Not this one: Warship excavation planned near Upper Marlboro
Southern Prince George’s officials and historians hope a nearly unprecedented archaeological dig in the Patuxent River near Upper Marlboro will advance historic tourism during the state’s War of 1812 bicentennial commemorations.
Archaeologists with the State Highway Administration, the Maryland Historical Trust and the Navy are working on plans to excavate a shipwreck they believe to be the U.S.S. Scorpion, a scuttled warship from the War of 1812, starting next spring as part of the state’s efforts to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the war.
Titanic’s 100th, the War of 1812’s 200th, the first Bond movie. . . . .
Smuggled Cargo Found on Ancient Roman Ship
Evidence of ancient smuggling activity has emerged from a Roman shipwreck, according to Italian archaeologists who have investigated the vessel’s cargo.
Dating to the third century AD, the large sunken ship was fully recovered six months ago at a depth of 7 feet near the shore of Marausa Lido, a beach resort near Trapani.
Her cargo, officially consisting of assorted jars once filled with walnuts, figs, olives, wine, oil and fish sauce, also contained many unusual tubular tiles.
Actually, I’m not sure how they know these were smuggled items as the article doesn’t say how they know what was supposed to be the cargo, but it sounds like these are items that were typically smuggled.
A step towards solving a maritime mystery
Students from Flinders University believe they have discovered the exact location of a Scottish sailing ship which sank in waters off Kangaroo Island more than 100 years ago.
A group of four archaeology students searched the sea and land on Kangaroo Island’s west coast earlier this month in a bid to find the historic Loch Sloy and the burial sites of 11 bodies recovered from the sea when the barque, en-route from Glasgow to Port Adelaide, sank on April 24, 1899.
Records show 30 people, including the captain, six passengers and most crewmen, died when the ship ran into rocky waters while heading towards the Cape Borda lighthouse.
Artifacts recoveries on shipwreck just in time to mark anniversary of sinking
There are hundreds of shipwrecks along North Carolina’s treacherous coast, and some, like those of the ironclad USS Monitor or the Blackbeard flagship Queen Anne’s Revenge, are nothing short of famous.
But that of the hapless Civil War blockade runner Modern Greece, which sits just beyond the surf near Fort Fisher, is in many ways the most important of all.
The wreck, which was excavated 50 years ago, led to the creation of the state underwater archaeology unit that studies the other wrecks. It led to a state law to protect historic wreck sites from pilfering. It yielded such a large trove of artifacts that many have been used in experiments that advanced the tricky science of how to preserve historical treasures found underwater.
Hampshire archaeologists discover Stone Age boatyard
An 8,000-year-old “High Street” has been discovered in the Solent by Hampshire archaeologists.
The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology has been working on the underwater section near Bouldnor since 1999.
Video at the link, much more than in the article.
UPDATE: More here
Archaeologist discovers two sunken World War fighters containing bullion worth £162MILLION
A marine archaeologist told today how his sea exploration company discovered two World War fighters containing silver bullion worth £162million.
Scotsman Neil Cunningham-Dobson, 55, was at the controls of the Remotely Operated Vehicle as the World War II cargo ship SS Gairsoppa and the World War I steamer SS Mantola were discovered in the North Atlantic last year.
Both of the vessels – found 100 miles apart – were sunk by German U-Boats.
Also see this
Underwater archaeology: Hunt for the ancient mariner
A Bronze Age wreck called Ulu Burun shows how the remains of a single ship can transform archaeologists’ understanding of an era. Discovered in 1982, it lies about 9 kilometres southeast of Kaş in southern Turkey, and dates from around 1300 BC, a century or two after the Minoans disappeared.
Christos Agourides, secretary-general of the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology in Athens, describes it as “the dream of every marine archaeologist”. It took ten years to excavate, and researchers are still studying the nearly 17 tonnes of treasures recovered. The vast cargo includes ebony, ivory, ostrich eggs, resin, spices, weapons, jewellery and textiles as well as ingots of copper, tin and glass.
But what really stunned archaeologists was that the artefacts on this one vessel came from at least 11 different cultures1 — from a gold scarab bearing the name of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti to copper from Cyprus and tin from central Asia.
I didn’t know that no Minoan ships had ever been discovered. Me, I’m still waiting for the rush of perfectly preserved Black Sea wrecks to come to light.
Lost Submarine HMS Olympus discovered outside Malta
A marine archaeology survey team from the AURORA Trust Foundation, working in cooperation with Malta’s Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, has discovered the sunken British submarine HMS Olympus (N35) off the coast of Malta.
AURORA’s Director of Marine Archeology, Dr. Timmy Gambin led the survey team in this spectacular discovery.
The Olympus struck a mine on May 8, 1942 while leaving the British naval base in the Grand Harbor of Malta, and its location has remained a mystery for almost 70 years until its discovery by AURORA.
Been having some discussion elsewhere about the significance of the Hunley. Couple of people have argued that it wasn’t all that significant because it wasn’t “successful” in that it didn’t bring the crew back — which is silly, IMO, you’d have to throw out all sorts of missions that accomplished their objective but the personnel didn’t make it — and that it didn’t lead directly to submarines being used immediately. I argue that it was an amazing feat given the time and technology — the next successful submarine attack wasn’t for another 50 years — and it would have been used had the technology existed to make submarines practical.
Been following this ever since its discovery: Complete Civil War submarine unveiled for first time
Confederate Civil War vessel H.L. Hunley, the world’s first successful combat submarine, was unveiled in full and unobstructed for the first time on Thursday, capping a decade of careful preservation.
“No one alive has ever seen the Hunley complete. We’re going to see it today,” engineer John King said as a crane at a Charleston conservation laboratory slowly lifted a massive steel truss covering the top of the submarine.
Very good news. Link to some more photos there too, and they are spectacular. Seems to be more work to do getting rid of growth on the hull, but still. . . .wow, says I.
Union warship’s profile rising after 146 years
One hundred forty-six years ago today, a violent storm lashed the Tampa Bay area, imperiling two U.S. Navy warships — tugboats with cannons — that had seen Civil War action in the Gulf of Mexico and were headed for peacetime duty after the war ended.
One survived the storm. The other, the USS Narcissus, which had participated in the Battle of Mobile Bay, been sunk and refloated, did not. It ran aground on a shoal northwest of Egmont Key and sank in 15 feet of water after its boiler exploded. No one survived.
A plan to designate the wreck site an archaeological preserve is nearing the end of a six-year process. The preserve will be marked, and divers will be allowed to view the wreckage. Visible are the steam engine, propeller shaft and propeller, the scattered remnants of the wood-hulled tugboat and the exploded boiler.
No recovery, just making it into a preserve so it can be viewed by divers.
