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From 7 News

After three years, a man who works at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has found a submarine sunk off the Maine coast by the Navy during World War II for training purposes.

Joe Cushing - who lives in Strafford, N.H., - won't disclose the sub's exact location, but says it's about 12 miles at sea from Portland, Maine. 

"It was a good find," he said. "We are excited to have finally located the thing.

After you look for something for three years and you made a bunch of dives and you finally locate it, that's a great moment."

Cushing says the sub - called "S-21" - was used by the Navy to train pilots and destroyer crews to detect enemy submarines.

He started his search in federal archives, and later learned that a salvager had found the sub in the 1960s but quit after one of his divers got killed.

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From ScienceDaily

How should the humidity, temperature, and light be set to preserve Sweden's famous royal warship Vasa for posterity ? How much and how quickly are the ship's wood and preservative breaking down, and how is the ship's stability being affected by this ?

Researchers are now going to study the degradation processes and test new methods for determine their speed, including the monitoring of how much oxygen is consumed. They will also trying out new methods for removing iron and neutralizing acids to stop the degradation. A major co-financed project will provide SEK 18 million.

The royal warship Vasa is one of Sweden's best known and most frequently visited tourist attractions. The ship and the objects it carried are a source of knowledge about the living conditions, culture, and technology of the 17th century.

"It is urgent and important to contribute to research that can enable us to preserve the ship for posterity," says Rolf Annerberg, director general of the Swedish Research Council Formas, one of the financiers behind the new research project.

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By Allie Shah

Who needs Jack and Rose when you have perfume salesman Adolph Salfeld ? Unlike the movie characters, Salfeld was a first-class passenger aboard the ill-fated Titanic, and although he didn't survive, his 62 vials of perfume samples did. They're among the new-found artifacts that will be part of the Science Museum of Minnesota's upcoming Titanic exhibit.

Museum officials announced Tuesday that "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" will open June 12 and run through Jan. 3, 2010.

Titanic fans may recall the exhibit was at the Union Depot in St. Paul about a decade ago.

Museum officials are touting the new exhibit as an "expanded and enhanced" collection, with more than 250 artifacts.

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By Michael Morgan

"Tradition has it that pirates," wrote David James Long in 1938, "used to trade in and out of the Little Assawoman Bay to a little island called Cedar Island, about a mile northeast of where the bridge now is.

It was said there were lots of holes in which the pirates used to dig for money there."

Although many historians scoff at the idea that pirates buried their treasure, Captain William Kidd anchored in Lewes harbor at the end of the 17th century, and he reportedly made several nocturnal trips to the sands of Cape Henlopen.

After Kidd left Lewes, he was captured, tried and hanged as a pirate.

The treasure that he had accumulated during his cruise in the Indian Ocean was never been accounted for; and for centuries, serious treasure hunters and casual beachcombers have been scrutinizing the sands of Delaware in the hope of discovering chests of doubloons.

The hope of finding buried treasure has been kept alive by the serendipitous discovery of a number of old coins in the sand. In addition to the search for pirate's loot on Cedar Island, Long also noted that there was a spot off Fenwick Island that was once known as the "Money Bank."

According to Long, "Back about 1800 or 1845, there was a man patrolling the beach after a heavy storm.

This man's name was Truitt. He came across a lot of silver money scattered along the beach and filled his pockets full. He hurried home to empty them and returned with a basket to get what he left.

When he got back there had been a flood tide and he was unable to get any more money."

By Dominic Fontana

That the Mary Rose sank during the battle in the Solent on July 19 1545 there is no doubt. But why did it sink ? It had sailed and fought successfully for 34 years without toppling over. There must be a reason. 

Traditional thinking goes that it was blown over by a freak gust of wind, or that the crew were incompetent, and more recently it has been suggested that the crew were Spanish and could not understand English instructions.

To me, these seem very unsatisfying reasons for loss of Tudor England's best ship.

As I see it the scenario goes like this:

There was a very large French invasion fleet of 230 ships assembled off the eastern end of the Isle of Wight, and the English fleet of just 60 were becalmed and at anchor within the Solent blocking French progress into Portsmouth Harbour, where they could have landed their army of around 30,000 men.

This potential invasion was a very serious national crisis and the kingdom was at stake.

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From Western Morning News

A treasure ship that sank more than 250 years ago off the West country coast has started to give up her cargo – after a diver found an elephant tusk.

The 18th century ivory is in remarkable condition despite its time underwater and is now to be sold at a fine art auction.

The Hope sank off Chesil beach in Dorset in 1749 and the wreck was besieged by up to 2,000 beach combers – just as the MSC Napoli was when she was beached off Branscombe last year.

The Dutch sailing ship was laden with gold, silver and other treasures worth £50,000 – equivalent to £4 million today.

She had visited China and the Caribbean and was on her way back to her home port of Amsterdam. But as she sailed up the English Channel, she was wrecked off the Dorset coast and entered local folklore.

The precise location of the Hope was unidentified for many years and today she still attracts treasure hunters hoping to get rich.

Trevor Lee was one such hopeful diving in the general area of the wreck when he spotted a small part of the tusk poking out of the sand.

From Telegraph

The Frau Maria was commissioned by Catherine the Great to transport precious porcelain, gold, silver, bronze and 27 paintings by Dutch masters for her art collection, which became the basis for the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg.

But the ship was struck by a storm in October 1771 and sank 41 metres (135 feet) off the coast of what was then Sweden, Tarasov said.

Artem Tarasov, head of the Rescue of National Cultural and Historic Valuables fund, said the project would take two years.

"We would like to say that within two years all necessary measures will be taken and in 2010 we will be able to finally see what secrets this ship holds."

There is hope that the paintings have not been ruined, he said.

Catherine herself sent off several expeditions in vain efforts to raise the schooner, which may indicate that the paintings, whose total cost could be up to 100 million euros, were packed into leaden boxes sealed with wax and could yet be salvaged, Tarasov said.

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From the Sydney Morning Herald

Almost 300 family members of the crew of the ill-fated HMAS Sydney are heading for the wreck site for a commemoration service.

Services will be held across Australia on Wednesday to mark the 67th anniversary of its sinking.

HMAS Manoora sailed from Geraldton on Tuesday afternoon on an emotional 19-hour journey to Sydney's grave site, 207km north-west of Geraldton, off WA's midwest.

Accompanied by the guided missile frigate HMAS Sydney, the fourth ship to carry the name, more than 280 family members are to take part in an on-board service beginning about 9.30am on Wednesday.

It will be the first opportunity for families to commemorate the anniversary of the ship's sinking on November 19, 1941, while knowing where their loved ones rest.

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