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From Paul Fraser Collectibles

John and Nelle Snyder survived the Titanic tragedy and held an archive of material including letters.

We've commented before on our blog about the unique allure of collectibles returned from the sea, and of course no greater draw than memorabilia connected with the more famous sinking of all time, RMS Titanic.

Now in their Transportation, Aviation, Maritime, Military & Posters, Philip Weiss Auctions is offering a range of Titanic memorabilia as a key part.

This is a part of the Maritime and Nautical Material section from the Bushnell Estate with Additions including an incredible Titanic archive directly from a family member of John & Nelle Pillsbury Snyder who were rescued when the Titanic sunk.

The archive includes a letter on Titanic stationary dated April 10, 1912, photos of the Snyders, another letter dated April 18th which tells of the confusion from news sources and the White Star Line at the time of the sinking.

"Here we are again both safe and sound" wrote John Snyder to his father, "I can only tell you that I have a mighty fine wife and she is the one you must thank - besides our Lord" and later "We were both asleep when the boat hit.

"... When we reached the top deck only a few people were about and we all were told to go down & put on our life belts"...

Then there is a group of original photos taken from the Carpathia showing lifeboats rowing towards the Carpathia and other original photos of what appears to be the Californian steaming towards the Carpathia.

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By Paul Rogers - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Scientists diving off the California coastline to investigate the wreck of the SS Montebello, an oil tanker sunk in 1941 by a Japanese submarine, reported Thursday that the ship -- which was believed to hold up to 3 million gallons of oil -- had none of it remaining.

The news came as a relief to biologists, the Coast Guard and environmental groups, who were worried that the hull of the ship, sitting in 1,000 feet of water six miles west of Cambria, might one day rust open, potentially causing a huge oil spill across the California coast.

But after more than a week of high-tech imaging and drilling into the side of the aging hulk, scientists confirmed that the sunken ship's 32 oil tanks now hold only seawater. In other words, enough oil to fill the gas tanks of roughly 70,000 cars is gone, and nobody knows what happened to it.

"It could have been a slow gradual leak over many years since 1941. It could have all come up the day the ship was sunk in 1941. Basically, who knows? We'll probably never know," said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers.

After Pearl Harbor

Environmental groups cheered the news.

"Stories featuring sunken boats and large volumes of oil don't usually have a happy ending. It's a welcome change," said Kaitilin Gaffney, Pacific program director for the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group with offices in Santa Cruz.

The attack on the Montebello is not widely known today. But the ship's sinking made big headlines in 1941.

On Dec. 23, 1941, just 16 days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the tanker left Port San Luis in San Luis Obispo County shortly after 1 a.m., bound north for refineries in British Columbia.

Documents show the ship was carrying 75,346 barrels of crude oil -- about 3.1 million gallons. By comparison, the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons into Alaska's Prince William Sound.

From gCaptain 

Eight divers were decompressing aboard the Iranian flagged dive support vessel Koosha-1 when it sank three days ago in the Persian Gulf.

The official in charge of the rescue operation told an Iranian news agency that the bodies of eight divers have been recovered. He also said that 60 personnel assigned to the ship have been safely rescued but five divers remain missing.

The divers — Indian, Iranian, and Ukrainian nationals — were inside the vessel’s pressurized diving chamber when the vessel sank in stormy seas Thursday afternoon.

The divers were decompressing after installing an underwater oil pipeline located approximately 14 nautical miles off the coast of Iran. The work was being done in the South Pars gas field which is shared by Iran and Qatar.

The chamber was bolted onto the deck of the vessel which now rests 72 metres below the surface.

By Diana Bowerman - Sidmouth Herald

A weekend television programme has highlighted the first of a series of talks to be given at Kennaway House in November.

It was during BBC TV’s Ancient Britain, that Ffiona Eaves, organiser of the series, realised the connection during a trailer for Update on History: South and East Devon, the title for this season’s three talks.

She said: “Watching shots of divers picking up 3,000 year old copper ingots and a bronze sword from the sea-bed, I realised that these are the very people who’ll be giving the first talk.

“Devon divers, operating off the south coast, have made discoveries so important that they featured prominently in Neil Oliver’s programme as evidence of international trade routes as far back as 1,000 B.C.”

Two members of the diving team will talk about these finds, and later sea-bed discoveries such as a 17th century galleon stacked with Islamic coins and jewellery, on Friday, November 4, at 7.30 p.m. at Kennaway House.

Ron Howell and Andy Elliott of the The South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) will talk about 3,000 years of History from the Sea and team members will be present from 7pm to meet the public with display boards showing their work.

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From The Times News

Hurricane Irene left a trail of damage along the North Carolina coast but there was some bit of good news after all the post-storm inspections:The wreck of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, remained intact and without significant disruption as a result of the swirling waters and heavy winds.

That had to please the marine archaeologists, lab personnel, divers and other team members involved in excavating the ship’s ruins, which were discovered on the ocean floor off Carteret County about 15 years ago.

Because the pirate’s ship has remained in its home on the bottom of the ocean for nearly 300 years, the site is both unprotected from the whims of nature and delicate by virtue of its antiquity.

Since discovery of the vessel, archaeologists attached to the project have worked feverishly to prevent additional damage to the artifacts associated with the ship.

A hurricane coming ashore so close to the wreck was not fortuitous. Preliminary examinations of the site left the excavation team feeling optimistic about the project’s future and that’s a good thing, both from historical and economic perspectives.

Blackbeard, or Edward Teach, was an English-born pirate who worked the East Coast of the U.S., as well as nearby islands.

He’s perhaps the most famous pirate of that era, marked by his long hair and black beard, braided and adorned with black ribbons, were often cloudy with smoke from burning rope — or lit fuses, depending on the source — under his hat to give him an otherworldly and fearsome appearance.

From CTV Calgary

Parks Canada divers are spending the next week at an archaeological site underwater in Lake Minnewanka.

On Friday, the team was taking core samples of an ancient site that dates back 13,000 years.

The site has been underwater for at least 70 years and the divers are looking to see how eroded and what condition it's in.

After core samples have been taken the divers will actually dig down to reveal some of the artifacts like stone tools and arrow heads.

"At this time of year it's very good," says diver Marc-Andre Bernier. "When we're disturbing the bottom, it's not stirring up as much as we thought."

One of the biggest challenges for divers is not trying to over exert themselves.

"The challenge is exertion, we're working quite hard and the water is cold."

This same dive team will be featured on Saturday night's W5 program where their work in the Arctic is documented.

The crew located the HMS Investigator that sunk after it set out in the 1850's searching for signs of the Franklin expedition.

From ODT
 

Captain N. C. Sorensen, formerly employed as a driver by the Auckland Harbour Board, proposes in conjunction with a partner in Dunedin to fit out an expedition to cost about 10,000 to proceed from Dunedin to the Auckland Island to endeavour to recover the bullion believed to be lost in the General Grant, wrecked in 1866.

Four previous attempts to recover this treasure were unsuccessful, Captain Sorensen believes through attempting to work from the seaward side. His idea is to land an expedition on the leeward side and cut a road across to the wreck and operate by means of derricks erected on the cliff.

A New Zealander who has just returned from an extended holiday in Europe, Africa, and Australia, during the course of a chat with a Western Star representative, gave some particularly interesting information in regard to a powerful American syndicate, which has for its purpose the retrieving from the sea of the treasure of the ill-fated General Grant, which was wrecked at the Auckland Island 45 years ago.

The gentleman referred to explained to Mr E. C. May, managing director of the Sorenson Salvage Company, of New York, a company which has been formed with a capital of 30,000 for the purpose of recovering the treasure known to be in the hold of the ship General Grant, which, it will be remembered, was lost on the west coast of the Auckland Islands in 1866 while carrying an immense quantity of gold from the Australian goldfields to London.

She was driven under the overhanging cliffs of those bleak westerly shores, and the bumping of her mast against those impassable walls drove the masts through the hull, which gradually sank.

There is known to be at least 100,000 worth of gold on board the vessel, and it is believed, by the syndicate, that those enormous figures are far from representing the total quantity of gold to be obtained therefrom.

The manifests of the ship show but two large cases of specie, but there was also an entry of 15 cases of sundries, which they finally believe also contained gold.

Then there were also the private holdings of the miners themselves, and the members of the syndicate do not consider 300,000 to 400,000 wide of the possible mark.

This will be the third or fourth attempt made to recover this treasure. All the previous attempts have been made from the sea by means of divers from a boat, a dangerous method in such a stormy locality.

The American syndicate will carry out its quest upon up-to-date lines and by methods (which it is keeping confidential) which will ensure operations being carried out in almost any weather.

By Rob Lovitt - MSNBC

Forget the gold in them thar hills; these days, big treasure troves are being found at the bottom of the ocean.

Consider, for example, the Mantola, a sunken British steam ship found off the coast of Ireland in early October. Torpedoed in 1917, the vessel is believed to hold 20 tons of silver with a current worth of around $18 million.

It’s enough to make a recreational diver grab his or her scuba tanks and dive overboard — even if the potential haul is a bit less precious.

“What we’d consider treasure, those guys would just laugh at,” said Dave Sommers, owner of Dive Hatteras in Cape Hatteras, N.C. “A lot of us are just artifact hounds, looking for fittings, portholes, china … That’s what we call treasure.”

For recreational divers, there’s still plenty to be found, especially in the wreck-rich waters along the Eastern Seaboard. “Once you start wreck diving,” said Sommers, “a lot of other types of diving pale in comparison.”

To get in on the action, would-be treasure hunters should have the appropriate certification, be aware of laws regarding artifact removal and consider going with operators who are familiar with area wrecks and local water conditions.

Patience is also important, said Cameron Sebastian, operations manager for Coastal Scuba in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.: “If you’re going to try to look for trinkets and treasures, you’re going to spend a lot of time in one spot just digging through the sand.”

Such “trinkets,” of course, won’t make you rich, but longtime wreck divers suggest there’s also value in simply experiencing the history of various vessels.

“These ships are like time capsules,” said Ted Green, owner of O.C. Diver in West Ocean City, Md. “Yes, you’re hunting for stuff, but most people have a good time whether they’re successful or not.”