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Damien Grivois - La dépêche de Tahiti

C’est l’un des plus grands mystères de l’histoire maritime du XIXe siècle…

Le Madagascar, navire marchand britannique, disparaît totalement en août 1853 dans le Pacifique sud avec tout son équipage et ses passagers, soit en tout environ 160 personnes.

Ce trois-mâts construit en 1837 (série de sister-ships dite « frégate Blackwall ») emportait une riche cargaison, composée principalement de plusieurs tonnes d’or australien et d’une certaine quantité d’argent métal, lors de son voyage de retour entre Melbourne (Australie) et Londres (Angleterre) durant l’époque du « Gold Rush », la ruée vers l’or australienne commencée deux ans plus tôt.

Depuis cette date, hormis quelques rumeurs et hypothèses sans preuve pour tenter d’expliquer ce mystère, personne n’est jamais parvenu à fournir d’explication satisfaisante à cette disparition, ou à localiser l’emplacement où le navire et son précieux trésor avaient terminé leur existence.

« Jusqu’à ce que nous nous lancions nous-mêmes dans l’aventure, presque par hasard, et que nous fassions plusieurs découvertes capitales » expliquent Albert Mata et Michel Laflandre. Le premier, ancien de la Marine nationale puis journaliste, et le second, ex-haut fonctionnaire du Parlement, juriste et ancien enseignant, s’investissent depuis des années dans la recherche passionnante de ce trésor.

Ils se disent convaincus que des pirates auraient drossé volontairement le Madagascar sur le récif d’Anuanuraro, au sud des Tuamotu, et auraient caché à terre l’or et l’argent.

L’or transporté n’aurait aucun intérêt archéologique ou historique selon Albert Mata : c’était une cargaison d’or brut en poudre, paillettes ou pépites « comme il en a été transporté des dizaines depuis l’Amérique ou l’Australie durant les périodes de ruées sur l’or ».

Mais il représente une valeur considérable, estimée à plus de 150 millions d’euros, soit presque 18 milliards de francs.

By Geneva Sands - CNN

The United States returned several stolen artifacts to France on Wednesday, including five gold bars from a 1746 shipwreck after a decades-long investigation led US federal agents to seize the items from an online auction in California.

Seven artifacts were transferred from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations to French Ambassador to the US Philippe Étienne during a formal repatriation ceremony Wednesday at the French Embassy in Washington.

The United States returned several stolen artifacts to France on Wednesday, including five gold bars from a 1746 shipwreck after a decades-long investigation led US federal agents to seize the items from an online auction in California.

Seven artifacts were transferred from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations to French Ambassador to the US Philippe Étienne during a formal repatriation ceremony Wednesday at the French Embassy in Washington.

At the time, a group of divers discovered the wreck and applied for a French permit to excavate the site. But the excavators ultimately looted the wreck site, according to Keller.

The French government indicted several of the excavators in the early 1980s, and it's been "chasing down these artifacts and the ingots from the vessel ever since then," he said.

The bars made an appearance in a 1999 episode of "Antiques Roadshow," when a woman presented the ingots and pieces of Chinese porcelain, claiming they had been found off the coast of Africa, according to Keller.

But it wasn't until years later that the bars resurfaced and Homeland Security Investigations federal agents got involved in the case.

Full story...

By John Konrad - gCaptain

The United States Navy has recovered a state-of-the-art F-35C Lightning that fell into the South China Sea after a landing mishap in January.

The aircraft was pulled from a water depth of 12,400-feet by the commercial salvage vessel DSCV Picasso. The F-35C Lightning II, which Lockheed “the most lethal, survivable and connected fighter jet in the world” crashed while conducting routine flight operations from the carrier USS Carl Vinson in January.

The recovery of the F-35C follows a similar operation in which the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States mounted a salvage operation last year for a U.K. F-35B that crashed into the Mediterranean following take-off from the Royal Navy carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The wreckage was recovered from a depth of approximately 12,400-feet by a team civilian contractors and the US Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving aboard Ultra Deep Diving Solution’s diving support construction vessel (DSCV) Picasso.

The Picasso is a 396′ (120.8m) ship built in 2018 and sailing under the flag of Bahamas. The US Navy did not mention why it used a Singapore owned ship crewed with foreign nationals rather than a US Navy or US Flagged commercial ship like it did when the navy recovered the Vessel Data Recorder black box from the El Faro in 2016.

The use of a foreign vessel was likely due to the need to recover the plane quickly and the fact that the US Navy sold off the majority of it’s own salvage ships.

Currently the Navy’s Military sealift command only operates two safeguard class salvage ships – USNS Grasp and USNS Salvor – and only one Powhatan Class ocean tugs – USNS Apache, which are over 40 years old, are looking worse for wear and do not have the modern capabilities of a ship like the Picasso.

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From Daily Sabah

A shipwreck of Rhodes dating back to the third century A.D. was found in the depths of the Gulf of Fethiye within the scope of the study being carried out by the Turkish Shipwreck Inventory Project: Blue Heritage (TUBEP).

With the Turkish Shipwreck Inventory Project, which is supported by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, the underwater cultural heritage of the Fethiye coast has been mapped by researchers from Dokuz Eylül University (DEU) Marine Sciences and Technology Institute.

The latest works of the researchers, under the presidency of DEU Marine Sciences and Technology Institute Vice Director associate Dr. Harun Özdaş, revealed the shipwreck of Rhodes, which is discovered as three heaps on a 28-38 meter (92-125 feet) slope underwater.

The shipwreck mainly features amphorae (a type of container) used for the transportation of commercial products.

It was determined that the shipwreck was the "last Rhodes shipwreck" belonging to the Roman Period. The results of the research were published in the Turkish Journal of Archeology and Ethnography and announced to the scientific world.

Full story...

By Judith Sudilovsky - The Jerusalem Post

It has long been known that the Mediterranean Sea basin during the Late Bronze Age was a pretty busy place, characterized by complex relations amongst kingdoms and diplomatic connections outside of the region, making it a busy marine corridor for trade and gifts amongst the elite and from one ruler or king to another.

Research by Hebrew University professors on lead ingots and stone anchors which were found among shipwrecked cargo off the coast of Israel has now revealed previously unknown elaborate trade links among distant countries. The analysis of these ancient finds sheds light on commercial and diplomatic life in the areas from 3,200 years ago.

The analysis of these ancient finds sheds light on commercial and diplomatic life in the areas from 3,200 years ago.

Especially during the 13th and 14th centuries BCE there was a very elaborate trade system and formal levels of exchanges and gift-giving between the palatial centers all around the Mediterranean, from Babylon, Greece, Anatolia and other areas along the basin.

The terms and conditions of these exchanges were set out in ancient archives found in Ugarit, an ancient port city and economic center in what is today northern Syria.

“These spelled out how these interactions would go on,” said Hebrew University archaeology professor Naama Yahalom-Mack who collaborated with Professor Yigal Erel at HU’s Institute of Earth Sciences to determine the source of four lead ingots among a shipwreck’s cargo found near the port of Caesarea several decades ago.

“But what we know less of is the smaller traders who were taking advantage of this informal trade when there was a really high demand for raw material and prestigious objects. They had smaller boats and were not sent out by a formal king or kingdom.”

Full story...

By Taylor Heyman - The National News

Divers from Saudi Arabia's Heritage Authority have discovered a shipwreck in the Red Sea from the 18th century filled with hundreds of artefacts. The discovery was made 300 metres off the coast of Al Haql governorate, close to the border with Jordan.

Archaeologists believe it may have collided with coral reefs, leading to the ship breaking up and its contents being spread around. The pottery pieces, SPA reported, are from amphora manufactured in the Mediterranean basin.

Experts estimate there are more than 50 shipwrecks along the coast, which are slowly being discovered by teams sponsored by The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC). The company estimates this maritime heritage could bring seven million more visitors to the area, Arab News reported in November.

A multibillion-dollar project being built on more than 90 islands off the coast of Saudi Arabia features conservation efforts to attract wildlife, a new airport and luxury hotels. “The Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia is rich in history, positioned at the heart of global trading routes for centuries,” John Pagano, chief executive of TRSDC said last year.

“Partnering with the Heritage and Museums Commission allows us to both explore the historical significance of this unique region and ensure the preservation of our discoveries. TRSDC is committed to responsibly developing the extraordinary natural beauty and historical value of the Red Sea and we look forward to close collaboration to advance the kingdom’s heritage conservation efforts.”

The new shipwreck discovery comes hot on the heels of another Red Sea find in November 2021.

Full story...

From Cision PR Newswire

On September 3, 1857, the SS Central America began a voyage from Panama to New York carrying very important cargo: thousands of freshly minted gold coins from California, desperately needed by New York banks that were facing an economic crisis.

Six days later, the ship found itself in the grips of a Category 2 hurricane off the coast of the Carolinas.

After three days of struggling with high winds and waves, the ship's crew lost its battle with the storm and the Central America sank, resulting in the loss of more than 400 lives and more than 9 tons of gold.

For more than 130 years, treasure hunters dreamed of discovering the wreck of the SS Central America, which quickly became known as the "Ship of Gold." When the wreck was finally discovered in the late 1980s, the process of retrieving its treasure began.

Numismatic Guaranty Company™ (NGC®) is thrilled to reveal to the public the final mystery of the ship's recovered cargo — a box containing $20 gold coins from the height of the California Gold Rush, now certified, preserved and ready to be studied and appreciated by collectors around the world.

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From Karen Graham - Digital journal

A century after Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance sank in the waters of Antarctica, resulting in one of the greatest survival stories in the history of exploration, a team of modern adventurers, technicians and scientists are setting sail to find the wreck.

As part of the polar explorer’s Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition between 1914 and 1917, Shackleton was expecting to make the first land crossing of Antarctica. The plan was for Shackleton and a small party to journey across the vast Antarctic ice sheet to the South Pole, as Roald Amundsen had done in 1911, but then keep going, to the Ross Sea on the other side of the continent.

However, when Shackleton left the whaling station at Grytviken on South Georgia Island on December 5, 1914, in his bid to cross Antarctica, little did he know that a year-and-a-half later, the next bit of land he touched (other than remote Elephant Island) would be that very same South Georgia Island he had left from.

Shackleton never set foot on the Antarctic continent. but the story of what happened in between constitutes one of the most stupendous polar survival sagas of all time. As the BBC describes the story, “It’s the stuff of legend. That’s the appeal.”

Full story...