HOT NEWS !

By Mike Clary


The treasure is out there: a fortune in shipwrecked silver, gold bullion and centuries-old artifacts, in the crystalline waters of the Caribbean, just waiting to be found.

And Burt Webber Jr. is confident he'll find it.

"It's not just about getting rich," said Webber, referring to at least $100 million in riches that went to the bottom after the Spanish galleon Concepción foundered on the Silver Bank, about 80 miles north of the Dominican Republic, in 1641.

"It is also history, the mystique of it all. It is just fascinating."

Now 65, Webber won renown as a treasure hunter in 1978 when he first located the Concepción and recovered booty then valued at $14 million.

But more remains, and when Webber and his 13-member crew head down the Miami River aboard the Ocean Lady next week, they will take with them an unprecedented array of high-tech hunting gear.

From Iranian

As evidenced by archeological documents, the ancient city of Kish, the wall of the ancient city of Gorgan, Takht-e Suleiman and part of the Portuguese Castle are submerged in Iran's coastal waters.

Although Iran's underwater archeological activities are over half a century old, this topic is yet to be treated in a suitable manner. Two centuries have passed and archeology has yet to achieve its rightful position in Iran.

This science needs full revision, as Iran has special importance in human civilization and its role in establishing other cultures inspired by its civilization is undisputed.

For this reason, Iran Cultural Heritage Organization (ICHO) is not able to take charge of many historical grounds.

Dissemination of information is so poor that many in our society still consider archaeologists as treasure hunters !

On the other hand, Iranian archaeologists are deprived of the most elementary facilities, with credits being allocated to field activities being grossly disproportionate with the vast expanse of historical sites, cited 'Iran International Magazine'.

From 24 Hour Museum


The remarkable find was made by a Dutch amateur archaeologist, Jan Meulmeester, who sifted through gravel unearthed from a licensed marine aggregate dredging area 13km off Great Yarmouth and delivered to a wharf in southern Holland.

Reckoned to be the finest hand-axes that experts are certain come from English waters, the rare finds show that deep in the Ice Age, mammoth hunters roamed across land that is now submerged beneath the sea.

“These finds are massively important,” said Ice Age expert Phil Harding of Wessex Archaeology and Channel 4’s Time Team.

“In the Ice Age the cold conditions meant that water was locked up in the ice caps. The sea level was lower then, so in some places what is now the seabed was dry land.”

Bones and teeth, some of which may be from mammoths, and fragments of deer antler were also recovered along with the axes, which archaeologists believe would have been used by hunters in butchering the carcasses of the animals.

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From Eitb 24

The 180 tons ship was used to commercialize with the Americas.

It might have belonged to Saint Medel and Celedon, sank in 1544. According to the Spanish 20minutos web edition, Spanish Civil Guard in Huelva (Spain) sealed off a few meters of El Portil beach in order to protect a discovery.

If the information is confirmed, it could be one of the last few years’ most important discoveries.

The remains might have belonged to a galleon of the beginning of XVI century.

The expert underwater archaeologist Claudio Lozano Guerrero-Librero, has been studying them for a few days.

Claudio Lozano considers that the ship could have belonged to Saint Medel and Celedon, two very popular saints in the Basque Country, an habitual carrack construction place.

He also thinks that it could have sunk in 1544. According to his documents, the 180 tons ship was constructed at the beginning of XVI century, and it was used to commercialize in the Americas.

The shipmaster was Juanes de Lubelza and left New Spain and set a course for the Peninsula but a storm did not allow him to reach the coast. Around 20 men shipwrecked.

The remains of the carrack/galleon found correspond to the ship’s bottom and are made from oak wood. It was the owner of a beach bar in the area of Matagrana who found out the remains after a storm.

By Paul Easton


A maritime entrepreneur - and 50 friends - is steaming for the Auckland Islands for a fourth attempt to find gold from a ship that sank 142 years ago.

The General Grant foundered on the remote sub-Antarctic islands on May 14 1866, along with its cargo of gold.

The group left Bluff on Friday, led by Bill Day, of Wellington, who has tried to find the wreck of the General Grant three times.

Over 20 other salvage attempts have been made since 1866.

Mr Day said the trip was as much about showing friends and family the beauty of the islands and sub-Antarctic region as finding gold. "It's such a majestic place.

Having said that, there are definitely a couple of sites I want to check out."

The General Grant had 2576 ounces (73kg) of gold on its manifest, worth around $2.4 million today.

From DNI


The 18th century sailing ship Frau Maria (Vrouw Maria) that was carrying the Hermitage treasures onboard when it sank in the Baltic Sea near the shore of Finland is going to be lifted.

The salvage works will be jointly carried out by the Russian and Finnish parties.

This schooner was transporting treasures ordered by Catherine II the Great for the Hermitage says Anatoli Vilkov, Head of Rossvyazokhrankultura, the Russian media and culture supervision agency.

According to him, jewelry and China collections might have remained intact on board the ship. Previously divers discovered that the cargo had not been damaged during the shipwreck, yet they managed to lift only six items.

The precious cargo intended for the Russian imperial court never reached the shore of the Northern capital. The schooner started off from the seaport in October 1771 yet was caught in a heavy storm and wrecked nearby Aland Islands.

By Jasper Copping

The final resting place of three German U-boats, nicknamed "Hitler's lost fleet", has been found at the bottom of the Black Sea.

The submarines had been carried 2,000 miles overland from Germany to attack Russian shipping during the Second World War, but were scuttled as the war neared its end.

Now, more than 60 years on, explorers have located the flotilla of three submarines off the coast of Turkey.

The vessels, including one once commanded by Germany's most successful U-boat ace, formed part of the 30th Flotilla of six submarines, taken by road and river across Nazi-occupied Europe, from Germany's Baltic port at Kiel to Constanta, the Romanian Black Sea port.

In two years, the fleet sank dozens of ships and lost three of their number to enemy action.

But in August 1944, Romania switched sides and declared war on Germany, leaving the three remaining vessels stranded. With no base and unable to sail home - the Bosporus and Dardanelles were closed to them because of Turkish neutrality - their captains were ordered to scuttle the boats before rowing ashore and trying to make their way back to Germany.

However, all three crews were caught and interned by the Turks.

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From PR-Inside

Marine archaeologists will begin work in June to uncover the sand-buried hull of a 2,300 year-old cargo ship thought to have been ferrying wine from the Aegean island of Chios before it sank off Cyprus' southern coast, researchers said Thursday.

The vessel, dating from the late Classical period (mid-fourth century B.C.) is one of only a few such ships to have been found so well-preserved, said University of Cyprus visiting marine archaeologist Stella Demesticha.

«The shipwreck looks very promising about shedding light on the nautical and economic history of the period in the east Mediterranean» The wreck rests on the seabed at a depth of 44 meters (144 feet) some 2½ kilometers (1½ miles) off the island's southern coast.

Demesticha said the wreck was also unique because it lies at a depth that divers can easily reach, unlike similar discoveries found in deeper waters.

Unreleased underwater photographs that researchers took of the vessel on initial surveying dives in November show a jumble of dozens of amphorae - clay urns used in antiquity to carry liquids and solid foodstuffs - lying on the seabed in the shape of the ship.

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