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From Southern Maryland Online

The U-1105 Black Panther Historic Shipwreck Preserve, located in the Potomac River in St. Mary’s County, has been included in the charter list of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Under Secretary of Commerce Dr. Jane Lubchenco made the announcement today at the Governor Calvert House in Annapolis.

Joining Dr. Lubchenco at the Welcoming the First Members of the National System of Marine Protected Areas Event were Dr. Susan Langley, Maryland State Underwater Archeologist; Mr. Will Shafroth, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Department of the Interior; Dr. Mark Hixon, Chair of the MPA Federal Advisory Committee; and, Mr. Jim Toomey, Creator and Author of “Sherman’s Lagoon”©.

The U-1105 was the first underwater historic shipwreck preserve designated in the state of Maryland, and is now one of only 225 charter sites from state, territorial, federal and federal/state partnership agencies in 28 states in the National System of Marine Protected Areas.

The preserve was created in 1995 through a partnership with the U.S. Navy (who owns the wreck), the Maryland Historical Trust, and Saint Mary’s County to promote the preservation of the historic U-1105 “Black Panther” submarine, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

From Salem News

It may be the final frontier, but satellites in space are allowing treasure hunters unexpected opportunities; how will the world deal with this ?

Master Merchant Marine and salvage consultant, Captain Tom Williams pens tense tale of lost sunken treasure and asks the forbidden questions: how are all the lost and ancient shipwreck sites suddenly being found ?

And should any international laws apply to deep water salvage ?

Odyssey, a deep-sea exploration team based in Tampa Florida announced in May 2007 that they had found the shipwreck of a Spanish Galleon.

The “Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas” which sank near the Portuguese coast in 1804, has reportedly yielded 17 tons of salvaged silver from the Atlantic Ocean seafloor.

The British warship HMS Victory was reported found by the same Odyssey group in February 2009, after sinking with all hands in 1744. This lost shipwreck is expected to yield 4 tons of gold from 330 feet below the English Channel.

Greg Stemm, co-founder of the Odyssey Marine Exploration team announced there is a secret warehouse somewhere in Florida that contains an undisclosed amount of recovered lost treasure.

With the discovery of the Spanish Galleon in 2007, and the subsequent find of HMS Victory, a simple question has surfaced; asked by the author of the breakout novel Lost and Found.

More to read...

From Ivor Markman - Weekend Post

Port Elizabeth‘s Bayworld maritime archeologist Jenny Bennie was over the moon recently after examining a new piece of wreckage from the Dutch sailing ship the Amsterdam.

The Amsterdam was wrecked in December 16, 1817, after a decision was taken to beach her after sustaining serious damage during a storm at sea while on an return voyage from the Indies to the Netherlands.

A section of the stern was spotted by Port Elizabeth resident Jenny Rump in the surf at Bluewater Bay on Friday, April 17, but it only washed onto land last week.

“Pieces of the wreck usually come ashore at this time of the year. The original find we made was in May, 1985. A portion of the ship could be seen rocking in the sea until it washed ashore. Heavy waves pushed the pieces onto the beach on Monday.”

According to Bennie, who wrote her master‘s dissertation on the wreck of the Amsterdam, the most exciting piece of wreckage to emerge was the huge six-metre high rudder post which measured one metre at its widest point.

The rudder post was attached to a piece of the stern but this broke away when it washed ashore.

By Troy Moon - PNJ

The Spanish tall ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano will visit Pensacola in June as part of the city's ongoing 450th anniversary celebration.

The four-masted Elcano, an 82-year-old schooner used by the Spanish Navy to train midshipmen, will dock in Pensacola June 3-9. It will be open to the public at certain times during the weeklong visit.

While in Pensacola, many of the Elcano's 300 crew members will see some of the city's historical sites, including the location of the Emanuel Point shipwreck in Pensacola Bay, the resting place of a Spanish ship that was part of Don Tristan de Luna's expedition in 1559.

University of West Florida Interim President Judy Bense is the host for the yacht trip to the Emanuel Point shipwreck, which will include a wreath-laying ceremony.

By Chris Matyszczyk - Cnet News

Some people log onto Google Earth and spy men sitting on the toilet. Others find buried treasures of a different kind.

At least that is the claim of Nathan Smith, a Los Angeles musician. Mr. Smith was noodling around on Google Earth one day, randomly examining parts of the Aransas Pass in Texas. Suddenly, his eyes darted to a shoeprint-shaped outline near Barketine Creek.

His suspicions and, presumably, his vast knowledge of history, were sufficiently aroused for him to believe that what he had found was the wreckage of a Spanish barquentine (think large boat with three or more masts) that supposedly met its final resting place south of Refugio, Texas, in 1822.

Mr. Smith scuttled off to consult a few experts and concluded the ship and its treasure was worth $3 billion. With all due promptness, he grabbed hold of a metal detector and drove all the way to the site.

One small problem: the land appears to be part of a ranch owned by the late Morgan Dunn O'Connor.

You will feel palpitations in the deeper part of your throat to discover that this has all ended up in court. Mr. Smith's lawyers believe that the land beneath which the ship is submerged is navigable waterway.

If they're right, U.S. law says the first person to find abandoned treasure gets first dibs on the spoils.

By Chris Curle and Don Farmer - Marco News

The next time you visit one of our Gulf beaches, look west toward the horizon.

Now, imagine that your vision extends that far under the water, where would see centuries of history preserved in countless shipwreck ruins on, and sometimes embedded in, the floor of the Gulf.

Many of those shipwrecks are now bountiful reefs, teeming with sea life. Others hold secrets in their hidden hulls and sunken sterns.

This is the story of one shipwreck, probably about 100 years old, about 30 miles off the coast of Marco Island. It probably will never yield any treasure, nor has it revealed many secrets about its history.

In short, this shipwrecked steam paddle-wheeler offers mystery and curiosity, as well as fun, for experienced divers and others enamored of undersea history.

The stern-wheeler ship sits in 75-80 feet of water, with its highest protruding parts only about five feet above the sandy bottom. Around 1980, a fishermen’s nets snagged on the shipwreck and led to its discovery.

After divers examined the scene, some thought the paddle-wheeler might have carried materials to build Fort Jefferson, in the Dry Tortugas, but that theory has since been discredited, because the fort was completed in the 1860s.

Read more...

By James Thorner - Times

Despite having discovered what could be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sunken treasure, Tampa shipwreck salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. reported a loss last year of $24.8 million.

It was at least the third consecutive money-losing year for the company that has made several rich discoveries.

They include the HMS Victory, a British man-of-war that sunk with 900 aboard in 1744 with a cargo that might have included 4 tons of gold coins.

Since foreign governments claim, and sometimes sue for, a piece of the lucre, it can take years before Odyssey can cash in its finds.

The company's stock ended the day Wednesday up 7 cents at $3.06 per share. Its 52-week high is $6.90.

By Fardah - Antara News


Manado, a pleasant city with a population of over 417,000, will be in the international spotlight during the upcoming World Ocean Conference (WOC) and Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit to be held May 11-15, 2009. 

About 2,900 participants from 121 countries are expected to take part in the WOC, the CTI Summit, and associated events. They will stay among other things in 18 star-rated hotels and 24 non-star hotels. 

"The central government has met all its commitments to securing infrastructure, roads, bridges, electricity, clean water, land and sea transport and increase flight frequencies," North Sulawesi Governor Sarundajang said last Wednesday (April 22), after meeting President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to report preparations for the WOC and CTI Summit to be held in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado.

The WOC on May 11-14 which aims to build a commitment for sustainable management of marine resources will be themed "Climate Change Impacts on Oceans and The Role of Oceans in Climate Change".

An Indonesian professor of oceanography from Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java, told The Jakarta Post daily that Indonesia 75 percent of whose national territory consists of water hoped the conference would produce something tangible to assist its 17,480 islands in countering the impact of global warming.

During the WOC, ministers, senior officials, and oceanographers from all over the world will discuss the complex relationship between the oceans and climate change.

One the one hand, the oceans play a major role in determining the world`s climate system and are believed to function as a carbon sink. On the other hand, the increasing rate of global climate change in recent times is threatening marine life and the livelihood of the people. particularly those living in coastal areas.

Read more...