanced robotics at a site of national significance in marine archeology will be a first," says Patterson. "To put these tools into the hands of school kids, to have them monitor shipwrecks that are starting to erode out of the sediment, is a great way to get them interested in science."

"These kids are going to be some of the very first people to explore these wrecks, as part of their science classes," adds Niebuhr. "They are going to be introduced to real problems -- it's not pretend, it's genuine. Very rarely are you able to do that in most school programs."

Full story...

By Allan Turner - My San Antonio

All across Texas, the bones of history lie in watery graves. From the ribs of sunken ships to the grave sites of prehistoric Texans, uncounted treasures abound beneath the surface of rivers and lakes.

For state archaeologists, these sites are untapped treasures — hard to reach but relatively protected.

But now, with the state in the grip of devastating drought, such sites are emerging from receding waters and — for the first time in years, experts worry — becoming vulnerable to looters and vandals.

Since midsummer, the Texas Historical Commission, which oversees such locations, has on average learned of a newly exposed site each month, said Pat Mercado-Allinger, the agency's archaeology director.

Among the sites are four cemeteries, including an apparent slave burial ground in Navarro County, southeast of Dallas. In Central Texas, fishermen recovered a human skull thought to be thousands of years old.

An unspecified number of additional sites have emerged from waters overseen by the Lower Colorado River Authority. An agency spokeswoman refused to discuss details, saying that even divulging the number of newly exposed sites could induce the unscrupulous to search out and pilfer them.

East Texas waterways shroud dozens of sunken vessels, from early Texas ferries to steamboats and World War I-era cargo ships.

While most of these craft probably remain underwater, their appearance above water could occur at any time, said state nautical archaeologist Amy Borgens.

Such sites, most of which were submerged before Texans became appreciative of archaeological treasures, can be vital in helping researchers fill the gaps of state history, Mercado-Allinger said.