HOT NEWS !

By Brian Baxter

An American salvage company revealed on Monday that it had discovered the remains of a famous British warship at the bottom of the English Channel, more than 50 miles from where it was thought to have foundered during a violent storm in 1744.

The BBC reports that the HMS Victory sank with more than 1,100 seamen aboard, including Admiral Sir John Balchen, just off the Channel Islands.

Numerous previous attempts by salvagers to locate the vessel have proven unsuccessful.The cargo aboard the Victory--thought to include 110 bronze cannons and some 100,000 gold coins--could be worth more than $1 billion.

It's the latest high-profile shipwreck uncovered by Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration, which has made a business of profiting from undersea salvage operations of wrecks loaded with precious cargo.

But the litigation arising from those discoveries has salvagers of sunken artifacts and maritime archeologists trading enough accusations to make Blackbeard blush.

The American Lawyer has previously reported on litigation between Odyssey and the Spanish government over the company's attempts to recover riches from centuries-old Spanish galleons.

(Spanish authorities even seized an Odyssey salvage ship operating out of Gibraltar as part of an investigation into whether the company was in violation of Spanish heritage laws.)

More to read...

By Cahal Milmo and Jerome Taylor

A marine exploration company has found HMS Victory's remains. But not everyone is pleased.

At 3.30pm on 4 October 1744, the Royal Navy flotilla accompanying HMS Victory caught what was to be their last glimpse of their flagship as it drifted over the horizon in stormy seas off the Channel Islands.

Laden with four tons of Portuguese gold, the pride of the British navy – and direct predecessor to Admiral Nelson's vessel of the same name – sank with all 1,150 of its crew.

Only the shattered remains of its top-mast were found on a Guernsey beach as evidence of its terrible fate.

But yesterday the ability of that majestic and – for its time – technically advanced man-of-war to evoke dreams of vast riches was revived when an American treasure-hunting company announced that it had found the Victory and is planning to salvage its precious cargo from the depths of the English Channel.

Archaeologists accuse the Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration of combining hi-tech surveying methods with commercial ambition. They have also attacked the Ministry of Defence for "indulging in hypocrisy", after it emerged that the ministry is in negotiations with Odyssey to share the proceeds.

If all the bullion being carried by the Victory is recovered, it is estimated that it could be worth as much as £700m.

To its supporters, Odyssey is a reputable, publicly listed company that follows strict archaeological guidelines in a legitimate search for sunken vessels around the globe.

But its detractors, ranging from leading archaeological bodies to the Spanish government, claim the treasure hunters hide behind a veneer of scientific probity as they harness technology to profit from the world's sunken heritage.

More to read...

By Claire Smith

An 18th-century warship laden with gold worth an estimated £700 million has been found at the bottom of the English Channel. Marine explorers have discovered the wreck of HMS Victory, the predecessor to Nelson's ship of the same name.

Talks are taking place between the Ministry of Defence and the US company that discovered the ship, over the fate of the gold bullion, the 110 bronze cannons and treasure looted from foreign ships believed to be on board.

Dr Sean Kingsley, a marine archeologist from Odyssey Marine Exploration, which specialises in underwater exploration said: "I think this is the shipwreck of the century. It is more important than the Marie Rose or the Titanic.

"When it was built it was the biggest ship in the world – something people never believed could possibly go down."

The HMS Victory was lost in a ferocious gale in the Channel in 1744. When it sank the ship was carrying four tons of gold coins, a cargo for Dutch merchants from Lisbon.

More to read...

From PR Newswire

Odyssey Marine Exploration (O.M.E) announced today that it has found the HMS Victory, believed to be one of Britain's greatest historic shipwrecks and potentially an estimated value of one billion dollars for four tons of gold.

Featured in the fourth episode of Discovery Channel's world premiere original series TREASURE QUEST, to air in the U.S. on Thursday, February 5 at 10PM EST/PST, viewers will witness first-hand how each artifact and piece of evidence leads OME to this resounding conclusion.

In the UK, viewers can tune in to a two-part special TREASURE QUEST: Victory Special beginning Sunday, February 8 at 9PM GMT.

"Discovery has a nearly 25-year history of documenting exploration as it unfolds and our series TREASURE QUEST is the latest example of being at the forefront of the action," said John Ford, President and General Manager of Discovery Channel.

"This ongoing series provides viewers with the perfect blend of adventure, knowledge and edge of your seat excitement. Being able to follow OME as they search the ocean floor for shipwrecks is a thrill ride each week."

As reported by Odyssey Marine Exploration, they discovered and solved in 2008 one of the world's most enduring naval mysteries.

In 1744, HMS Victory, the direct predecessor to Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, was the largest and most sophisticated warship in the world.

This first-rate, three-decked man-of-war is the only ship lost with a complete consignment of 110 bronze cannon, including colossal 42-pounders, the biggest guns in the world and the ultimate naval deterrent.

More to read...

By John Wilkens

It's one of the most famous ships in history, whose name is memorized by generations of schoolchildren learning about Christopher Columbus, the ocean blue and 1492.

The Niña. In the mind's eye, it's a majestic vessel, larger than life, not so much slicing through the water as conquering it.

But those who visit a full-size replica of the ship when it docks in San Diego this week for a 13-day stay will learn the truth: The Niña was a runt.

“People are usually surprised by how small she is,” crewman Vic Bickel said. “The first time I saw the ship, I thought it must be a three-quarter-scale model. But it's not.”

The replica, built by hand with Old World tools and techniques in the late 1980s, is not quite 94 feet long – about one-third the length of San Diego's resident maritime marvel, the Star of India.

Like the Star, the Niña is a floating museum, but it rarely stays in one place for long. It has visited hundreds of coastal and inland river ports in the Western Hemisphere in the past 17 years – sometimes drawing protests from people who link Columbus to oppression and genocide. This is the third time it has been to San Diego.

More to read...

By Danny Buckland

It's enough to make Captain Jack ­Sparrow salivate – a £3billion haul of gold and silver lying at the bottom of the ­ocean since a British ship sank in 1694.

Gordon Brown has his eyes on £1billion of the haul after the Ministry of Defence struck a controversial deal with US treasure-hunters to split the takings if the wreck is found in the Straits of Gibraltar.

This is where The Sussex, an 80-gun flagship, was sunk by a three-day storm as it carried the bullion – then worth £1million – to the Duke of Savoy to seal his backing in the War of the Grand Alliance against French king Louis XIV.

It was leading a fleet of ships when it hit a violent three-day storm.

More to read...

By Vanessa Thorpe

The wreck of one of the most famous ships in British naval history has been discovered by a controversial US marine salvage company - a find that will fuel a major row about the UK's heritage.

HMS Victory, a warship known as "the finest ship in the world", went down with all hands in 1744 off the Channel Islands and its exact location has remained a mystery for more than 250 years.

But now Odyssey Marine Exploration claims it has proof of the whereabouts of the wooden wreck, in which 1,100 seamen died during a fierce storm.

The valuable remains, including 100 brass cannon, would be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds today.

After weeks of secrecy, Odyssey, an American based commercial company which is regularly accused of exploiting historic shipwrecks, plans to unveil artefacts retrieved from the wreck.

HMS Victory led the Channel fleet before Nelson's flagship of the same name and has been described this weekend as of "enormous financial value", as well as historic significance.

Its brass cannon are estimated to be worth £10,000-£20,000 each.


More to read...

By John Christopher Fine

Ocean explorers in West Palm Beach found the treasure of Hernan Cortez.

Long after the conqueror of Mexico's death, his family was shipping some of his personal fortune back to Spain. The cargo contained Aztec crystal skulls.

The ship was lost in a fire at sea. It burned to the water line, then sank in deep water off Florida's coast.

Diver, art expert and undersea explorer Dr. Victor Benilous was contacted by a representative of the Cortez family and given information about the shipwreck.

Benilous was well known for his work on the oldest shipwreck in the western hemisphere, found off Juno Beach. The information he was given was sparse.

With the use of world-renowned psychics, Benilous and his team of divers located the wreck. One of the psychics was taken aboard the dive vessel.

"Dive here," the psychic said. Deep below the spot where the psychic said dive, not 10 feet from the place where the anchor was dropped, an Aztec crystal skull was recovered.

Power ? Special properties ? Healing and spiritual abilities ?

Margaret Ann Lembo thinks so. She is the affable owner of The Crystal Garden on North Federal Highway in Boynton Beach.

She invited Bill Homann from Indiana to speak at the Boynton Woman's Club and bring the famous Mitchell-Hedges Crystal Skull with him.

Read more...