HOT NEWS !

By Dan Vergano

Shipwrecks ! Treasure ! Gold, gold, gold ! The hallmarks of treasure-hunting are the stuff of adventure stories, more than fun enough to make archaeologists, who are mounting increasing complaints against the pillaging of sunken ships, seem like wet blankets.

But more is at stake than just a few loose doubloons, they say.

"The big picture is that a fair amount of humanity's past we don't know, and it's important we don't let it become lost forever," says maritime archaeologist James Delgado, head of the Institute of Nautical Archaeology.

The latest flashpoint comes with the recent premiere of the show Treasure Quest on cable's Discovery Channel, which follows deepwater exploration company Odyssey Marine Exploration as its teams explore two historic shipwrecks.

Odyssey is in hot water with Spain over one of them, fighting it out in U.S. federal court over rights to the wreck code-named the "Black Swan." Odyssey announced the discovery of the wooden sailing ship in 2007.

An editorial in Archaeology magazine, published by the American Institute of Archaeology, charges that "the Discovery Channel is cashing in on the business of systematically looting shipwrecks" in teaming up with Odyssey.

"The artifacts that Odyssey sells might inspire people to wonder about what life was like on board a ship a few hundred years ago when they played an integral role in the rise and fall of nations, but getting real answers about that history requires wrecks to be scientifically excavated and analyzed.

The results have to be shared and debated so that they can become part of the historical and archaeological records.

Otherwise the artifacts are just trinkets, conversation pieces, or decorative touches on the coffee tables of those who can afford them," writes the magazine's Zach Zorich.

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From Vietnam News

They’re big in stature and demand, but Quach Van Dich is not giving up his anchors to just anyone after news that they may be around 700 years old.

Trung Hieu gets to the bottom of the mystery.

A series of chance encounters has left restaurant owner Quach Van Dich with two giant anchors, which some believe could shed light on a monumental event in Vietnamese history: the Great Battle of Bach Dang, when Viet Nam’s Tran dynasty defeated invading Yuan Mongolian troops in 1288.

The river was also the site of another famous victory in 938 when Vietnamese armies defeated Southern Han invaders from China.

Dich now lives in Chuong Duong Ward of Ha Noi, close to the Hong (Red) River.

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By Jasper Copping


In a project shrouded in secrecy, work is due to start on recovering the cargo, which was being transported to the United States to help pay for the Allied effort in the Second World War. 

The scale of the treasure trove is likely to unleash a series of competing claims from interested parties. Salvage laws are notoriously complex and experts say there could be many years of legal wrangling ahead. 

In order to protect its find until the cargo is brought to the surface, the company that located the wreck has not released the name of the vessel or its exact location, but has given the ship the code name "Blue Baron". 

It says the merchant ship, which had a predominantly British crew, had left a European port, laden with goods for the US Treasury under the Lend-Lease scheme, whereby the American government gave material support to the Allied war effort in exchange for payments. 

The Blue Baron first sailed to a port in South America, where it unloaded some general cargo, before continuing north in a convoy, heading for New York. 

However, the company claim it was intercepted by German U-boat U87 and sent to the bottom by two torpedoes in June 1942, with the loss of three crew members.

Their nationalities are not known.

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From The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Did a catastrophic flood of biblical proportions drown the shores of the Black Sea 9,500 years ago, wiping out early Neolithic settlements around its perimeter ?

A geologist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and two Romanian colleagues report in the January issue of Quaternary Science Reviews that, if the flood occurred at all, it was much smaller than previously proposed by other researchers.

Using sediment cores from the delta of the Danube River, which empties into the Black Sea, the researchers determined sea level was approximately 30 meters below present levels—rather than the 80 meters others hypothesized.

“We don’t see evidence for a catastrophic flood as others have described,” said Liviu Giosan, a geologist in the WHOI Geology and Geophysics Department.

Ten thousand years ago, at the end of the last glacial period, the Black Sea was a lake—cut off from the Sea of Marmara and beyond it the Mediterranean by the Bosphorus sill.

Debate in geological and archaeological circles has focused on whether, as glaciers melted and global sea levels began to rise, the Bosphorus sill overflowed gradually or whether a flood broke through the sill, drowning some 70,000 square kilometers and wiping out early Neolithic civilizations in the region.

In addition to questions about the rate of the flood, investigators continue to debate the extent of the flood -- a debate centered around what the level of the Black Sea was 9,500 years ago.  

In the late 1990s, Columbia University researchers Bill Ryan and Walter Pitman examined the geological evidence and estimated the Black Sea level at the time of the flood was approximately 80 meters lower than present day levels.

They suggested that the impact of a Black Sea flood could have forced the movement of early agriculturist groups to central Europe and established the story of Noah and his ark, as well as flood myths among other peoples.

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By Sarah Finger - Libération

«Trouver un trésor, c’est le rêve de beaucoup de gens. Moi, j’en ai trouvé un. Ce fut une aventure extraordinaire, mais aussi le début d’un cauchemar.

Quand j’ai été arrêté, on a dit que j’avais déjà eu des démêlés avec les douanes, que j’étais un pilleur bien connu.

Depuis cette affaire, j’ai eu un contrôle fiscal. Je suis mis en examen pour destructions et dégradations de biens découverts à l’occasion d’une fouille archéologique.

Je vais sans doute être condamné trois fois : par les douanes, le tribunal et le fisc. Tout ça m’a dégoûté de plonger. Pourtant, c’était l’histoire de toute ma vie.

J’ai 55 ans, j’habite Palavas-les-Flots, dans l’Hérault et je plonge presque chaque jour depuis trente-cinq ans. Avec un collègue, au début des années 80, on avait monté un club de plongée qui marchait bien.

L’été, on emmenait les gens en mer et l’hiver, je partais ramasser des coquillages sauvages. Et en cherchant des coquillages, forcément, je tombais sur des trucs : des épaves, des objets antiques…

Plus tard, j’ai été matelot, puis je me suis mis à mon compte, j’ai fait pas mal de choses, toujours en mer. J’ai passé des milliers d’heures dans l’eau, je connaissais par cœur tous les coins et plus ça allait, plus la recherche d’épaves m’intéressait.

Avec quelques passionnés, on plongeait un peu au hasard. On remontait des cols d’amphores ou des amphores entières, des meules romaines, des ancres…

C’était à chaque fois comme découvrir un trésor. Tu te dis : "Ça fait deux mille ans que c’est au fond de la mer ; et c’est toi qui le sors de l’oubli !"

Du bonheur, quoi.

More to read (in French)...

By Michelle Tuzee

One of the largest military planes ever built crashed nose-first off the Southern California coast in the early days of the Cold War. That U.S. Air Force B-36, and its pilot, sank to the ocean floor never to be seen again, until now.

Captain Ray Arntz and his team spent years searching for the B-36 bomber, which went down in August 1952. The bomber had a crew of eight onboard.

"It was the largest combat operational bomber ever built, and ever to fly in the world," said aviation archaeologist Pat Macha.

The B-36 was stripped down in "Operation Featherweight." However, it was still massive. It had 10 engines, a wingspan of 230 feet and the ability to haul 84,000 pounds of bombs.

The B-36 was nicknamed "The Peacemaker" because it was more of a deterrent to Cold War Russia. It never flew in combat. The doomed B-36 was on a test flight from San Diego's Lindbergh Field when one of its engines caught fire. 

"The pilot instantly realized they were in dire straits," said Macha. "He turned that plane around, headed it out away from San Diego."

By Louise Gray

The £3 million Caitlin Arctic Survey, to set off later this month, will be the first Arctic expedition to take regular radar measurements of the depth of the sea ice. It is hoped the results will give a definitive picture of how fast the ice caps are melting and how long it will take before they disappear altogether.

Mr Hadow, who will lead the British expedition, has been traveling to the far north since the late 80s and was the first man to trek to the North Pole solo in 2003. 

But he was expecting to have to swim across much more open water in the latest expedition because of climate change.

"We will traveling on the sea ice across the Arctic Ocean for 1,500 hours. We estimate that up to 15 per cent of our time – over 150 hours – will be spent in the sea in immersion suits with polar boots and Arctic clothing underneath," he said. "That is not something I would have anticipated 20 years ago." 

Mr Hadow said the team were ready to cross waters of up to 1.2 miles (2km) while dragging their floating sledges behind.

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From BYM Marine & Maritime News

Australia is to receive a significant collection of artefacts recovered from four Dutch shipwrecks found off the Western Australian coast following an announcement made by the Netherlands Government today.

Until now the collections of the Zuytdorp (1712), Batavia (1629), Vergulde Draeck (1656) and the Zeewyk (1727) had been shared between the Western Australian Museum, the Netherlands and the Commonwealth Government as agreed under the Australian and Netherlands Committee on Old Dutch Shipwrecks (ANCODS) established in 1972.

The collections to be transferred consist of 633 coins and 1,326 artefacts which include bricks; building blocks; lead ingots; pottery; elephant tusks; cannons, cannon balls; amber and pitch as well as rare objects owned by crew and passengers, including navigational instruments and ornaments. Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said the gift to Australia from the Government of the Netherlands would allow WA scientists to delve even further into the rich history of the Dutch explorers off the WA coast.

“Having all of these precious artefacts in Australia will allow greater access to the complete collections of these important shipwrecks by maritime historians, scholars and researchers,” Mr Day said.

“It will allow thorough research and analysis to be undertaken and ensure the collections are accessible to the Australian public to enable everyone to learn even more about their history and heritage.

“Staff at the Western Australian Museum are looking forward to working with the Netherlands research workers and Museum curators in developing a better understanding of this unique collection.”

The share of artefacts from these four shipwrecks held by Australia is currently on display at the Western Australian Museum - Shipwreck Galleries and the Western Australian Museum in Geraldton. Arrangements for the transfer of the Netherlands Government’s collection, as well as details of where the collection is to be housed, will be finalised later this year.