HOT NEWS !

By Margaret Webb Pressler - Washington Post

The SS Republic is back in Baltimore after more than 150 years. But this time it's in pieces.

This massive steamship was built in Baltimore in 1853 as a passenger ship and also worked through the Civil War in blockades and gun battles. But on its final voyage in 1865 - delivering a fortune in gold and silver to New Orleans for rebuilding after the war - the ship sank in a terrible hurricane.

Most of the passengers and crew were rescued, but the Republic and her cargo sank to the sea floor 100 miles off the Georgia coast.

The ship sat there for nearly 140 years, until the remains were discovered by the shipwreck hunting company Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2003. More than 51,000 coins and 14,000 other artifacts were recovered. Now, the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore offers an exciting, interactive look at the ship, her eye-popping treasure, her frightening end and the huge effort it took to recover her bounty.

On a recent rainy morning, a group of second- and third-graders from the Al-Huda school in College Park were blown away by the exhibit - almost literally. The kids could not get enough of the hurricane tubes you can stand in to experience 80-mile-an-hour winds. The tubes offer a hint of what it must have felt like on board the Republic before it sank.

Ahmed Roach, 7, said the powerful wind "felt cold." Huzaifah Khan, also 7, said the wind tunnels made him realize he didn't want to be on a ship during a storm. "It would be scary," he said.

The kids also lined up to take turns operating a robotic arm, using only a video screen for guidance, to pick up coins and drop them in a bucket. That gave them an idea how hard it is to excavate a site that's so deep underwater, the collection work is done mostly by deep-sea robots.

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From Latino Fox News

Starting from a watch dial, Mexican researchers are following a number of clues to find a purported treasure from Spain, while also hoping to find a survivor of that story that goes back to the 1930s exile of Spanish Republicans to Mexico.

The 7-centimeter (2 3/4-inch) watch dial was found Nov. 20 by divers from the underwater archaeology division of Mexico's National Anthropology and History Institute, at the bottom of a lake in the crater of Nevado de Toluca volcano, at 4,200 meters (13,770 feet) above sea level.

The watch is related to other objects, including a locket and some boxes bearing the name of the Spanish bank Monte de Piedad de Madrid, which were found in the same lake in the 1960s by members of Mexico's Hombres Rana (Frogmen) Club, who kept them in a private collection.

The pieces might all be related to a treasure said to have been brought to Mexico in 1939 by Republican Spaniards who brought them from Monte de Piedad de Madrid - a savings bank now known as Caja Madrid - and from the Spanish central bank to help support the exiles.

The story remained literally submerged for the following decades until this year a group of archaeologists, led by Roberto Junco, climbed Nevado de Toluca volcano and descended to the bottom of Lake of the Sun, which has a depth of 12 meters (39 feet) and a water temperature of 5 C (41 F).

After several days of searching they found a watch face that is now being restored and studied.

Junco, who knew the story of the divers' club that in the mid-20th century found several objects in that lake, met one of them two years ago, who showed him photos taken at the time the discovery was made of pieces that might reasonably have belonged to the "Spanish treasure."

The story goes back to 1939, when Gen. Francisco Franco defeated forces loyal to the Spanish Republic.

That year the ship Vita set sail from a French port with Spanish Republicans aboard, who were apparently carrying objects of value packed in 120 boxes that are said to have been worth $300 million at the time.

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By GFExplorer

It would take over 400 years to excavate all of the wrecked ships currently unclaimed on the oceans floors. But just think of all the treasure you might find.

Flor de la Mar – Sumatra, Malaysia

Among the richest shipwrecks never recovered, the 16th Century Portuguese vessel, Flor De La Mar was lost around 1511 in a storm off the northern coast of Sumatra. Containing the stolen treasures of the Melaka kingdom in modern day Malaysia, the Flor de la Mar’s cargo, including 60 tons of gold remains undiscovered despite lying in some of the best diving waters of the world.

Merchant Royal – Dartmouth, UK

Britain’s largest unrecovered treasure haul lies just 21 miles (34 km) from Land’s End in Cornwall. The Merchant Royal, returning to England with a cargo of Spanish treasure sank in bad weather on 23 September 1641, containing 500 bars of gold, silver and precious stones. Bring a dry suit and a torch.

San Jose – Baru Peninsula, Colombia

In 1708, during the War of Spanish Succession, English Commodore, Charles Wagner captured and sank Spanish treasure ship, The San Jose in less than 1000 feet (305 metres) of crystal blue water, between the Isla del Tesoro (known as treasure island) and Baru Peninsula. The San Jose’s cargo is estimated today at a value of more than $1 billion.

Nuestra Senora de Atocha – Key West, Florida, USA

In 1985, Florida treasure hunter Mel Fischer hit the mother lode when, after 16 years of dedicated hunting, he located the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha about 35 miles (56 km) off the coast of Key West, Florida. Carrying a haul that included over 40 tonnes of silver and gold, 100,000 Spanish coins and Columbian emeralds, Fischer’s family now run diving holidays around the Atocha where artefacts continue to be uncovered.

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Photo Harry A. Alden

By Lee Speigel - AOL News

Scientists are trying to unravel the mystery of whether pills found in a 2,000-year-old shipwreck were, in fact, created and used as effective plant-based medicines.

And the bigger question: Could the ingredients of these ancient tablets still work to help with modern illnesses ?

Around 130 B.C., a ship, identified as the Relitto del Pozzino, sank off Tuscany, Italy. Among the artifacts found on board in 1989 were glass cups, a pitcher and ceramics, all of which suggested that the ship was sailing from the eastern Mediterranean area.

Its cargo also included a chest that contained various items related to the medical profession: a copper bleeding cup and 136 boxwood vials and tin containers.

Inside one of the tin vessels, archaeologists found several circular tablets, many still completely dry.

"They were less than an inch in diameter and about a third to a half inch thick," said Robert Fleischer, an evolutionary geneticist with the Smithsonian's Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics in Washington, D.C.

He told AOL News that the tablets were "very tightly compressed vegetation in a very solid pill. In fact, you had to use a scalpel to cut pieces off of it.

"But under a microscope, you could see plant fibers in it. It probably wasn't something that was taken whole.

"It was assumed the pills were medicines that the physicians were using. There were things associated with this chest that led them to believe it was a physician's chest," said Fleischer.

Using DNA sequencing, Fleischer has identified some of the plant components in the tablets: carrot, radish, parsley, celery, wild onion, cabbage, alfalfa, oak and hibiscus.

This is similar to the recent archaeological discovery in China of a 2,400-year-old pot of soup in which the broth was found inside a sealed cauldron.

But the discovery of these tablets in the shipwreck marks the first time ever that archaeological remains of ancient medicines have been found and the first time DNA analysis has been used in the research.

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By J. Bonasia - Investor's Busines Daily

Francis Drake was the first Englishman to sail around the world, completing the three-year journey in 1580. Upon returning home, his ship loaded with treasure, Drake was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I.

Decades earlier, a Portuguese crew under Ferdinand Magellan became the first one ever to circle the globe. Yet Magellan died along the way in the Philippines in 1521.

Drake (1540-96) survived the punishing voyage to earn his courageous place in nautical history. He was a skillful navigator who beat back the Spanish fleet over many expeditions in the late 16th century.

"Drake was considered either a great privateer or a great pirate, depending on which side you were on," said William Cogar, CEO of The Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Va., and a former history professor at the U.S. Naval Academy.

British history often portrays Drake as a brave leader who extended the nautical reach of Elizabethan England against its colonial rivals Spain, France and Portugal. Drake clearly overcame many hardships, from raging storms and mutinies to plain starvation and illness.

To Spaniards, Drake was a rogue buccaneer who attacked their undefended vessels and looted hard-won riches. They called him El Draque, or Draco the Dragon. Some saw him as a wizard with devilish powers.

So many fantastic myths grew up around Drake's legend that scholars find it hard to separate facts from folklore, says Jennifer McNabb, a history professor at Western Illinois University.

"Drake was certainly an accomplished sailor and strategist and politician. At the same time, it's hard to escape the sense that he was a plunderer," she told IBD. "As for whether he was a scoundrel or a hero, he seems to have been a bit of both."

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From Past Horizons

A wreck found in Jorefjorden, north of Hamburgsund, Sweden has proved to be of a ship probably built in the early 1200s, making it the oldest shipwreck located in the Bohuslän archipelago to date.

The wreck was discovered in an aerial photograph in the summer of 2008 by HydroGIS Ltd, which reported the find to the County Museum of Bohuslän.

A survey by the museum’s marine archaeologists indicated that the shallow wreck may well be of some age and to confirm this wood samples were collected last year.

These samples have now been studied by His Linderson at Lund University. Using dendrochronological analysis , he was able to ascertain that one of the samples was from a tree grown in western Germany or perhaps Belgium between 1210 – 1220 AD.

A shipwreck from the 1200s has never been found in this region before and marine archaeologists are excited about the discovery.

Ship types from this period are poorly understood, and an investigation of the wreck in Jorefjorden could therefore provide important new information on shipbuilding technology.

It is entirely possible that this may have been a laden cargo ship and if so it would provide insights into 13th century commercial trade in the region. Marine archaeologists are hoping to proceed with a closer examination of the wreckage over the next year if funding can be found.

The initial dating of the wreck was part of Bohuslän Museum’s ongoing project “Medieval trades and transport structures in the Bohuslän archipelago” and was part financed by the Carl Jacob Lindberg’s Monument Fund.

Nelson Fredy Padilla - El Espectador

La empresa norteamericana Sea Search Armada denuncia el incumplimiento de un fallo de la Corte Suprema que le reconoció la mitad del tesoro del galeón San José.

Ante un tribunal del Distrito de Columbia, en Washington, fue instaurado el pasado 7 de diciembre un caso contra la República de Colombia por no cumplir un fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia, que desde 2007 concedió a la firma estadounidense Sea Search Armada (SSA) derechos sobre el 50 por ciento del tesoro del galeón San José, hundido por los ingleses en 1708 en cercanías de las Islas del Rosario y considerado el más valioso de la Colonia.

Según la demanda de 41 páginas conocida por El Espectador, el abogado de SSA en Estados Unidos, James S. DelSordo, solicitó a la justicia norteamericana una indemnización de 17 mil millones de dólares “por concepto de daños, costos para promover esta demanda, honorarios de abogados y cualquier otro tipo de desagravio que juzgue apropiado el Tribunal”.

SSA se presentó ante la Corte Federal como “una corporación de Delaware que se dedica al negocio de salvamento oceánico por todo el mundo” en litigio “con un estado extranjero sin inmunidad”.

El abogado de la firma en Colombia, Danilo Devis, le dijo a este diario que la acción judicial es consecuencia de tres años de negativas del gobierno de Álvaro Uribe Vélez a realizar conjuntamente el rescate del famoso galeón, a pesar de que la Corte Suprema, en fallo de julio de 2007, decidió que aunque el naufragio puede ser patrimonio cultural de Colombia, los bienes que sean considerados como tesoro deben ser repartidos por partes iguales entre el Gobierno y SSA.

También se apoya en lo establecido por la Convención de Ginebra de 1958 sobre Plataforma Continental, zona en la que estaría la nave a mil pies de profundidad.

Como lo ha revelado este diario desde hace dos años, la norteamericana es una de las multinacionales cazatesoros (junto a Plioenician Exploration Limited y Odyssey Marine Explorations) interesadas en cerca de 1.100 naufragios coloniales ocurridos en el mar Caribe colombiano, y desde finales de los años años 80 es reconocida por los tribunales colombianos como la descubridora de la localización del San José.

Entonces, durante los primeros debates sobre el tema en el Congreso, se aseguró: “el valor del tesoro es de 10.000 millones de dólares, tal la conclusión de los investigadores: el más grande tesoro en la historia de la humanidad”.

SSA basa sus aspiraciones en estos cálculos, en los manifiestos de carga, en los costos de exploraciones y demandas a lo largo de 20 años y en el posible saqueo del tesoro. Alega que debido a que Colombia reveló las coordenadas del hundimiento, sus pérdidas se han incrementado.

Mas...

By Eric Williams and Jason Kolnos - Cape Cod Times

King Neptune has served up a shipwreck off North Beach Island, according to Theodore Keon, Chatham's coastal resources director.

Keon is working with local and state officials to gather information about the wreck, which is located just offshore, not far from a small shed the town has been using for storage.

"It's only in 8 or 10 feet of water at low tide," Keon said.

North Beach Island, once connected to the southern end of Nauset Beach, is located east of the Chatham Fish Pier.

Town officials became aware of the wreck after viewing an aerial photograph of the area taken on Nov. 29. Based on the size of the nearby shed, Keon estimated the size of the vessel to be about 50-feet long.

After zooming in on the photo, officials noticed the "relatively intact" ship and hull, which appear to be wooden. "It looked like a two-masted sloop," Keon said.

Keon said erosion along the island likely exposed the wreckage. "The vessel would have been under the beach a couple years ago." Keon said. Keon said the town's harbormaster recently took a boat out to try and see the wreck but sun glare on the water prevented a viewing.