HOT NEWS !

From Plymouth Herald

Nearly 100 years ago the Plymouth Breakwater was the scene of a catastrophic shipwreck as a vessel attempted to escape the rough seas by sailing into Plymouth.

On August 8, 1920 the four-masted barquentine Yvonne smashed into the rocks and the ship's crew were forced to scramble to safety on the breakwater's surface. Hours later the Plymouth lifeboat and the tug Rover arrived just in time to pull the sailors from the water – as waves 10metres high were breaking over the Yvonne.

This terrifying scene has been captured by local artist Tim Thompson, commissioned by Plymouth man David Rendle. David, aged 79, remembers playing on the breakwater as a child and wanted something to remember his precious memories by.

He said: "I was looking down at the breakwater with my grandchildren, and my youngest granddaughter said to me 'Grandad, what's that post on the end with the ball on top ?' "I said 'That's the Plymouth Beacon.

When I was perhaps just a year or two older than you I used to go out there, and one day I plucked up the courage to climb the steps of it'.

"David, who lives in Peverell, explained how the beacon on the eastern end of the breakwater was designed as a refuge for up to six shipwrecked sailors. It is most likely the crew of the Yvonne tried to make their way towards the Beacon, and even attempted to climb it.

He said: "It's all very well to talk about it, but I wanted to have this painting done as I knew it would make a lovely subject. It really is a terrific picture."

By Erick Trickey - Boston Daily

Federal prosecutors have “ample evidence” that Maine treasure hunter Greg Brooks schemed to defraud investors of at least $8 million in a salvage operation off Cape Cod, a federal appeals court declared today as it ordered further evidence turned over to a grand jury.

The opinion from the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston includes the most detailed account yet of the federal investigation of Brooks and his former researcher, Ed Michaud of Framingham, Mass.—a tale told in “Hook, Line, and Sinker,” in our September issue.

Brooks’ company, Sea Hunters, raised millions from investors to salvage what he claimed was $3 billion worth of platinum from the S.S. Port Nicholson, sunk by a Nazi U-boat in 1942.

No criminal charges have been filed, but the opinion makes clear that Brooks is the target of an ongoing grand jury investigation.

Here are some key details from the court’s 26-page opinion (below):

• The feds think the Brooks and Michaud kicked off their alleged fraud in 2006, when Brooks paid Michaud to buy a copy of the reference book Lloyd’s War Losses. The book says the Port Nicholson sank with a cargo of automobile parts and military stores. Michaud, who is now a government witness, claimed that when he showed Brooks the info, Brooks commented that Michaud “needed to show more to get investors on board.”

• In 2008, Michaud admits, he altered an image from Lloyd’s War Losses, adding a line that said the Port Nicholson was also carrying 1,707,000 troy ounces of platinum. Michaud also “admitted to heavily redacting the remainder of the document and adding a forged ‘declassification’ stamp to conceal its origin,” the court’s opinion says. The altered document was later filed in court and given to some investors in Brooks’ company. (Brooks also showed it to CBS News in 2012.)

• Federal agents are looking into whether six pieces of metal that Brooks’ company presented to a federal court really came from the Port Nicholson. Salvagers need to present a piece of a vessel in court to make a salvage claim under admiralty law. Agents have interviewed two crew members who said that no material was recovered from the Port Nicholson during trips they took part in.

Full story...

Photo Dmitry Gorn
 

By Olga Gertcyk - The Siberian Times

Siberian scientists make discovery of 2,500 year old Saka settlement in up to 23 metres of water in Kyrgyzstan.

The new find at the lake is separate from the discovery in 2007 of the ruins of an ancient metropolis of roughly the same age and Scythian burial mounds under its waters.

Divers from Tomsk State University say they have located another 'previously unknown' outpost of the ancient world, along with 200 artifacts from this long-lost culture. Our exclusive pictures show these finds.

A piece of a large ceramic pot found in the lake has a stamp on it written in Armenian and Syrian scripts, which, if confirmed, gives credence to the theory that an Armenian monastery was on this site in Medieval times, it is claimed.

An intriguing version is that this remote lake was the last resting place of evangelist St Matthew, one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, and the find may support a theory that an Armenian monastery once existed here at which his relics were supposedly buried.

Dmitry Gorn, director of Tomsk scuba diving 'Club SKAT TSU', who led the diving team, said the inscribed pot fragment was 'truly unique'.

'Experts are now working on the identification of the writings on the stamps, but it's supposed to be Armenian-Syrian script,' he said.

'If that proves to be correct, it will be further evidence that there was an Armenian monastery on Issyk-Kul in 14th century where, according to the legends, relics of Matthew were stored.'

Full story...

By Jeff Karoub - CTV News

Marine archaeologists are diving deep into Lake Huron's past by creating 3-D images of the many shipwrecks resting far below the surface, giving researchers and the public a far more detailed look at these hidden historical treasures than traditional photos or video can provide.

The researchers have begun mapping shipwrecks in the only freshwater national sanctuary with imaging technology that's getting its first full-fledged, deep-water workout by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages the 4,300 square-mile Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary with the state of Michigan.

They are rapidly creating accurate 3-D images of the sunken vessels by feeding a series of photos into a software program.

Researchers have been photographing and shooting video of the wrecks for years, but until now lacked the ability to quickly, accurately and cheaply create more illuminating 3-D images, particularly with the limited budget and time they have on dives of at least 130 feet.

The new images are a great benefit, allowing them to assess and monitor the wrecks with a precision that can detect even minute changes over time. 

"This is the first project we've really rolled it out on," said Joe Hoyt, the diver in charge of the imaging technique known as photogrammetry.

"The cool thing about this is it's photo-realistic but it's also perfect 3-D, so you're seeing all sides of it. And it's perfectly scaled.

It's a really amazing, accurate tool for measuring and monitoring, and the biggest benefit is the time it takes to develop is very, very small."

Hoyt and team members recently spent several days aboard the Storm, a Great Lakes-based environmental research vessel, as part of an excursion to eight deep-water dive sites in the sanctuary's expanded territory that extends to the maritime border with Canada.

Full story...

By WBGraeme - West Briton


An archaeological dig will try to find the mass grave of more than 200 people who drowned in a disastrous shipwreck off The Lizard.

The National Trust has teamed up with experts from Bournemouth University, Maritime Archaeological Sea Trust (MAST) and The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Maritime Archaeology Society to survey Pistil meadow.

In November of 1721, 207 sailors lost their lives in a ferocious storm when their military transport galley, the Royal Anne, hit rocks and sank off Lizard Point.

Three people survived by clinging to wreckage. Among the dead was Lord Belhaven, who was leaving Britain to take up his newly-appointed posting as governor of Barbados in mysterious circumstances after the untimely death of his wife.

The Royal Anne was designed by the Marquis of Carmarthen and launched in 1709 as a small and speedy warship, designed to be powered by oar or sail so as not to be outmanoeuvred by pirates.

Her military postings had included protecting Russian trade off Norway, combating notorious Morocco-based pirates the Rovers of Sallee, and cruising Scottish waters during the Jacobite rebellion.

The wreck was found close inshore in the 1970s by divers who first located two guns, but its identity was only clinched in the 1990s by the discovery of silver cutlery with the Belhaven family crest.

The wreck site was protected in 1993 although the rocks and huge Atlantic swells meant only a scattering of objects survived. Other finds have included coins, watch parts, copper bowls and cannon shot.

It is believed the crew were buried, as was customary at the time, in un-consecrated ground.
 

Full article...

By Robert Kellaway - Sunday Express

Vincent Woolsgrove reported finding five 17th-century cannons during the summer of 2007 but said just two came from the wreck of the warship London, which sank off Southend in Essex in 1665.

The other three, he claimed, he had found in international waters off the coast of Kent. The 48-year-old was awarded the title of the three Dutch cannons because the Maritime and Coastguard Agency was unable to prove they were property of the Crown.

Woolsgrove then sold them to a US collector for more than £50,000. But a two-year investigation by the MCA established that the cannons were issued to Dutch ships in the 1650s and captured by the English in battle.

The MCA, together with Kent and Essex Police and Historic England (formerly English Heritage) found that the three Dutch cannons had been issued to the Dutch vessels Groote Liefde and St Mattheus.

They attacked the English fleet during the first Anglo-Dutch War in 1653 but the vessels were captured by the English and the cannons taken as prizes.

Full story...

By Eric Russell - Portland Press Herald

The principal researcher for failed treasure hunter Greg Brooks of Gorham conceded to a federal investigator that the two carried out a “scheme to defraud investors” who were bankrolling the salvage of a shipwreck off Cape Cod.

Edward Michaud of Framingham, Massachusetts, said Brooks “pressured him to alter documents based on pressure that Sea Hunters (Brooks’ salvage company) was facing with potential investors who were interested in the Port Nicholson.”

Those revelations were contained in an affidavit unsealed Thursday that was filed in U.S. District Court in December seeking a warrant to search Brooks’ home and business on Gray Road in Gorham.

Although Brooks has not been charged with a crime, the investigator, William Johnston of the National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Inspector General, wrote that probable cause exists that Brooks and his company “committed a criminal offense,” specifically wire fraud, false statements and forgery of ship’s papers.

The search of Brooks’ property, including documents and computers, has already happened. Any charges against Brooks would come in the form of a criminal complaint or grand jury indictment.

He also could settle before charges are filed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined Thursday to comment on the case.

Full story...

From the Korea Joongang Daily

Korea has found a sunken ship from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) for the first time.

Although Joseon was the country’s most recent kingdom, and the sea has always been an important transportation route for the country, Korea has never found a shipwreck from the entire span of the dynasty.

Koreans have discovered 12 ancient sunken ships so far, 11 from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) and one from the Unified Silla Period (676-935).

Researchers from the National Research Institute of Maritime Cultural Heritage said Wednesday that a ship they found in waters off Mado Island in South Chungcheong last year was indeed from the Joseon era.

The key to dating the ship came from 140 pieces of Buncheong ceramics found on the ship during underwater excavation.

Buncheong ware was produced during the first 200 years of the Joseon Dynasty and embodies the transition from Goryeo celadon to Joseon porcelain.

Based on the 140 pieces of Buncheong ceramics, researchers are certain that the ship sank between 1400 and the 1420s. Some of the ceramics are engraved with the abbreviation “Naeseom,” which refers to Naeseomsi, a government organization that oversaw items used within the royal court.

According to Park Kyung-ja, an expert in ceramics, Naeseomsi was likely set up in 1403. The government mandated that items being shipped to the royal court be engraved with the mark of the royal organization in 1407.

“The techniques and patterns of the ceramics,” Park said, “also match those of the ceramics made between the late Goryeo period and the 1420s.”

Full story...