HOT NEWS !

By John Tagliabue

After the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, the demise of the French aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry on a reconnaissance mission in World War II has ranked as one of flying's great mysteries.

Now, thanks to some sleuthing by a French diver and marine archaeologist, the final pieces of the puzzle seem to have been filled in.

The story that emerged about the disappearance of Saint-Exupéry, in self-exile from Vichy France, proved to contain several narratives, a complexity that would probably have pleased the author of several adventure books on flying and the famous tale "The Little Prince," about a little interstellar traveler, which was also a profound statement of faith.

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By Marc Caputo

A Miami legislator asks how many millions the state could earn by selling shipwreck treasure to fill holes in the state budget.

As legislators scramble for cash in the worst budget crisis they've ever faced, tens of millions of dollars in treasure lies just within their reach outside the Capitol. This is real treasure - The kind hauled up from sunken Spanish ships.

The state has one of the world's largest publicly owned collections of colonial Spanish doubloons and reales, as well as a few gold and silver ingots and chains.

Much of it lies safe and hidden in a vault, known only to a few, and occasionally loaned out to museums around the country.

But now Rep. Juan Zapata of Miami wants to crack it open and sell a little treasure to help fill some holes in the proposed $66 billion budget, which is more than $4 billion smaller than this year's spending plan.

And the Republican is accusing the Florida secretary of state's office of throwing him off the scent and hiding the booty.

By Eric Gaertner

Not far from the Hackley and Hume historic sites and the Muskegon County Museum downtown are structures waiting to provide visitors a look at a different time in our history.

Yet few people realize the existence of these structures, some more than 100 years old and hundreds of feet long, unseen by the naked eye.

They are shipwrecks that reside at the bottom of Lake Michigan off the West Michigan coastline -- underwater historical exhibits telling tales of tragedy, history and, in some cases, survival.

These local wrecks from Grand Haven to Pentwater cover a wide range of sizes, shapes and shipping eras.

They are found in various depths, from just off the shoreline in 15 feet of water to hundreds of feet below the surface where only the most advanced divers are able to descend.

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By Randi Somers

Less than six months after surfacing from the 140-year-old wreckage of the Torrent, diver and shipwreck hunter Steve Lloyd was ready to head back under the icy cold waters of Dangerous Cape to bring up a fairly significant artifact from the 641-ton U.S. Army ship.

State and federal archaeologists, along with a shipwreck consultant, have joined Lloyd's shipwreck discovery team to attempt to raise the ship's bronze howitzer cannon to the water's surface.

If they succeed, the team will bring the big gun into Homer Harbor for transport up the road to Anchorage.

Three archeologists will monitor and verify the removal of artifacts from the site.

They include: Dave McMahan, State Archeologist with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources Office of History and Archeology; Tane Casserly, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and Jason Rogers, a consultant with a private firm of underwater archeologists in Anchorage.

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.