HOT NEWS !

By Shannon Molloy


Two con-artist treasurer hunters who duped 130 investors out of $630,000 by promising to salvage gold from shipwrecks on the bottom of the ocean have been sentenced to jail. 

Lawrence James Phillips, 37, and Christopher Paul Woolgrave, pleaded guilty earlier this month to one count each of operating an unregistered managed investment scheme and faced sentencing today. 

Brisbane's District Court heard the pair had sought money from private investors to salvage treasure from shipwrecks sitting at the bottom of the ocean in South-East Asia. 

A total of 130 Australian investors coughed up $US590,490 ($AU629,071) between January 2002 and May 2003. 

Phillips and Woolgrave produced an information memorandum that was circulated amongst potential participants of the scheme.

 

By Rebecca Morelle


A treasure trove of artefacts is being recovered from what experts describe as one of the most important maritime discoveries since the Mary Rose. 

The late 16th Century shipwreck hails from a pivotal point in England's military history. 

The raised haul includes a 2m-long (7ft) cannon, which will give archaeologists an insight into Elizabeth I's naval might. The wreck, discovered 30 years ago, is situated off the coast of Alderney. 

Dr Mensun Bound, excavation leader and marine archaeologist from Oxford University, said: "This boat is really grade A in terms of archaeology - it is hard to find anything that really compares with it."

By Patrick White


The last time anyone laid eyes on her, the Ontario was the most-feared ship on the Great Lakes. 

It was 1780. Yankee militias were threatening to storm across Lake Ontario and seize Montreal from the British. And if it weren't for the intimidating profile of the 226-ton Ontario – 22 cannons, two 80-foot masts, a beamy hull with cargo space for 1000 barrels – they just may have. 

But six months after she launched, the pride of the Great Lakes fleet sailed into a Halloween squall with around 120 passengers on board and was never seen again. It remains the worst-ever disaster recorded on Lake Ontario, according to Kingston historian Arthur Britton Smith. 

For 228 years, the Ontario eluded countless shipwreck-hunters, thwarting any explanation of her disappearance and fanning rumours of a priceless booty on board.

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From the Independent

Laden with jewels and treasures plundered from Madagascar, the French galleon La Vierge du Bon Port was barely a day from home and safety on 9 July 1666, when it was attacked by British privateers off the Channel Islands.

It was a testimony to the value of the French vessel's cargo, and the greed of its captors, that 36 English sailors drowned while trying to drag the riches from their sinking prize.

The loss of La Vierge, the pride of the newly-founded French East India Company, along with two more of the four vessels in its flotilla ended the ambitions of Louis XIV, the Sun King, to turn Madagascar into one of the first colonial possessions of France.

>The ship's booty was valued at £1.5m at the time and included gold, silver, spices and ambergris, the waxy discharge from sperm whales that was prized as a base for perfume. In modern terms, its value could be as much as £200m.

A report of the arrival in Guernsey of the Orange, the vessel that sank La Vierge, said: "Here arrived His Majesties Shipp the Orange whoe having ben in fight with a French ship, which came from the Isle of Madagascar, very richly laden upon account of the East India Company of Fraunce, her ladinge did consist of cloth of gold, silk, amber grease, gould, pearls, precious stones, corall, hides wax and other commodities of great value."

La Vierge would enter the ranks of near mythical "El Dorado" wrecks that have been the subject of swashbuckling stories and, more recently, attempts by a new generation of controversial salvage companies to pinpoint their watery resting place.

By Benjamin Gohs

After years of legal wrangling over salvage rights to what may be a 17th century ship, explorer Steve Libert now has at least some assurance Michigan officials will not swoop in and pilfer 28 years of sweat equity and intellectual property.

Libert’s Great Lakes Exploration Group (GLEG) won this most recent battle following the April 22 opinion of the U.S. Sixth District Court of Appeals of Cincinnati, Ohio, demanding the Michigan U.S. Western District Court, Southern Division to correct its mid-March decision not to issue an admiralty arrest to Libert’s GLEG, the lower court has issued the arrest.

“The court shall issue a conditional warrant for the arrest of defendant unidentified, wrecked, and, for salvage-right purposes, abandoned sailing vessel,” stated Chief United States District Judge Robert Holmes Bell in the June 2 filing.

“Upon the Marshal’s execution of the arrest warrant the Court SHALL have jurisdiction over Defendant and no person shall seize, remove, take physical possession of, or otherwise disturb Defendant without prior authorization from the Court.”

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From the Associated Press

Peruvian consumer rights advocates urged Peru's government Monday to claim some US$500 million in gold and silver coins found in a sunken galleon off the coast of Spain last year.

Some 17 tons (15.4 metric tons) of coins were discovered by a Tampa, Fla.-based treasure-hunting company, Odyssey Marine Exploration, when it raised a shipwreck west of the Straits of Gibraltar in May 2007.

Spain's government also claims ownership of the wreck and its contents — and has sued Odyssey, which hauled away the treasure.

But the Association of Peruvian Consumers and Users said the South American nation also has a right to the booty, since it believes the coins were made with Peruvian metals and minted in Lima.

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From Reading

Eagle Crew of 17th century treasure ship ran a foul of pirates.

The story of the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion's missing treasure reads more like a Hollywood script than a history book.

From information unearthed in Spain's Archives of the Indies, much of which author Pete Earle used for his book "The Wreck of the Almiranta," treasure hunter Burt Webber was able to piece together the story of the last moments of the Concepcion.

He also learned how some of the ship's spilled treasure was collected before again slipping into the warm waters of the Caribbean.

Flush with gold and silver, the 550-ton ship sailed from Cuba in 1641 en route to Spain.

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From BBC News

A medieval church which tumbled from an eroding cliff into the sea has been rediscovered by marine archaeologists.

They believe the ruins they have found are St John's church, the biggest in Dunwich which was lost to the sea off the coast of Suffolk.

Dunwich was once a thriving community before being swallowed up by the North Sea more than 500 years ago.

Experts are using the latest acoustic imaging technology to uncover clues about the lost city in the North Sea.

Stuart Bacon, director of Suffolk Underwater Studies, said: "We've found the ruins of a medieval church called St John's, which was the biggest in Dunwich.

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