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By Dianna Smith


It wasn't just the treasure that kept Bob "Frogfoot" Weller in crystal blue waters searching for pieces of the past.

It was the people. And the stories. And that sparkle in the eye that Mr. Weller often got when he made a discovery, when he wrote another book, when he found someone else to inspire.

Mr. Weller, a man who some fondly say lived three lives, died Monday, Oct. 13, at 83, leaving behind not only his treasures, but a slew of family, friends and admirers who could spend a lifetime sharing stories.

"He was a hard man to keep down," said his best friend, Ernie Richards of Lake Worth. "He had a Naval career, he was in sales and marketing and now this," referring to his treasure hunting passion and business, Crossed Anchors Salvage.

Mr. Weller served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean Conflict, earning the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for bravery, and was one of the first combat diver team members, nicknamed "Frogman," which eventually led to the nickname "Frogfoot."

He later earned degrees in architectural and civil engineering and eventually became a reliable salesman with charisma and a knack for making friends. Friends like John Adair of Lantana. The two men met through work and remained friends for 40 years.

"He took me diving in the Keys in 1966," Adair said. "He and I became friends ever since then."

 

From Yle News


A project for a natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany along the bed of the Baltic Sea is providing new, unique pictures of what lies hidden under the waters of the Gulf of Finland.

Underwater studies of the possible route of the controversial pipeline have already led to the discovery of five historically significant shipwrecks, and experts expect that many more will be found.

The company driving the project, NordStream, will still have to survey an area ten times as large as the 200 meter-wide strip along the proposed route that has already been examined.

In addition to the five wrecks that are considered valuable finds, it is almost certain that many more treasures will be discovered for marine archaeologists to study.

Photos of the sea bed are also a reminder of how exceptionally indifferent to the environment Baltic seafarers have been.

"So much junk has never been found anywhere else, from refrigerators to old cars," says Marine Archaeologist Stefan Wessman of Finland's National Board of Antiquities.

The well preserved shipwrecks are to be spared, even if the gas pipeline is built. So far, it has not yet been decided if any will be raised. However, to keep them safe, their locations are not being divulged.

By Chris McNamara


Our Titanic trip wasn't as grand as the one 2,228 passengers and crew embarked on in April 1912, leaving from Southampton, England, en route to New York City aboard a floating modern marvel.

But then, in this economy, a quick trip to the recently opened "Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition" at the Milwaukee Public Museum made more sense than the modern equivalent of $86,000 that first-class passengers paid on Titanic. 

And our voyage ended much more pleasantly than theirs. 

Before we entered the exhibit, we realized that there were a lot of bikers in the museum. Meaning no insult, but one biker is a lot for most museums I've toured, and here there were plenty of leather-clad guys and their old ladies, just as there were throughout Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson.

A Harley convention ? Nope. They had likely come to town to tour another museum—the Harley-Davidson Museum.

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From Swissinfo


Les souvenirs de la dernière survivante du naufrage du Titanic ont été vendu aux enchères samedi pour 31 150 livres (plus de 60 000 francs). Millvina Dean avait été forcée de les vendre pour payer les frais de sa maison de retraite.

Au total, la vente, qui s'est déroulée à Devizes, dans le sud-ouest de l'Angleterre, lui a rapporté une somme dix fois plus grande que ce qu'elle espérait gagner. Mme Dean a notamment cédé notamment une valise vieille d'un siècle, remplie de vêtements donnés à sa famille par des habitants de New York à son arrivée sur la terre ferme après le naufrage.

La Britannique avait deux mois seulement quand le Titanic a heurté un iceberg et coulé en 1912. Aujourd'hui âgée de 96 ans, ayant du mal à joindre les deux bouts, elle espérait engranger 3000 livres.

"Je vends (cette valise) maintenant parce que je dois payer ces frais de maison de retraite et je mets en vente tout ce qui peut avoir de la valeur", avait expliqué au quotidien régional Daily Echo la vieille dame installée en maison de retraite depuis deux ans.

Quelque 1500 passagers sont morts dans le naufrage du paquebot de luxe qui effectuait son voyage inaugural à travers l'Atlantique. Mais plus de 700 personnes ont survécu à ce qui est resté comme l'une des pires catastrophes maritimes de l'Histoire

La famille de Mme Dean avait pris le paquebot pour émigrer au Kansas. Elle a été le plus jeune passager à survivre à la catastrophe, avec son frère lui aussi encore bébé et sa mère Eva. Elle a perdu son père dans le naufrage.

Mme Dean est la dernière survivante du Titanic depuis la disparition de sa compatriote Barbara Joyce Dainton l'an dernier.

From Telegraph


Jack Watkins finds a ship graveyard on the banks of the Severn going to ruin in a legislative no-man's land

They call them the Purton Hulks, a mile-and-a-half-long stretch of ghostly boat wrecks that once formed the oddest of makeshift tidal erosion barriers on the River Severn.  

They include nothing of Mary Rose antiquity, but local marine historian Paul Barnett thinks they are precious just the same.

"What we have here is the largest boat graveyard in maritime Britain, but they have no protection whatsoever. I cannot understand that," he says.

Between 1909 and 1963, at least 80 vessels were beached at Purton, originating from a stormy night 100 years ago when there was a massive landslip in a bank between the river and the parallel Sharpness to Gloucester Canal.

A plea went out to commercial boat owners for old vessels to be run aground to plug the breach.


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From BBC News


Simon Worrall explains why a recent discovery on the seabed of the Indian Ocean will revolutionise our understanding of two ancient civilisations.

"The local fishermen believe that there are underwater spirits guarding the wrecks," says Tilman Walterfang, as our boatman picks his way through a maze of coral reefs and submerged rocks. 

"Sometimes, they perform prayers on the boats, sacrificing a goat, spreading the blood everywhere, to keep the vessel safe." 

I am on a fishing boat in the Gaspar Strait, near Belitung Island, off the south-east coast of Sumatra. Since time immemorial, this funnel-shaped passage linking the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean has been one of the two main shipping routes.

The Malacca Straits is the other, from China to the West. 

A British sea captain, shipwrecked here in 1817, called it "the most dangerous area between China and London"


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From The Standard

In full sail the Falls of Halladale provided a grand spectacle as it slowly sank off the Peterborough coast. On a foggy morning almost 100 years ago, the cargo ship struck a reef about 150 meters out to sea.

Townsfolk watched in awe from the cliff tops as the cargo ship gradually made its way to its watery grave. Next month, the sailing ship will be the talk of the town again when a group of history and shipwreck buffs commemorate the sinking's centenary.

Community activities, including a market, plaque unveiling and a special dinner are planned for the occasion. Although the south-west coast is riddled with notorious shipwrecks - Loch Ard, Schomberg and La Bella to name a few - centenary organizer Rex Mathieson said the Falls of Halladale was unique, describing it as one of the last "great" sailing shipwrecks.

"But what makes the Falls of Halladale more unique is that it had steel masts and wire rigging," Mr Mathieson said.

"Most of the sailing ships of the time had wooden masts and hemp for rigging. The steel tubing on the Falls of Halladale would have made it handle heavy seas a lot easier without causing much damage."

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From The Portugal News Online


Namibian Foreign Minister Marco Hausiku will visit Portugal in the near future to discuss bilateral relations, including the future of the spoils of a 16th century Portuguese vessel recently found along the southern African country’s coast, a senior Portuguese official said late last week.

State Secretary for Culture Paula Fernandes dos Santos told the Lusa News Agency the archaeological work on the 500-year-old ‘nau’ ended on Friday in Namibia and that Lisbon must determine how to continue cooperation with Windhoek’s (the capital city) authorities.

Fernandes noted that Namibia was not yet a signatory of the UN Convention on Protection of Submarine Cultural Heritage, meaning all of the vessel’s spoils belong to Windhoek.

“This means that, along with Namibia’s authorities, we’ll have to launch a bilateral process to find under what conditions we can continue to collaborate with them”, she said.

The archaeological team, including Portuguese experts, has recovered gold and silver objects, copper and ivory, navigational instruments, cannons and cannon balls from the 16th century vessel, whose wreck was discovered last April during coastal diamond mining operations.