HOT NEWS !

By Ivan Penn - Tampa Bay

Members of Florida's congressional delegation this week called on the U.S. Department of State to withdraw the nation's support of Spain's claim to the $500 million Black Swan treasure.

In a two-page letter dated Jan. 20, six Republican lawmakers said ownership of the sunken treasure found by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. should be determined by the courts without the U.S. government's intrusion.

Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor sent a letter the same day, voicing her concern to the State Department about the U.S. government's backing of Spain.

Odyssey and Spain are battling in U.S. courts over claim to the sunken treasure found in 2007.

The U.S. government filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case in support of Spain.

Documents posted by WikiLeaks showed that the U.S. government's involvement in the case appeared to be related to other discussions with Spain.

In exchange for helping with the Black Swan case, the U.S. government wanted assistance from Spain in retrieving a French painting owned by a U.S. citizen that is currently in a Madrid museum.

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By Eddy Raphael - Bahamas Islands Info

For centuries, the world has had a fascination with shipwrecks and buried treasure. To this day, undiscovered artifacts and preserved relics of the past hide in the deep reluctantly awaiting the moment where they will be rediscovered by mankind.

When the dive team at Bahamas Dive shop UNEXSO (Underwater Explorers Society) goes diving, there is always a hope of seeing that extraordinary ‘something’ to remember the dive by; a true ‘one for the story books’.

That is exactly what happens when one finds buried treasure, as scuba instructor Jim Bader found out when he rediscovered a WW2 Rifle Bayonet at a dive site called ‘Papa Doc’, named after the Haitian dictator Papa Doc Duvalier, who died in 1971.

‘It was just there, peeking out at me’ Jim recounts, ‘I felt a rush all over and realized that I just got lucky’. The bayonet had somehow worked it’s way up and out of the sand, probably due to hurricanes, storms and surge, slowly revealing the tip, until it was noticeable.

A few hours of research and some phone calls had confirmed the terrific find as a rare 16 inch 1943 WW2 M1 Garand United States Army Rifle Bayonet, made in Springfield MA, by Wilde Tools.

Over the years, the odd bullet has been recovered, but nothing as exciting as this.

 
Photo Subdirección de Arqueología Subacuatica

From Art Daily

As an acknowledgement to her 30-year trajectory, devoted to research and preservation of the submerged cultural heritage, archaeologist Pilar Luna Erreguerena, pioneer of Underwater Archaeology in Mexico, was awarded with the J.C. Harrington Award by the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA), becoming the first Latin American researcher -and the 4th woman- to receive this prize.

The award given every year by the American society that gathers the greatest number of academics in the subject recognizes as well the labor conducted in Mexico regarding research and safeguarding of cultural and historical goods that lay in the depths, headed since 1980 by the expert from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

The award named after the father of American historical archaeology, J.C. Harrington, is the most important honor conceded to those who had contributed to research and preservation of the world cultural heritage.

This is the second time that the award is presented to a researcher of the Underwater Archeology field; the first was given in 1999 to George F. Bass, Ph.D., considered the “father of underwater archaeology in the world”.

“When I was informed in 2010 that the Society for Historical Archaeology had decided to give me the J.C. Harrington Award, I did not know what it was about and I needed a few minutes to understand the importance of this acknowledgement”, recalled the head of the INAH Sub Direction of Underwater Archaeology (INAH-SAS).

“I consider myself a privileged being, I am convinced that there are more persons that deserve acknowledgment for their achievements and do not receive it. To be given it in life, in company of my dear ones, is truly a gift from God”, she commented.

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From Island Sun News 

The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum will host a program titled Ship Of Gold In The Deep Blue Sea, presented by Dr. Ronald B. Toll. The audience will be taken back in time to an 1857 hurricane-induced shipwreck.

The SS Central America is one of the 10 richest wrecks in the western Atlantic.

This lecture will include extensive deep-sea photographs and videography related to the gold, artifacts and historical lessons associated with one of the greatest adventures in maritime exploration.

The SS Central America came to lie on the ocean floor at a depth of 8,000 feet after sinking in a hurricane on the evening of September 12, 1857.

It was discovered after years of searching, using the best technology of the day.

This story of the recovery of the gold, personal artifacts and historical context associated with the shipwreck is amazing. Dr. Toll, a senior member of the scientific staff associated with the recovery expedition, will talk about the treasure and draw connections to the lives lost during the tragic sinking of the historic vessel, the legal ramifications of the find, and the impact of the expedition upon deep-sea biological research.

Dr. Toll, a native of New Jersey, is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Florida Gulf Coast University. He holds an AA degree in biology from Union College in Cranford, New Jersey and a BA degree in zoology from Rutgers University.

He received his doctoral degree in biological oceanography from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami.

Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Museum of Natural History of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, Dr. Toll assumed his first faculty assignment at the University of the South in Tennessee.

Dr. Toll has published over 30 peerviewed papers and monograph contributions in the area of marine invertebrates.

His work has taken him from coastal studies on the barrier islands of Georgia to his participation as associate director of adjunct sciences for the SS Central America Project.

That expedition led to the successful recovery of nearly $300 million in gold coins and bars from a depth of 8,000 feet.

From BBC News

Three bottles of Mackinlays whisky which accompanied Ernest Shackleton on his 1907 Antarctic expedition are being returned to brand owner Whyte and Mackay for scientific analysis.

Whisky which accompanied explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew to the Antarctic in the 1900s is to be analysed at a Highlands distillery.

The scotch was buried beneath a hut used during their unsuccessful expedition to reach the South Pole.

Five cases were dug up last year and included Mackinlay whisky, a brand owned by Glasgow distiller Whyte and Mackay.

One of the bottles will undergo tests at the firm's Invergordon distillery.

Master blender Richard Paterson will spend up to six weeks analysing, nosing, tasting and "deconstructing" the whisky.

He said: "This is unbelievable. It is like liquid gold.

Read and see more...

By Hunter Hardinge and Derek Legette - The Daily Gamecock

C.S.S PeeDee rediscovered during search for lost shipyard

Almost 150 years after the C.S.S. Peedee was blown to smithereens, USC professors and students recently uncovered the Confederate boat near Charleston.

Found in its namesake river, the C.S.S. Peedee was blown to pieces by Confederate troops in 1865 to keep Union troops from capturing the boat.

“We knew the ship was there when we found a tree growing in the middle of the river. There had to be a structure underneath the tree in order for it to grow,” state underwater archaeologist Christopher Amer said.

The project originally started in 2009 in hopes of discovering the Mars Bluff Navy Yard, the missing shipyard where the Peedee was constructed. Two cannons and the iron propellers — as well as remains of bricks and iron — have been found, along with other artifacts.

The shipyard remains undiscovered.

“We are still searching,” Amer said. “We have found parts to a dock, and this should help us find the location of the shipyard.”

Also, the third cannon, the largest and heaviest at 15,000 pounds, remains lost.

Jon Leader, a archaeologist and head of the State Archaeologist Office, said it is unlikely to be far from where the team is searching.

The contents of the surroundings are key in finding the missing parts.

By Jennifer Cordingley - Click Liverpool

Two bottles of whisky recovered from a shipwreck 70 years ago has gone on display at Liverpool's Maritime Museum.

The scotch was salvaged from the doomed cargo ship, The SS Politician, which ran aground off the west coast of Scotland on 5th February 1941.

The ship, which had 28,000 cases of malt whisky aboard, had been bound for Jamaica and America.

Looters were punished by Customs and Excise for stealing the duty free drink which was a rationed wartime luxury.

The story of the wreck and looting of whisky by islanders is legendary and was immortalised in book and film Whisky Galore in 1949.

The two bottles, which were aquired by curators UK Border Agency Museum, will go on display to mark the 70th annirversary of the SS Politician's last voyage.

Amazingly, one bottle still contains whisky.

Dawn Littler, curator of Archives at Merseyside Maritime Museum, said: "SS Politician was a famous Liverpool ship.

"We are very excited to be telling her story because everyone remembers the film about her grounding."

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By Gamini Mahadura - Daily Mirror

A collection of silver coins discovered from a wreckage of a ship that had sunk in the sea off the Great Basses reef (Maha Ravana) off Kirinda on the Southern coast about 310 years ago is now on display at the Galle Marine Archaeology Museum.

The conservator of artifacts said many of the coins had been damaged and discoloured.

According to history, the ill-fated ship had been carrying a consignment of silver coins from Surat in the north western coast of India to the eastern coast and while it was sailing through Sri Lankan waters it had gone off course, probably due to a storm and had hit a reef.

The archaeologist said that the coins manufactured during the reign of the last Mogul emperor Auranzib (AD 1638 – AD 1707AD) had been discovered by a team of marine researchers under Mike Wilson in 1961 and Dr Arthur C. Clark drawing the attention of international marine researchers.

However, the coins were conserved in the Galle Marine Museum after it was established.