HOT NEWS !

By Clair Horwood

Hanging out at an underwater café, some 20 feet under the Caribbean Sea, a cheeky little yellow and black fish nips my bottom. Welcome to Aruba or Bon Bini as the locals say!

I had always wanted to travel to the Caribbean - but as a fair-skinned redhead the prospect was challenging, and the idea of a week sitting in the shade just didn’t do it for me. I wanted to find somewhere to explore and have an adventure.

So, when the brochure described Aruba as an adventure playground with year-round sunshine, cooling trade winds, vibrant nightlife, and new direct flights from Gatwick thrown into the bargain, I could not resist a week away to this small and friendly island paradise.

Aruba, I later discovered, lies just off the coast of Venezuela, and is the 'A' in the ABC islands – its counterparts being Bonaire and Curacao. As a former colony of The Netherlands, Aruba still has a strong Dutch influence visible in the colourful colonial architecture in Oranjestad, the island’s capital.

Although the official language is Dutch, nearly everyone on the island speaks English, so no worries there, as well as the local tongue Papiamento.

This is a lilting mix of a number of other languages - including Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, English and French with a sprinkling of Arawak – and it’s utterly baffling.

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 From National Geographic News

This mortar and pestle, found in an underwater wreck thought to be Blackbeard's ship Queen Anne's Revenge, probably was used to crush medicine or spices, archaeologists said in March 2009. 

What appear to be ornate designs on the mortar are actually minerals that hardened on the objects, which were discovered off the coast of North Carolina. 

North Carolina state archaeologists have already used an electrolysis method to remove the mineral buildup from the pestle, hence its more uniform finish.

By Dan DeWitt

Dale Groth — minding his crab traps at Bayport Park and soaking in the gulfside atmosphere of sunshine, marsh grass, cabbage palms and wind-rippled water — was asked if he knew that this peaceful setting had hosted a series of naval clashes during the Civil War.

Groth, 76, a Bayport regular since 1997, gave a surprised look and shook his head no. "I'll be darned,'' he said.

It's true. At least five times between 1863 and 1865, Union ships confronted blockade-runners in or near Bayport.

Three of these cargo ships were burned, either by Union sailors who had captured them or Confederates who wanted to prevent their seizure.

In the most dramatic engagement, in April 1863, one Confederate soldier was killed and at least three were wounded.

That surpasses the single Confederate death and gunshot wound — probably inflicted by a band of fellow Southern sympathizers — during the much ballyhooed Brooksville Raid in 1864.

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By Mike Buckingham

It looks like gloop from the River Usk. But as Mike Buckingham finds out, where there's muck there's an historical treasure trove. Mud, mud, apparently inglorious mud stored in 50 building waste bags may contain historical gold relating to Newport's mediaeval ship.

"And just as the old prospectors panned for gold we are going to have to sift through this lot to get it to reveal its treasure" Charles Ferris who has led the campaign to save the ship says.

Mr Ferris who is also a Newport councillor stands in front of unpromising rows of plastic bags ranged three deep on metal shelving in the industrial unit where remnants of the 550-year-old vessel are stored.

"And that's the easy part" he with a faint smile eloquently conveying under-estimation.

"After that the coins, scraps of clothing and bits of leather, fishbones, nails and items of lost cargo will have to be analysed, photographed and stored.

"The gold waiting to be discovered is the most detailed insight we can hope for of life in Newport and on board the ship at a crucial stage in the history of the development of sailing vessels."

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By Mike Celizic

Courts will decide who owns $500 million haul found off coast of Portugal.

If he’s a pirate who’s made off with a half-billion-dollar booty haul, as Spain says he is, Greg Stemm didn’t look the part. Sporting a closely trimmed gray beard and wearing a sport coat with a black shirt and matching slacks, he never once said “Arrrr” or “matey.” He didn’t even have an eye patch or a parrot perched on his tweed-upholstered shoulder.

But what Stemm, the CEO of Odyssey Marine Exploration, does have in a warehouse somewhere in Florida is a haul of hundreds of thousands of coins — gold pieces of eight and silver coins — that the Spanish government says belongs to the people of Spain.

A U.S. District Court judge who has been hearing arguments in the case since last year is expected to rule soon on who is the rightful owner of what is reported to be the largest treasure ever recovered from the deep.

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From This Is Cornwal

Three deep-sea divers from Cornwall were today forced to plead guilty in Spain to crimes they did not commit to avoid potentially being jailed for six years, writes Jeff Reines.

Self-employed commercial divers Malcolm Cubin, from Truro, Peter Devlin, of Falmouth, and Steve Russ, of Helston, appeared at court in Santiago, Galicia, for about 20 minutes this morning, following last-minute negotiations with prosecutors.

They admitted damaging and stealing from a wreck and each received two six-month prison sentences, suspended for two years, and a £4,700 fine.

But they have always insisted they never touched the wreck of the Don Pedro, having been licensed by the Spanish government to recover tin from a sunken Dutch ship nearby, the Friesland.

During the salvage operation seven years ago, they were arrested and accused of plundering treasure from the Don Pedro.

The charges have hung over their heads ever since and they were due to face a full trial starting today, which could have resulted in prison sentences of up to six years and fines of £40,000.

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By Steve Szkotak

Nearly a century after the Titanic struck ice in the North Atlantic, a federal judge in Virginia is poised to preserve the largest collection of artifacts from the opulent oceanliner and protect the ship's resting place.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith, a maritime jurist who considers the wreck an "international treasure," is expected to rule within weeks that the salvaged items must remain together and accessible to the public. That would ensure the 5,900 pieces of china, ship fittings and personal belongings won't end up in a collector's hands or in a London auction house, where some Titanic artifacts have landed.

The judgment could also end the legal tussle that began when a team of deep-sea explorers found the world's most famous shipwreck in 1985.

The salvage company, RMS Titanic Inc., wants the court to grant it limited ownership of the artifacts.

At the same time, a cadre of government lawyers is helping Smith shape covenants to strictly monitor future activity at the Titanic wreck 2 1/2 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic. Amid evidence of the ship's deterioration, experts and government lawyers say the sanctity of the Titanic must be properly protected as a memorial to the 1,522 people who died when it went down.

"For the most part, the value of Titanic is its history — and not from some pile of gold, silver and jewels," said Ole Varmer, an attorney in the international law office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose office has developed guidelines for the Titanic.

From Viet Nam Net Bridge

Some local newspapers recently wrote about a painting on a ceramic plate made in Vietnam in the 15th century. That painting clumsily shows a couple who are making love and one standing watching them. But there are more than that.

Archaeologists discovered this plate in a shipwreck off Cu Lao Cham Island in the central province of Quang Nam. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Chien, who oversaw the operation, said that since this object was incomplete, archaeologists didn’t pay attention to it.

It was discovered when they classified objects a long time after that. Dr. Chien affirmed that plate is a Vietnamese antique dating back to the 15th century and said it might have been made to order.

Experts say that the artistic value of this painting is not much because the woman has a badly-proportioned body and the posture of the couple is not romantic at all.

It was surely not made to serve playboys nor does it bear the hallmark of a religion or belief. It looks like a lively scene painted by a ceramic artisan when he was greatly elated.