HOT NEWS !

By Shelley Fralic - Vancouver Sun

When we first tracked down James Delgado, a few weeks back, he was in Pompeii, Italy, on a working vacation with his wife Ann, exploring the ashy ruins of the fabled Roman Empire city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Before Pompeii, he was undersea, on the bottom of the ocean off Spain, poring over the wreckage of a seventh-century Phoenician ship.

This week he's been home for a little R&R in Steveston, but Saturday he's off again, heading for St. John's, N.L., and a return trip to that most famous shipwreck of all: the Titanic.

If that is but a taste of a month in the life of a modern-day explorer, it's almost impossible to absorb the breadth of what James Delgado has done, is doing and will do as one of the planet's most renowned maritime archeologists.

At 52, he is the kind of man for whom rust never sleeps, an explorer, diver, historian, lecturer, television host, sea hunter, author (he has written or edited more than 30 books) and, if you ever had the pleasure, quietly impassioned storyteller.

There are many stories to tell. The Delgado CV is a blur of accomplishment. Born in San Jose, he attended universities in Southern California, worked with the U.S. National Park Service as a park historian in places like Alcatraz and became hooked on shipwrecks when he stumbled upon the excavation, in downtown San Francisco, of a buried shipwreck from the gold rush. 

The underwater archeology bug hit hard. By 23, Delgado had knowledge and experience and diving certification, and today estimates he's explored more than 100 sunken ships in oceans all over the globe, from the Mediterranean to Australia, from the Bikini Atoll to the Arctic, from the Baltic to Juno Beach.

There was the USS Arizona, the USS Utah, the Japanese battleship Nagato, the USS Saratoga, the USS Monitor and, in the Sea of Japan, Kublai Khan's lost fleet. Brigs, destroyers, aircraft carriers, battleships, polar explorers, submarines -- the Delgado dive list is not only historically significant, but fantastically exotic, an underwater narrative of maritime history.

In 1991, Delgado moved to Canada, settling into the job as executive director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum, raising its profile through initiatives like the re-enactment of the Northwest Passage voyage aboard the St. Roch II, and rescuing and restoring the Ben Franklin, an oceanographic research vessel.

Along the way, he earned a PhD in archeology at SFU, became a Canadian citizen and was a cult hit on the cable television show, The Sea Hunters, co-hosting with fellow shipwreck hound, author Clive Cussler.

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From cbs4

The bar was in an exhibit that allowed people to hold it without danger of theft, or so museum operators thought. The insurance company is offering a $10 thousand reward.

It was a piece of history worth half-a-million dollars that you could reach out and touch, part of the treasure from the galleon Santa Maria on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West.

But where the bar used to be is now an empty exhibit. Apparently, someone managed to baffle security and walk off with their own personal treasure.

Wednesday afternoon, at 5:18 p.m., video security cameras recorded two suspects removing the bar from a case that had enabled museum visitors to touch and lift it, while keeping it secure.

Key West police and the FBI are working to identify the suspects who stole the bar, recovered from a wrecked 1622 Spanish galleon off the Florida Keys.

According to Alyson Crean, Key West Police spokeswoman, one suspect is described as a white male, about six feet tall with dark hair and a medium build. The second suspect is about five feet, six inches tall.

The 74.85-ounce bar had been on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum for more than 20 years and is worth about $550,000, according to museum officials.

It was recovered from the Santa Margarita shipwreck in 1980 by the late Key West shipwreck salvor Mel Fisher and his crew, while searching for the Margarita and Nuestra Senora de Atocha galleons.

By Brian Handwerk - National Geographic News

Slipping beneath the waves on April 15, 1912, the R.M.S. Titanic famously disappeared from view until 1985, when it was rediscovered on the bottom of the North Atlantic. 

Now, scientists say, the legendary liner—beset by metal-eating life-forms, powerful currents, and possibly even human negligence—could be vanishing for good.

Titanic is falling apart.

Already explorers have documented caved-in roofs, weakening decks, a stern perhaps on the edge of collapse, and the disappearance of Titanic's crow's nest—from which lookout Frederick Fleet spotted history's most infamous iceberg.

"Everyone has their own opinion" as to how long Titanic will remain more or less intact, said research specialist Bill Lange of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

"Some people think the bow will collapse in a year or two," Lange said. "But others say it's going to be there for hundreds of years."

With Lange as optical-survey leader, a new expedition sets sail Sunday from St. John's, Newfoundland — roughly 350 miles (560 kilometers) from the ship's 2.4-mile-deep (3.8-kilometer-deep) resting place.

The goal: to virtually preserve Titanic in its current state and to finally determine just how far gone the shipwreck is, and how long it might last.

"We're trying to bring the actual hard data to the people who can make those determinations," Lange said.

The 20-day Expedition Titanic will use remotely operated submersibles to complete an unprecedented archaeological analysis of the two- by three-mile (three- by five-kilometer) debris field, including Titanic's two halves. The ship's bow and stern separated before sinking and now lie a third of a mile (half a kilometer) apart.

Thousands of high-resolution photos and video will be combined with acoustic and sonar mapping data to form a 3-D replica of the site, allowing scientists and armchair explorers to probe it in detail. (Explore a 2004 photomosaic of the Titanic wreck.)

Some photos will reveal never before seen parts of Titanic, organizers say. Other images, when compared to evidence from earlier years, will help experts gauge the rate of the wreck's deterioration.

Expedition Titanic will gather hard data too, for example by measuring the thickness of the ship's hull and by hauling up and examining experimental steel platforms placed at the site.

In addition, scientists will take readings of the surrounding water to uncover its ability to support marine life—a prime cause of Titanic's deterioration.

P.H. Nargeolet, co-leader of Expedition Titanic, made more than 30 submersible dives to the Titanic site in the 1980s and '90s—and saw it decline all the while.

Between 1987 and 1993, Nargeolet observed the gymnasium roof corroding and collapsing as well as the upper promenade deck deteriorating. On an early '90s dive he saw that the crow's nest—previously seen still attached to the forward mast—had disappeared altogether, apparently damaged to the point where it snapped off and fell to an as yet unidentified location (interactive Titanic wreck diagram).

"In some places I saw a lot of difference, and in others almost nothing visible has happened," said Nargeolet, director of underwater research for RMS Titanic, Inc., a for-profit corporation that has retrieved Titanic artifacts for traveling exhibitions.

"For example, the stern section was the most destroyed part of the ship when it sank, and now most of the stern section is collapsed," he said. "The bow is pretty narrow and the strongest part of the ship, and it's still in relatively good condition."

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By Aaron Gouveia - Cape Cod Times

Imagine swimming through the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, peeking in portholes and seeing artifacts from nearly 100 years ago sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

And you don't even have to get wet.

Creating that scenario is the goal of a group of scientists, including researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who leave today on a 20-day expedition. They will use the latest in sonar technologies, acoustic imaging and high resolution video to create a virtual 3-D map of the Titanic wreck site that will eventually be accessible online.

"It's revolutionary in that we'll be using new technology to create the first archaeological site map of the Titanic," said David Gallo, WHOI's director of special operations.

The project is being led and funded by RMS Titanic Inc., the company with salvage rights to the Titanic and the wreck site.

Scientists at the oceanographic institution originally found the Titanic two miles beneath the ocean's surface in 1985. But 25 years later, the improvement in underwater technology is staggering, Gallo said.

Using a combination of remotely operated and autonomous underwater vehicles, Gallo said advanced sonar will scan the ocean floor around the crash site while a combination of acoustic imaging and WHOI-made 3-D high definition cameras record the area.

REMUS (Remote Environmental Measuring UnitS), a torpedo-shaped autonomous vehicle that travels in predetermined patterns to collect data, was also developed at WHOI and will be one of the mission's main tools.

The end result, said Gallo, will be merging all the different technologies to form a mosaic virtual map that will provide the clearest, most precise images of Titanic ever recorded.

Titanic, which is split on the ocean floor, has been visited in the past to retrieve artifacts, but Gallo said half of the crash site has never been explored. The best part, he said, is that it is not just scientists who will see it all first-hand.

"Not only will we see a lot of things we've never seen before, but down the road the public will be able to explore for themselves," Gallo said. "No more looking over James Cameron's shoulder."

In addition to creating a boundary map and charting the exact physical position of the ship, researchers will also document artifacts found within the Titanic and, with luck, gain new insights into the details of the sinking after the massive vessel struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912.

Scientists will also examine the structural integrity of the fragile iron ship, which has been eaten away by microbes. The microorganism samples could potentially allow researchers to better understand the process of so-called biodeterioration and give scientists an idea of how long the Titanic will remain intact.

Gallo said there is little doubt the wreck has been beneficial to sea life, but this trip will allow all the animals residing in and around the Titanic to be catalogued.

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By Jamie Tarabay - NPR

They call it the mystery ship: a wooden vessel that may have sailed the Hudson River and the East Coast, transporting goods between the flourishing Colonies.

Its remains were found last month in the ruins of the World Trade Center in New York City. They've since been moved to a science lab in Maryland, where each day brings new discoveries.

The first thing that hits you when you lean toward the enormous tanks filled with water, where scientists use small brushes to clean the timbers, is the smell — a bit like rotten eggs.

Or, as Nichole Doub, head conservator at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, says, "that deep-woods smell after a really heavy rain." But after weeks of being "up to our knees and elbows" in it, she says, perhaps she's become desensitized to it.

The complex on the shore of the Patuxent River is full of dark, wet timbers from the mystery ship. The largest piece of the ship, called the apron, weighs in at 540 pounds. Doub puts the vessel's size at about 60 feet. She guesses it was a work boat, very solidly built, and used to transport cargo during the 1700s.

"This is a part of our country's history at a point when we had only just recently gained our independence, and where our nation relied very heavily upon our naval vessels as well as our ability to transport goods across water," Doub says. "And that really was a defining feature of who we were and how we were going to become the nation we are today."

But we don't know much else. Over the next few weeks, different experts will come to find clues. Someone will date the tree rings. Another will look at the woodworms.

The discovery of iron nails and spikes is causing the scientists to re-evaluate what they knew about shipbuilding technology at the time, which was thought to have relied more on wooden dowels. And the recent discovery of a coin, in a very special place, means they're going to have to call a coin specialist. Sara Rivers-Cofield, another curator, says the coin placement is an important clue.

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From  My Sunshine Coast

The Queensland Government will kick off a statewide survey of Queensland's historic shipwrecks to provide a better understanding of where the historic sites are off Queensland's coastline.

Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones today announced the survey, to begin in Moreton Bay, will be carried out by the Heritage Branch of the Department of Environment and Resource Management, which has recently taken over management of Queensland's historic shipwrecks from the Queensland Maritime Museum.

"Queensland's coastline is littered with untold stories under the sea," Ms Jones said.

"We know there are more than 1,000 historic shipwrecks or abandoned vessels along the State's coast, as well as in our rivers and bays. But in most cases, data on these shipwrecks is scant and often inaccurate.

"Every one of these ships is an irreplaceable archaeological site which can tell us much about the lives of past generations of Queenslanders and oth ers who visited our shores.

"Through this survey, we will tap into the broad range of skills and equipment within our heritage and marine parks units to locate as many wrecks as possible and determine their significance."

Ms Jones said there is a wealth of information about unidentified shipwrecks among interested members of the community, historical researchers and diving groups.

"The first stage in this survey will be community consultation, with the department calling on members of the public, research organisations and diving groups to help build our knowledge of historic sites, starting with Moreton Bay.

"We know the people of Queensland are passionate about our underwater history - and there is a real interest in many of our shipwrecks among the diving community in particular.

"By working with the community we hope to build a clearer picture about the wrecks sitting off our coast."

Ms Jones said following this consultatio n, the department will next year commence targeted field operations using technology such as side-scan sonar, to confirm actual locations for mapping and preservation.

"While some wrecks in the Moreton Bay area are well-known such as the Aarhus, there are approximately 50 wrecks reported in and around the Bay listed on the National Shipwreck Database.

"In many cases, the locations listed are imprecise and we know very little about the history of the individual wrecks.

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By Peter Schworm - Boston.com

A team of top scientists, launching what is billed as the most ambitious and advanced survey of the Titanic, sets out next week to map in photographic detail the entire wreck site, and reconstruct in electronic form the ruins scattered on the seabed.

By melding photographs, high-definition video and computer imaging, scientists — including experts at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute — plan to create a three-dimensional computer model that will allow scientists and members of the public to “swim’’ through the wreckage online, as though they were at the site more than 2 miles below the ocean surface.

“We can raise the ship virtually,’’ said James Delgado, the expedition’s principal investigator and president of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. “The data you can capture is incredible.’’

Scientific research on this scale, Delgado and others said, has never been attempted at these depths, where the pressure is more than 400 times that on earth’s surface, and the temperature never moves far from 39 degrees. There is no sunlight and little life.

Since the wreckage was discovered in 1985, expeditions have focused on recovering relics from the world-famous shipwreck and capturing footage of its sundered bow and stern.

The upcoming 20-day voyage, scheduled to set forth from Newfoundland Sunday, is far more ambitious, a groundbreaking attempt to probe nearly every aspect of the site, from the giant ship’s iconic bow to the colonies of microbes eating away at its iron hull. The mission will also catalog the countless artifacts strewn across the ocean floor.

Using the latest sonar and computer-imaging technologies, researchers will be able to record the site with new detail, clarity, and accuracy. They hope the pioneering effort will provide a blueprint for future deep-water exploration.

“We’ve never had the ability to map with such precision,’’ said David Gallo, a leader of the expedition from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who estimates that as much as 40 percent of the vast site has never been surveyed. “We’re going to treat it like an archeological dig, and that’s never been done before at these depths.’’

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By Amanda Kerr - The Virginia Gazette

Two years ago a sonar company in Gloucester was testing equipment in the York River when the crew hit the jackpot: an uncharted shipwreck on the river bottom.

“That was quite a surprise,” said David Hazzard, an archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

The area where the ship was found is well-documented. There have previously been nine documented shipwrecks in the York River associated with the Revolutionary War and the Siege at Yorktown. Seven ships are on the Yorktown side and two are on the Gloucester side.

The latest find is on the Yorktown side, near the fishing pier at the Archer Cottage.

“The proximity to the other shipwrecks suggests this is a Revolutionary War shipwreck and was one of the ships scuttled by Lord Cornwallis as a defensive maneuver against the French fleet,” he said.

Next week two consultants for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources hope to find out for sure when they do a multi-day survey of the ship. The survey is being funded through the Department of Historic Resources Threatened Sites Program.

Among the consultants is John Broadwater, who took part in the 1980s survey and excavation of the Betsy, the scuttled ship that became famous for a cofferdam in the 1980s.