The NYTimes reports:
The fever is contagious. Gold fever, that is.
Symptoms? Unwavering optimism.
”Today’s the day,” legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher would say as he set out to sea each summer in search of the ocean’s secrets. Before his death in 1998, he found more than $1 billion worth of treasure, including gold and silver bars, emeralds, coins and artifacts.
As salvage season begins — roughly from May to August when the seas are calmer — a select few carry on Fisher’s work up and down Florida’s coasts, hoping to hit the mother lode.
Similar salvage operations take place up and down the East Coast during the summer months, through the Carolinas, into Virginia and up through New England, where Revolutionary War-era shipwrecks have been discovered.
Florida is said to have more treasure-laden shipwrecks than any other state, largely because it’s near the Gulf Stream. Spanish fleets would load their vessels with treasure from South America and gather the galleons in Havana. The ships would then head north, using the Gulf Stream to propel them back toward Europe. Continue Reading…
Tags: · shipwreck, treasures
The BBC Tells us:
A 500-year-old ship-wreck laden with treasure has been discovered off the coast of Namibia.
The country’s diamond company, Namdeb, says it found the wreck during operations on the sea bed.
The company said the find included three bronze cannons, thousands of Spanish and Portuguese gold coins, and several tonnes of elephant tusks.
There were also human remains and navigational instruments. Excavations in the area were halted immediately.
Archaeological experts have identified the cannons as coming from early 16 Century Spain.
Reuters news agency says company sources are speculating that the ship may be linked to Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who went missing in 1500 after becoming the first European seafarer to round the Cape of Good Hope. Continue Reading…
Tags: · africa, History, nambia, treasures
Pakistan’s Daily Times has the scoop on China’s newest museum;
China is building a giant underwater museum to preserve and exhibit an ancient shipwreck. The museum, the first of its kind in the world, is to contain a sunken ship more than 800 years old and its treasures.
Archaeologists say the ship is China’s most exciting underwater excavation. Named the Southern Sea Number One, it lies under 24 metres of water and two metres of sand and soil.
Archaeologists took more than 6,000 treasures from one small room on the ship in 2002. The Guangdong provincial government has now allocated £10 million to building a five hall underwater museum to preserve the wreck.
Expert’s say, “Since the ship and its treasures have become accustomed to being underwater, it’s better to keep them there.” Read More…
Interested in Underwater Museums? Take a look at Divester’s post; “The World’s Coolest Underwater Museums”
Links:
Tags: · archaeologists, China, guangdong, History, provincial_government, sand_and_soil, shipwreck, three_gorges_dam, treasures, underwater_excavation, underwater_museum, watching_the_water, water_rise
