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By Catherine Graue on Pacific Beat - ABC.net
 

There are new warnings that thousands of World War II shipwrecks in the Pacific, still containing millions of litres of oil, pose a potential environmental disaster. Those involved in a new remediation program say they're in a race against time.

It's estimated more than 3000 ships sank during the war in waters across Asia and the Pacific. Studies have shown that they're coming to the end of their life spans, with their metal walls now corroding.

Paul Adams and his team at the Major Projects Foundation have spent the past year assessing the wrecks and have narrowed the number down to 55 they say need urgent attention — in waters off countries like Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Palau.

The foundation's director, Paul Adams, last year bought an old New Zealand warship with his wife Wilma, and they have made it their mission to prevent a major oil spill.

He says the cost of not doing anything will be huge.

"Some of these tankers out there, we're talking about millions of litres. The clean-up cost will be enormous. It might be $4 or $5 million now to take the oil out, it'll be $50, $60, $70 [million] if we don't," he told Pacific Beat.

"Not to mention the environmental damage, which is irreparable. It's something that needs to be done urgently, and we are running out of time, there's no question about that".

They're now partnering with the University of Newcastle and the Pacific's leading environmental group, SPREP, to bring scientists, engineers and historians together for a remediation program.Fijian Awei Bainivalu is a PhD student at the university and on the team, piloting a process known as bio-remediation that could be one of the technologies used to remove the oil.

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From Art Daily

A rare U.S. gold coin struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1857 and recovered five years ago from a world-famous California Gold Rush shipwreck set a record price for any 1857 San Francisco Mint $20 denomination gold coin. It was sold for $282,000 in a public auction in New Orleans, Louisiana conducted by Lincoft, New Jersey on May 16, 2019. 

The coin was recovered in 2014 from the S.S. Central America, the fabled “Ship of Gold, that sank in the Atlantic Ocean in 1857. The Supernova was discovered on the ocean floor among piles and stacks of coins that originally were in boxes of Double Eagles being shipped to New York by San Francisco businesses.

Described by Legend President Laura Sperber as “the most beautifully and amazingly colorful toned gold coin we have ever seen!,” the sunken treasure Double Eagle was independently graded Mint State 67 (on a 1 to 70 scale) by Professional Coin Grading Service.

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From Daily Mail
 

Six rare bottles of Scotch salvaged from the shipwreck that inspired Whisky Galore! are to be sold at auction. The SS Politician ran aground off Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides during bad weather in February 1941 – with 264,000 bottles in Hold Number Five.

Some islanders conducted an unofficial ‘salvage’ mission – and even donned their wives’ dresses so that engine oil leaking on to their clothes would not give them away afterwards.The wreck was immortalised by Compton Mackenzie in his 1947 novel Whisky Galore! and the Ealing comedy which followed two years later.

The six bottles will be auctioned at Bonhams in Edinburgh on June 5. They are a Ballantine’s, a VAT 69, and four bottles of Gilbey’s. Each one is expected to fetch £6,000 to £8,000.Unlike much of the contents of Hold Five, they were salvaged legally in 1990 and are accompanied by official documentation from HM Customs.

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By Neil Murphy - The Mirror
 

Paintings by one of Russia's most famous artists which were lost in a shipwreck over 124 years ago could be worth millions of pounds, experts say.A number of highly-valuable works by Ivan Aivazovsky were lost when the General Kotzebue steamship sank off the coast of Crimea in 1895.

The wreckage was finally discovered last year by divers from Russia's Neptune underwater expedition along with the fragments of ten paintings.

Aivazovsky is believed to have given the crew the paintings and sketches after he travelled on board their vessel. An earlier expedition to recover the items was halted over fears that the operation would further damage them.

Roman Dunaev, the head of the Neptune expedition, confirmed to local media in Russia that it woould restart the operation next month. Crimea-born Aivazovsky, who died in 1900, was well-known for his depictions of naval life and was considered one of the greatest masters of marine art.

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By Park Chan-kyong - South China Morning Post

A 14th-century Chinese trading ship, which was wrecked carrying priceless cargoes before being discovered in 1976 off the southern coast of South Korea, provides an endless source of information about China’s porcelain manufacturing, maritime trade and high culture in East Asia.

The National Museum of Korea in Seoul marked the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the treasure boat in Sinan County with a special exhibition in 2016 and published in three volumes the results of decades of examinations of 24,000 recovered relics.

Most recently, the museum opened a special display of 180 of 800 black-glazed porcelains from the wreck. The museum also has a permanent display corner dedicated to Sinan shipwreck treasures.

“This is a rare chance of seeing the highly prized black glazed porcelains manufactured at various kilns in 14th-century China that have been brought together in the same place,” curator Kim Young-mi said.

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By Hannah Maltwood - Cornwall Live

An unusual underwater expedition is being planned off the Cornish coast, to send a submarine 100 metres below the ocean to retrieve rare bottles of 100-year-old wine and champagne sitting on the seabed for a century.

During the First World War a boat laden with alcohol, travelling between England and Bordeaux, was shot down on its journey, by a German U boat. Sinking to the bottom of the sea, the ship and its cargo have laid undisturbed since 1918.

Now experts want to salvage the historical artefacts in what they believe will be "one of the most significant historical discoveries of the century", and they're allowing a member of the public to go along on the voyage.

Through a partnership between Cookson Adventures, maritime experts 10994 and dive and survey expert Nigel Hodge, from Cornish Fishing, the wreck has now been located, sitting in the English Channel, just off the coast of Cornwall.

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By James Rogers - Fox News
 

The wreck of a 12th-century ‘Viking-style’ ship discovered in a German port is revealing its secrets thanks to high-tech 3D-scanning technology.

The shipwreck was found in just 10 feet of water when workers were extending the Baltic Sea port of Wismar. Thanks to the seawater and harbor silt, the ship’s timbers are perfectly preserved, according to archaeologists.

Measuring almost 80 feet by 13 feet, the ship’s remains have been dated to around 1188. Experts used 3D scanner technology to reveal that the open-decked ship was constructed entirely with axes and adzes.

Analysis of the ship’s timbers revealed that they were from Western Sweden. Maritime Archaeologist Dr. Jens Auer, who led the project, described the ship as a descendant of Viking vessels. “It was a heavy, load-bearing cargo ship, of Nordic design, built with great care and durability…with overlapping pine planks, clinker-style, with a beautiful curved construction…made during a relatively peaceful period of time," he explained, in a statement.

The ship likely carried cargoes such as timber, stones, or even beer, Auer added.

Experts estimate that the ship had a crew of 8 to 12 men.

From Associated Press
 

Near the northern Greek island of Alonissos lies a remarkable ancient shipwreck: the remains of a massive cargo ship that changed archaeologists' understanding of shipbuilding in antiquity.

Now this spectacular find is to become the first ancient shipwreck to be made accessible to the public in Greece, including to recreational divers. Greece's rich underwater heritage has long been hidden from view, off-limits to all but a select few, mainly archaeologists.

Scuba diving was banned throughout the country except in a few specific locations until 2005, for fear that divers might loot the countless antiquities that still lie scattered on the country's seabed. Ancient shipwrecks and even many more recent ones are still off-limits.

Now that seems to be gradually changing, with a new project to create underwater museums. Divers will be able to tour certain shipwrecks and non-divers will experience the sites through virtual reality in information centers on land.

The first of these sites is the Peristera shipwreck, named for the uninhabited Greek island opposite Alonissos where it was discovered in the early 1990s.

The cargo ship was laden with thousands of amphoras, or vases, probably containing wine, when it sank in the late 5th century B.C. All that survives is the cargo, the exposed parts of the wooden ship having long since rotted away.

But the sight is spectacular. Thousands of ancient vases, the vast majority intact, lie in layers. Fish, sponges and other sea creatures have made the amphoras their home, adding color and life to the site. In some places, the cargo towers above divers as they pass along the perimeter of the wreck.

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