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Historic "Ship of Gold" Returns to Long Beach Expo
By Expos Unlimited - Collectors Universe
A decade after its first appearance, the precedent-setting "Ship of Gold" display showcasing California Gold Rush-era sunken treasure recovered from the 1857 shipwreck of the SS Central America again will dock in Long Beach, California.
"The ‘Ship of Gold’ exhibit is coming out of dry dock and returning to its first port of call, the Long Beach Expo," said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.
"The eye-opening display on the convention center floor is housed in a specially-constructed 40-foot long representation of the famous ship’s hull. This will be the first public appearance of the ‘Ship of Gold’ exhibit anywhere in the country in six years."
Africatown project locates graves of ex-slaves who survived 1859 shipwreck
By Mark R. Kent - Al
A Virginia archaeologist is using modern technology to locate and mark gravesites in the older half of Old Plateau Cemetery.
The cemetery is at Bay Bridge Road and Cut-Off Road, near the Cochrane-Africatown Bridge.
Often known as Africatown Cemetery, it is the final resting place for Cudjoe Lewis and 109 other surviving African slaves from the slave ship Clotilde.
On a Sunday in July 1859, the Clotilde, also known as the Clotilda, struck a sandbar the Mobile River.
The federal government had outlawed slave importations since 1808, but slavery still was legal in Southern states. The Clotilde was the last ship known to have carried African slaves to the United States.
After the ship's slaves were freed, they founded Africatown in what is now Plateau and Magazine Point.
Read more...
Galle: A treasure trove of wrecked ships
By Gamini Mahadura - The Sunday Times
Galle port with its splendid natural harbour was an important port in days of yore being reputed as a trade centre due to its location just 12 miles away from international sea routes.
Many sunken ships have been found here according to the UNESCO Pacific Zone’s marine archaeological centre in Galle Fort.
There are as many as 26 places that need to be surveyed here which have a history dating back a hundred years.
Along the coast in the Galle and Ambalangoda areas more than 100 wrecks of ships are reported have been found already. According to divers it is a new world which is the happy breeding grounds for fish.
R K Somadasa de Silva of Hikkaduwa, a diver of repute had this to say on these findings.
“I have over 30 years experience as a diver having dived in seas off Germany and England. I have more than 5000 hours of diving experience and I run an international diving school at the Coral Sands Hotel in Hikkaduwa.
Some shipwrecks in the Galle area are over 500 years old and full of archaeological value.
Some organized groups use dynamite to get at treasures in ships sunk between Galle and Ambalangoda.” Some steps have to be taken by marine archaeologists to save these treasures from vandals, he said.
By Sally Bengtsson - Le@der
Buried beneath shells, rocks and sand, for 2,600 years, while the construction boom has been completely changing the surrounding landscape, a treasure of incalculable value has lain just off La Manga.
Now, 26 centuries later, archaeologists from eleven countries are bringing these antique objects to the light of day once again.
The find appears to be the cargo of a commercial ship carrying ivory from African elephants, amber and lots of ceramic objects.
The find has been kept secret for the past three years by the team of divers led by the Spaniard Juan Pinedo Reyes and the American Mark Edward Polzer.
The recovery project is being financed by National Geographic, who have reached an agreement with the Spanish Minister of Culture, the Institute of Nautical Archaeology and the University A&M of Texas.
The recovery is taking place around Grosa Island and El Farallon Island, just off La Manga. Over the last three years 1,400 objects have been collected.
Even some of the wood from the bottom of the ship has survived since the 7th Century before Christ (620 BC), and has been recovered. It is believed the vessel measured approximately 15 meters long.
Bugatti car that spent 70 years under water could fetch # 80k at auction!
From Sify News
A rare Bugatti that lay at the bottom of a lake for 73 years is set to fetch over 80,000 pounds at auction-the price of a brand new luxury motor.
The legendary car was dumped in the water in 1936 by a frustrated Swiss official because the owner had abandoned it without paying the import tax. The value of the car was less than the money owed and the customs officer was compelled to destroy it.
Thus, he drove it over the Italian border to nearby Lake Maggiore - and pushed it into the deep waters. The story became part of folklore in the nearby town of Ascona as locals debated whether the car actually existed.
After 30 years, the truth emerged after a keen diver rediscovered the Bugatti lying on its side 160 feet down at the bottom of the lake. Since then, members of the local diving club regularly visited it and last year decided to raise it and sell it for a local charity.
Surprisingly, there was still air in the tyres and traces of the original Bugatti blue paint on the bodywork. It is believed that 20 per cent of the vehicle is salvageable and collectors and museums are likely to be keen to buy it.
Courts curb bounty hunters seeking torpedoed liner's £15m bullion
By John Hooper - Guardian
The Italian government has stepped in to the hunt for €17m (£15m) worth of sunken treasure, spilled from the Italian liner Ancona, which a US firm is hoping to recover from the bed of the Mediterranean between Sicily and Sardinia.
The Ancona was carrying gold and silver when it sank on 7 November 1915 after being torpedoed by a German U-boat flying an Austro-Hungarian flag. Of 760 people on board, more than 200 perished when the giant transatlantic vessel went down.
A foreign ministry spokesman said tonight that lawyers in America had taken action in the US courts that meant neither the salvagers nor the government could take any initiative without first giving 45 days' notice to the other party.
A spokeswoman for Odyssey Marine Exploration, the Florida-based firm searching for the treasure, said it had filed a joint motion with the Italian government "preserving the administratively closed status of the case". She added: "There is no dispute between Odyssey and the Italian government."
The manifest of the first world war ship recorded its 12 trunks of gold, and shipment of silver bars. The bullion, entrusted to a civil servant, was thought to be intended for purchasing arms for Italy.
Some Italian officials regard the vessel as now untouchable. Sebastiano Tusa, head of the government's marine heritage department on Sicily, told La Stampa: "It is a war cemetery that cannot be defiled by a company looking to make money.
The only acceptable project might be a non-profit-making one for scientific and historical research, with the agreement of all the nations involved in the disaster."
US$30 million treasure buried under sand off Chile's coast
By Laura Burgoine - The Santiago Times
A shipwrecked vessel containing an estimated US$30 million of treasure may soon be resurfaced in Chile after more than two centuries in Davy Jones’ locker.
The National Monuments Council (NMC) is currently negotiating with private company Oriflama SA over the ownership rights of Spanish galleon “Our Lady of the good council and San Leopoldo,” which has been located under the sands of Playa La Trinchera in Curepto (Region VII).
Oriflama SA and local museums have been working towards recovering the ship and its treasure since 2001. But under the National Monuments Act No. 17,288, the remains of the Galleon are state property.
NMC executive secretary Oscar Acuna said the NMC is willing to award Oriflama SA 25 percent of the value of the treasure for their work, but that ultimately the galleon belongs to the state.
The ship’s treasure, which is believed to include gold coins, fine glassware, guns of war, furniture, and clothing decorated with gold and various jewels, cannot be officially valued until the ship’s remains are recovered from under the sand.
The project has already cost Oriflama SA US$1million, and by the time the resurfacing of the vessel is complete, costs are estimated at another US$15 million.
Oriflama SA CEO Hernan Couyoudijan said the company’s goal is to create a museum after completing the project. “We want to make a museum out of it.
This would not only preserve some of history but potentially boost tourism in Curepto” he said.
Ship sails to tell of ancient trade
By Nadim Kawach - Emirates Business
More than 15 Omani sailors will set sail from the port of Muscat next month, heading for Singapore aboard a wooden vessel modelled on the famous Tang Treasure ship that sank in the Indian Ocean while laden with gold and other precious items belonging to the old Chinese Tang dynasty.
The 18-metre long Jewel of Muscat, a reconstructed ninth century sewn-plank ship, has started sailing in the Sea of Oman on the first sea trial ahead of its formal voyage to Singapore towards the end of February.
The wind-powered vessel is scheduled to start its journey across the Indian Ocean with transit stops along the western coast of India and other south Asian countries.
It will keep to ancient trade routes and stop in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia before arriving in Singapore five months later, where it will be given as a gift from Oman to the people of Singapore.
"Singapore is one of Oman's oldest trading partners. Jewel of Muscat will be displayed in Singapore to highlight the awareness of the old trade routes between the two countries," Badr bin Hamoud Al Busaeedi, Director-General of the Omani Foreign Ministry, said at a launch ceremony this week.