UK Yahoo News: An eco-warrior's romance at sea
The sun was rising as the captain of one of the world's most famous ships changed course, drawn magnetically to a mysterious orange glow in the west. Skip related content
Related photos / videosMike Fincken Enlarge photo A member of the crew of Greenpeace's environmental campaigning ship Rainbow Warrior, …More Enlarge photo Mike Fincken, captain of Greenpeace's ship Rainbow Warrior, stands in the control room Enlarge photo VIDEO: An eco-warrior's romance at sea. Enlarge photo Mike Fincken Enlarge photo Mike Fincken, captain of Greenpeace's renowned environmental campaigning ship Rainbow …More Enlarge photo Mike Fincken realised the glow was not a reflection of the sunrise, but lava from an erupting volcano, and if careful he and his crew could sail close and watch nature put on a spectacular show.
"We went right up to it and it was popping, you could hear it," Fincken said as he recalled one of his favourite moments sailing around the world as captain of environment group Greenpeace's campaigning ship the Rainbow Warrior.
"You could smell it, because of the sulphur... and there were these huge red flowing boulders bouncing and then thundering into the sea. And there were hisses and splashes. And that was an island in the process of creation."
In an interview with AFP aboard the Rainbow Warrior during a recent stopover in Manila Bay, Fincken recounted a series of other exhilarating experiences but emphasised every day on the ocean conjured something wondrous.
"Seldom will a day go by where something remarkable hasn't happened. I don't know whether it is the magic of the Rainbow Warrior that shapes the world around us, but we do seem to have exceptional moments every day," he said.
Life for Fincken, 43, has not always been filled with an awe of nature.
He grew up in a small village in apartheid-era South Africa as the son of a bacon factory manager, the squeals of pigs being slaughtered echoed throughout his childhood as he earned pocket money working for his father.
Fincken confessed to being an ordinary student with no major career ambitions, and who began his career as a sailor with a South African merchant cargo shipping company as an 18-year-old just to avoid military conscription.
His drive to protect nature also lay dormant in his first few years at sea, although he loved the ocean and the team spirit with his fellow crew members.
"I did coal trips, lumber trips. I've carried uranium and chloride," Fincken said, describing some of the "nasty" cargo he helped to transport around the world as a merchant seaman.
Fincken's transformation into an environmentalist occurred when, in his mid 20s, his wife arranged for him to do an organic gardening course during a holiday back home in South Africa.
"I was taught at night school that chemicals and pesticides killed the earthworms," said the wispy-thin Fincken, who speaks in soft, peaceful tones.
"And it made so much sense I became an overnight avid environmentalist."
Fincken returned to sea set on a new personal course, and at each port would visit any local environment group he could find to pick up brochures and meet like-minded people.
Eventually Fincken came across Greenpeace and began his new career as a volunteer second mate with one of the organisation's smaller vessels.
"It was just such a lot of freedom and it was so exciting," Fincken said as he recalled his initiation with Greenpeace helping to carry out a protest to protect forests in Canada in the mid-1990s.
"I remember it was just so empowering to stand up and actually, sadly, have to break a law in order to prevent a greater crime."
It is a philosophy that Fincken has held firm throughout his years with Greenpeace, the last four of which have been as one of the Rainbow Warrior's captains as it has traversed the globe to protest for environmental causes.
"Everyone should involve themselves in direct actions. It's scary at first. You are breaking all sorts of moulds. You are conditioned to toeing the line and just thinking the world is contained by laws," he said.
"And then you realise, no actually, it's not. Those laws are man made. They are false. And a lot of them are there to protect dirty industry."
Greenpeace's determination to challenge authorities over perceived environmental crimes has long frustrated and angered those in power.
The most striking example occurred 25 years ago when French agents bombed and sank the original version of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand, killing one Greenpeace campaigner on board.
The French government carried out the attack to stop the Rainbow Warrior from protesting against France's nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean.
The episode turned into a public relations disaster for the French, while ensuring the new Rainbow Warrior -- the one now skippered by Fincken -- became a powerful symbol of resistance for the global environmental movement.
While no-one has employed such extreme tactics as the French since, Fincken said governments and industry leaders continued to work extremely hard to stop the Rainbow Warrior and Greenpeace's other vessels from campaigning.
"It is getting more and more difficult to take the ship into peaceful protest because what we are facing now are tremendous legal battles afterwards that are just draining the lifeblood of the organisation with costs," he said.
"Industry is realising that the way to sink the Rainbow Warrior is to just fight (Greenpeace) in court because those costs are tremendous."
Fincken has himself been detained on a number of occasions and convicted by the Dutch government for a sailing infringement, while a prosecution effort by British authorities over a protest near a coal-fired power station is ongoing.
In another example of authorities wanting to mute Greenpeace, the Rainbow Warrior was barred from entering Indonesia on its just-ended tour of Southeast Asia.
Fincken once wavered in his commitment to Greenpeace, but not because of the battles against authorities.
His first wife, Christine, died of cancer in 1998, just a couple of years after he joined Greenpeace.
Fincken left Greenpeace and lived in the Rocky Mountains after she passed away, stepping out of normal life, working as a tanner of animal skins and trying to understand why he was on this planet.
"I was on a journey from the moment I heard my wife had cancer. My whole life changed. Everything changes," he said.
"What are we? Who are we? All these questions that I needed to answer and I went in search of the answers."
Throughout his time on the land, Fincken kept with him a remarkable memento from his wife in the form of a short message.
Part of it read: "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces towards change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable".
Christine wrote those words on a piece of paper that the pair had recycled together using nearly 10 years of love letters they had written to each other when he was at sea.
"It's more than just a saying. It's how its come and who its come from. It wasn't long after (she wrote the message) that she died," he said quietly, revealing it was the first time he had spoken publicly about his wife's gift.
The message now forms his life's "mission statement", which he posts on his personal blogsite.
Fincken emerged from his period of disillusionment in Canada with another philosophy that he also still seeks to live by: "It is not what a person wants, but what a person can give, that shapes their destiny".
With his reason for living distilled into that one sentence, Fincken returned to Greenpeace and his life of activism more certain than ever that he should use his skills as a sailor to help protect the environment.
That certainty builds each time he watches a volcano erupt across a small island in Southeast Asia, a blue whale swim off the coast of northern Iceland or pristine ice blocks float through Antarctic waters.
"The earth shows off to me for some reason," he said with a smile.
"I think those remarkable moments are put out there for us just to show how incredibly lucky we are to be on this planet. It gives us the motivation for the campaign work we do."
Fincken records his journeys aboard the Rainbow Warrior on his blogsite: http://mikemate.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Researchers: 'Rusticle' Reveals New Microscopic Life Aboard The RMS Titanic
Underwater Times: Researchers: 'Rusticle' Reveals New Microscopic Life Aboard The RMS Titanic
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- A brand-new bacterial species has been found aboard the RMS Titanic, which is contributing to its deterioration. The discovery reveals a potential new microbial threat to the exterior of ships and underwater metal structures such as oil rigs.
The researchers, who report their findings in the latest issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology published on 8 December, isolated the micro-organisms from a 'rusticle', collected from the RMS Titanic, 3.8 km below the ocean surface.
The novel bacterium has been named Halomonas titanicae by the scientists from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada and the University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain. The team also tested the rusting ability of the bacterium - and found that it was able to adhere to steel surfaces, creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products, which they will be reporting in an upcoming paper.
A similar bacterial corrosive process is thought to be responsible for the formation of the rusticles – which resemble rusty icicles – that adorn the hull of the RMS Titanic. While these appear to be solid structures, rusticles are highly porous and support a complex variety of bacteria, suggesting that H. titanicae may work in conjunction with other organisms to speed up the corrosion of the metal.
The RMS Titanic was made up of 50,000 tons of iron and has been progressively deteriorating for the past 98 years. Lead researchers Dr Bhavleen Kaur and Dr Henrietta Mann, from Dalhousie University explained that the role of microbes in this process is now starting to be understood. "We believe H. titanicae plays a part in the recycling of iron structures at certain depths. This could be useful in the disposal of old naval and merchant ships and oil rigs that have been cleaned of toxins and oil-based products and then sunk in the deep ocean."
Dr Kaur and Dr Mann believe that the findings have opened up further areas of research that could have applications for industry. "We don't know yet whether this species arrived aboard the RMS Titanic before or after it sank. We also don't know if these bacteria cause similar damage to offshore oil and gas pipelines," they said. "Finding answers to these questions will not only better our understanding of our oceans, but may also equip us to devise coatings that can prevent similar deterioration to other metal structures."
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia -- A brand-new bacterial species has been found aboard the RMS Titanic, which is contributing to its deterioration. The discovery reveals a potential new microbial threat to the exterior of ships and underwater metal structures such as oil rigs.
The researchers, who report their findings in the latest issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology published on 8 December, isolated the micro-organisms from a 'rusticle', collected from the RMS Titanic, 3.8 km below the ocean surface.
The novel bacterium has been named Halomonas titanicae by the scientists from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada and the University of Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain. The team also tested the rusting ability of the bacterium - and found that it was able to adhere to steel surfaces, creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products, which they will be reporting in an upcoming paper.
A similar bacterial corrosive process is thought to be responsible for the formation of the rusticles – which resemble rusty icicles – that adorn the hull of the RMS Titanic. While these appear to be solid structures, rusticles are highly porous and support a complex variety of bacteria, suggesting that H. titanicae may work in conjunction with other organisms to speed up the corrosion of the metal.
The RMS Titanic was made up of 50,000 tons of iron and has been progressively deteriorating for the past 98 years. Lead researchers Dr Bhavleen Kaur and Dr Henrietta Mann, from Dalhousie University explained that the role of microbes in this process is now starting to be understood. "We believe H. titanicae plays a part in the recycling of iron structures at certain depths. This could be useful in the disposal of old naval and merchant ships and oil rigs that have been cleaned of toxins and oil-based products and then sunk in the deep ocean."
Dr Kaur and Dr Mann believe that the findings have opened up further areas of research that could have applications for industry. "We don't know yet whether this species arrived aboard the RMS Titanic before or after it sank. We also don't know if these bacteria cause similar damage to offshore oil and gas pipelines," they said. "Finding answers to these questions will not only better our understanding of our oceans, but may also equip us to devise coatings that can prevent similar deterioration to other metal structures."
Archeologist: Persian Gulf sites hint at prehistoric people
Science Fair: Archeologist: Persian Gulf sites hint at prehistoric people
Emerging archeological evidence points to early human habitation 120,000 years ago in a Persian "Gulf Oasis" now underwater, suggests one archeologist.
In the upcoming Current Anthropology journal study, Jeffrey Rose of the United Kingdom's University of Birmingham, points to stone tools from 40 archeological sites throughout the Middle East to suggest that modern humans left Africa earlier than many model suggest (typically around 60,000 years ago), and populated Arabian coastal areas now underwater.
"The emerging picture of prehistoric Arabia suggests that early modern humans were able to survive periodic hyperarid oscillations by contracting into environmental refugia around the coastal margins of the peninsula," begins the study. The end of an Ice Age flooded today's Persian Gulf around 8,000 years ago, Rose notes, as sea levels rose. "There is a noticeable spike in settlement activity around the shoreline of the Gulf between 8,500 and 6,000 years ago," Rose says.
Archeologist Geoffrey Bailey of the United Kingdom's University of York, says the study's suggestion that Arabian continental shelves served as good environments for human during Ice Ages, "and served as a source of population expansion in the early Holocene (last 10,000 years), is an attractive one."
However, Robert Carter of the UK's Oxford Brookes University, questions the links that Rose sees between ancient stone age tools and the later Sumerian civilization, in a commentary accompanying the report.
"Unless one completely dismisses the notion that lithic technology is passed down the generations, there are problems with assigning both the populations of southern Mesopotamia and eastern Arabia to the same demographic origin in the Gulf basin. The leptolithic (blade-based) industry of early southern Mesopotamia has little in common with the Arabian bifacial tradition(s) that prevailed in the Arabian Peninsula between 8 and 6 (thousand years ago)," Carter writes.
Rose alludes to suggestions that the Biblical "Garden of Eden" and Noah's Ark stories may have a basis in the pre-flood Persian Gulf, to conclude his study. "Albeit epiphenomenal, it is interesting to note that the oldest known version of the ubiquitous Near Eastern flood myth, the "Eridu genesis", was written by the inhabitants of this region. The link between flood mythology and marine incursion into the Arabo-Persian Gulf basin has already been thoroughly explored by a number of authors and does not require any further elucidation"
By Dan Vergano
Emerging archeological evidence points to early human habitation 120,000 years ago in a Persian "Gulf Oasis" now underwater, suggests one archeologist.
In the upcoming Current Anthropology journal study, Jeffrey Rose of the United Kingdom's University of Birmingham, points to stone tools from 40 archeological sites throughout the Middle East to suggest that modern humans left Africa earlier than many model suggest (typically around 60,000 years ago), and populated Arabian coastal areas now underwater.
"The emerging picture of prehistoric Arabia suggests that early modern humans were able to survive periodic hyperarid oscillations by contracting into environmental refugia around the coastal margins of the peninsula," begins the study. The end of an Ice Age flooded today's Persian Gulf around 8,000 years ago, Rose notes, as sea levels rose. "There is a noticeable spike in settlement activity around the shoreline of the Gulf between 8,500 and 6,000 years ago," Rose says.
Archeologist Geoffrey Bailey of the United Kingdom's University of York, says the study's suggestion that Arabian continental shelves served as good environments for human during Ice Ages, "and served as a source of population expansion in the early Holocene (last 10,000 years), is an attractive one."
However, Robert Carter of the UK's Oxford Brookes University, questions the links that Rose sees between ancient stone age tools and the later Sumerian civilization, in a commentary accompanying the report.
"Unless one completely dismisses the notion that lithic technology is passed down the generations, there are problems with assigning both the populations of southern Mesopotamia and eastern Arabia to the same demographic origin in the Gulf basin. The leptolithic (blade-based) industry of early southern Mesopotamia has little in common with the Arabian bifacial tradition(s) that prevailed in the Arabian Peninsula between 8 and 6 (thousand years ago)," Carter writes.
Rose alludes to suggestions that the Biblical "Garden of Eden" and Noah's Ark stories may have a basis in the pre-flood Persian Gulf, to conclude his study. "Albeit epiphenomenal, it is interesting to note that the oldest known version of the ubiquitous Near Eastern flood myth, the "Eridu genesis", was written by the inhabitants of this region. The link between flood mythology and marine incursion into the Arabo-Persian Gulf basin has already been thoroughly explored by a number of authors and does not require any further elucidation"
By Dan Vergano
Thursday, December 2, 2010
USS Olympia Given Another Six Months to Live
USS Olympia Given Another Six Months to Live
115-year old Museum Ship given a last minute reprieve from the scrapyard or sunk as artificial reef.
The USS Olympia museum was set to close to the public on November 22, 2010; however, this date has been extended. According to the Philadelphia-based Independence Seaport Museum’s (ISM) press release of November 18th, tours will not fully cease as previously planned. She is set to remain open to the public daily until the end of 2010 and continue on a reduced weekend-only schedule until at least April 1, 2011.
According to Captain John J. Gazzola, the Museum’s President. "The Museum, its board and our partners are working together in exploring options for the Olympia." A summit between the National Park Service, the US Navy (who operated the ship for 62-years), ISM, the Friends of the Cruiser Olympia and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission is to be held in early 2011 to address possible solutions for the ship.
Danger Ahead for the Proud Olympia
Even though the one of a kind ship is on the list of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania, the National Register of Historic Places, is the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat, the very triple-expansion engines inside her hulls are the are Historic Engineering Landmarks, she is a National Historic Maritime Landmark and is in “Official Project” status of Save America’s Treasures program, she is far from out of danger.
It had been discussed that without continued significant repairs and overhaul the vessel would eventually sink at her moorings on the Delaware River within a matter of a few years. Barring the funds becoming available for such an overhaul the proud ship, formerly Admiral Dewey’s flagship in the Battle of Manila Bay, could be sunk as an artificial reef off of the New Jersey coast. To add insult to injury this sentinel of history could be cut up and scrapped with her more interesting pieces showing up on eBay. Such a recent fate beheld the former HMS Intrepid which was one of the key vessels of the Royal Navy in the Falkland Islands War.
How to Help
The organization Friends of the Cruiser Olympia (email Info@CruiserOlympia.org) is trying to raise money for preservation of the ship. The group got its nonprofit status this month and has begun receiving pledges and interest from individuals and corporations. The organization need is to raise $2.5 million by January 2011 simply to take custody of the ship and begin initial work. They have to, or the deep dark sea waits.
Sources
USS Olympia seeks a new caretaker | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/26/2010
Historic warship's future may be sunk | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/23/2010
Iconic warship faces uncertain future, Charlotte Gazette, May 27, 2010
Date set for closing of USS Olympia, | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/12/2010
USS Olympia, a naval veteran of two wars, battles for survival, AP Joann Loviglio 9/6/2010
Spanish-American warship spared, at least for now | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/18/2010
Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press
Independence Seaport Museum, Update on the Status of the Cruiser OLYMPIA, Press Release 11/18/2010
Manteuffel Chris and Rachel The USS Olympia, rusting symbol of America's age of empire, Washington Post 11/28/2010
115-year old Museum Ship given a last minute reprieve from the scrapyard or sunk as artificial reef.
The USS Olympia museum was set to close to the public on November 22, 2010; however, this date has been extended. According to the Philadelphia-based Independence Seaport Museum’s (ISM) press release of November 18th, tours will not fully cease as previously planned. She is set to remain open to the public daily until the end of 2010 and continue on a reduced weekend-only schedule until at least April 1, 2011.
According to Captain John J. Gazzola, the Museum’s President. "The Museum, its board and our partners are working together in exploring options for the Olympia." A summit between the National Park Service, the US Navy (who operated the ship for 62-years), ISM, the Friends of the Cruiser Olympia and the Pennsylvania Historical Museum Commission is to be held in early 2011 to address possible solutions for the ship.
Danger Ahead for the Proud Olympia
Even though the one of a kind ship is on the list of National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania, the National Register of Historic Places, is the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat, the very triple-expansion engines inside her hulls are the are Historic Engineering Landmarks, she is a National Historic Maritime Landmark and is in “Official Project” status of Save America’s Treasures program, she is far from out of danger.
It had been discussed that without continued significant repairs and overhaul the vessel would eventually sink at her moorings on the Delaware River within a matter of a few years. Barring the funds becoming available for such an overhaul the proud ship, formerly Admiral Dewey’s flagship in the Battle of Manila Bay, could be sunk as an artificial reef off of the New Jersey coast. To add insult to injury this sentinel of history could be cut up and scrapped with her more interesting pieces showing up on eBay. Such a recent fate beheld the former HMS Intrepid which was one of the key vessels of the Royal Navy in the Falkland Islands War.
How to Help
The organization Friends of the Cruiser Olympia (email Info@CruiserOlympia.org) is trying to raise money for preservation of the ship. The group got its nonprofit status this month and has begun receiving pledges and interest from individuals and corporations. The organization need is to raise $2.5 million by January 2011 simply to take custody of the ship and begin initial work. They have to, or the deep dark sea waits.
Sources
USS Olympia seeks a new caretaker | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/26/2010
Historic warship's future may be sunk | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/23/2010
Iconic warship faces uncertain future, Charlotte Gazette, May 27, 2010
Date set for closing of USS Olympia, | Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/12/2010
USS Olympia, a naval veteran of two wars, battles for survival, AP Joann Loviglio 9/6/2010
Spanish-American warship spared, at least for now | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/18/2010
Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger; Kolesnik, Eugene M Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press
Independence Seaport Museum, Update on the Status of the Cruiser OLYMPIA, Press Release 11/18/2010
Manteuffel Chris and Rachel The USS Olympia, rusting symbol of America's age of empire, Washington Post 11/28/2010
Treasure Hunters Pursue U.S. Investors Seeking Golden Adventures
[As an aside, I bought a few shares of Odyssey Marine a couple of years ago, when shares were $5 each. Now they're down to a dollar!]
Treasure Hunters Pursue U.S. Investors Seeking Golden Adventures
Spanish doubloons meant to fund wars, solid gold bars bound for Europe's royalty and bronze cannons that protected it all now sit scattered across the ocean floor from shipwrecks.
But in a new investment plan by Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., those long-ago sunken treasures could soon be part of investor portfolios. The Tampa, Fla., company, whose work has been documented on the Discovery Channel and on the pages of National Geographic, plans to allow investors a chance to purchase a share of a treasure hunt and split the spoils.
View Full Image
Odyssey Marine Exploration
Odyssey prides itself on finding shipwrecks. Above, the company pulled a canon in 2008 from HMS Victory's watery grave in the English Channel.
Think of it as a romantic play on all-time highs in gold prices, by tracking Odyssey's ships online instead of tracking price ticks on charts. Or it is a chance to spice up a portfolio by putting down quarterly filings and looking at photos of wreckage.
Treasure hunting might become more intriguing if gold prices keep soaring. David Beahm, vice president of Blanchard & Co., a dealer of rare coins and gold, said rare coins trade higher than gold bullion. He doesn't recommend the investment, but did acknowledge, "As a child, you always want to find the buried treasure."
Gold on Friday closed at $1,362.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, and hit a record of $1,424.50 in early November.
To be sure, when the end game is a ship that has been swallowed by the sea for centuries, the risk of coming up empty-handed is high.
"If you are going to be taking the risk anyway, why not go to a business that's potentially going to have high return?" said Chief Executive Greg Stemm. "I could make the case that we've become the best people in the world at finding hard-to-find things at the bottom of the ocean."
View Full Image
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.
Chief Executive Greg Stemm, right
Odyssey made its name finding sunken treasure, and now believes it can allow investors to get involved differently. It won't be for every hunt, but for a few each year, Odyssey would raise the special funding to look for what it estimates are 100 wrecks worth at least $50 million. Odyssey says the time at sea costs about $3.6 million, plus other costs, so a target, if found, could bear a big return.
The opportunity won't be available to just anyone. Odyssey is unable to give specifics, but the firm anticipates the vehicles being open to "accredited investors." The Securities and Exchange Commission defines that as someone with a net worth over $1 million or who makes over $200,000 a year.
Odyssey has already tested a similar plan in the U.K., where about 100 clients of London-based investment consultancy Robert Fraser & Partners have put in $11.7 million to fund four treasure hunts. The process works like this: Robert Fraser buys the right to the shipwreck, the research file and the data behind it, and then contracts Odyssey to find it, bring it up and sell it.
Odyssey might have found at least one target for Robert Fraser Marine, the firm's division for treasure hunting. However, it is too soon to fully identify the find and the firm is reluctant to announce the names of ships until it is 100% certain.
Robert Fraser Chairman Colin Emson said treasure hunting isn't for everyone and his firm hunts only when the anticipated profit is 10 times costs. "It is the most fascinating subject in the world," he said.
Now, American investors will get a crack at some 6,000 shipwrecks that Odyssey's researchers have identified while scouring old shipping records and newspapers. The process for selection is strict and tailored to Odyssey's expertise.
Research must produce a specific 300-square-mile spot in deep water, where few others can look. There also must be proof that Odyssey wouldn't face a legal battle over ownership, a scenario currently holding up the windfall from one of the richest sunken treasure finds in history.
In 2007, Odyssey recovered more than 17 tons of silver coins from a Colonial-era site code-named Black Swan. But the riches, estimated around $500 million, remain in a vault as Odyssey fights in court with Spain over ownership.
Using a fleet of vessels loaded with deep-diving robots and specialty cameras, Odyssey has the Black Swan and several other trophies it can point to as evidence it can find treasures.
Last year it found the HMS Victory, which sunk in 1744 and had been one of England's great maritime mysteries. In 2003, Odyssey discovered the SS Republic, a Civil War-era steamship that sank off of Georgia loaded with gold and silver worth around $75 million today.
The first expedition for Robert Fraser investors was code-named "Enigma." Odyssey was paid $3.5 million for the search and the research file. From any recovery, Odyssey would get 80% of the first portion of sales until it had $20 million. Proceeds from the rest of the booty would be split equally with investors.
Contracts, tailored to risk and the target, would vary for each hunt.
Mark Gordon, Odyssey's chief operating officer, said opening up hunts to U.S. investors could allow Odyssey to hunt 10 times a year instead of six. They search about 90 to 120 days, for about $30,000 or more a day in costs.
Still, the investment carries high risk. Robert Fraser's website warns potential investors of "often total loss" while touting the high return.
Odyssey also will have to consider taxes, a somewhat murky issue that could carry implications for the final payouts to investors. But, despite the potential complications and risks, there are other perks.
"You have an investment you can talk to your buddies at the bar about," Mr. Gordon said.
Treasure Hunters Pursue U.S. Investors Seeking Golden Adventures
Spanish doubloons meant to fund wars, solid gold bars bound for Europe's royalty and bronze cannons that protected it all now sit scattered across the ocean floor from shipwrecks.
But in a new investment plan by Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., those long-ago sunken treasures could soon be part of investor portfolios. The Tampa, Fla., company, whose work has been documented on the Discovery Channel and on the pages of National Geographic, plans to allow investors a chance to purchase a share of a treasure hunt and split the spoils.
View Full Image
Odyssey Marine Exploration
Odyssey prides itself on finding shipwrecks. Above, the company pulled a canon in 2008 from HMS Victory's watery grave in the English Channel.
Think of it as a romantic play on all-time highs in gold prices, by tracking Odyssey's ships online instead of tracking price ticks on charts. Or it is a chance to spice up a portfolio by putting down quarterly filings and looking at photos of wreckage.
Treasure hunting might become more intriguing if gold prices keep soaring. David Beahm, vice president of Blanchard & Co., a dealer of rare coins and gold, said rare coins trade higher than gold bullion. He doesn't recommend the investment, but did acknowledge, "As a child, you always want to find the buried treasure."
Gold on Friday closed at $1,362.20 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, and hit a record of $1,424.50 in early November.
To be sure, when the end game is a ship that has been swallowed by the sea for centuries, the risk of coming up empty-handed is high.
"If you are going to be taking the risk anyway, why not go to a business that's potentially going to have high return?" said Chief Executive Greg Stemm. "I could make the case that we've become the best people in the world at finding hard-to-find things at the bottom of the ocean."
View Full Image
Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc.
Chief Executive Greg Stemm, right
Odyssey made its name finding sunken treasure, and now believes it can allow investors to get involved differently. It won't be for every hunt, but for a few each year, Odyssey would raise the special funding to look for what it estimates are 100 wrecks worth at least $50 million. Odyssey says the time at sea costs about $3.6 million, plus other costs, so a target, if found, could bear a big return.
The opportunity won't be available to just anyone. Odyssey is unable to give specifics, but the firm anticipates the vehicles being open to "accredited investors." The Securities and Exchange Commission defines that as someone with a net worth over $1 million or who makes over $200,000 a year.
Odyssey has already tested a similar plan in the U.K., where about 100 clients of London-based investment consultancy Robert Fraser & Partners have put in $11.7 million to fund four treasure hunts. The process works like this: Robert Fraser buys the right to the shipwreck, the research file and the data behind it, and then contracts Odyssey to find it, bring it up and sell it.
Odyssey might have found at least one target for Robert Fraser Marine, the firm's division for treasure hunting. However, it is too soon to fully identify the find and the firm is reluctant to announce the names of ships until it is 100% certain.
Robert Fraser Chairman Colin Emson said treasure hunting isn't for everyone and his firm hunts only when the anticipated profit is 10 times costs. "It is the most fascinating subject in the world," he said.
Now, American investors will get a crack at some 6,000 shipwrecks that Odyssey's researchers have identified while scouring old shipping records and newspapers. The process for selection is strict and tailored to Odyssey's expertise.
Research must produce a specific 300-square-mile spot in deep water, where few others can look. There also must be proof that Odyssey wouldn't face a legal battle over ownership, a scenario currently holding up the windfall from one of the richest sunken treasure finds in history.
In 2007, Odyssey recovered more than 17 tons of silver coins from a Colonial-era site code-named Black Swan. But the riches, estimated around $500 million, remain in a vault as Odyssey fights in court with Spain over ownership.
Using a fleet of vessels loaded with deep-diving robots and specialty cameras, Odyssey has the Black Swan and several other trophies it can point to as evidence it can find treasures.
Last year it found the HMS Victory, which sunk in 1744 and had been one of England's great maritime mysteries. In 2003, Odyssey discovered the SS Republic, a Civil War-era steamship that sank off of Georgia loaded with gold and silver worth around $75 million today.
The first expedition for Robert Fraser investors was code-named "Enigma." Odyssey was paid $3.5 million for the search and the research file. From any recovery, Odyssey would get 80% of the first portion of sales until it had $20 million. Proceeds from the rest of the booty would be split equally with investors.
Contracts, tailored to risk and the target, would vary for each hunt.
Mark Gordon, Odyssey's chief operating officer, said opening up hunts to U.S. investors could allow Odyssey to hunt 10 times a year instead of six. They search about 90 to 120 days, for about $30,000 or more a day in costs.
Still, the investment carries high risk. Robert Fraser's website warns potential investors of "often total loss" while touting the high return.
Odyssey also will have to consider taxes, a somewhat murky issue that could carry implications for the final payouts to investors. But, despite the potential complications and risks, there are other perks.
"You have an investment you can talk to your buddies at the bar about," Mr. Gordon said.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Volcano Seven - a manifesto
It's been a while since I've published the manifesto for this blog here, so thought I'd do it now.
Posts here will focus on treasure hunters - people who seek (and have sought) not only for sunken gold and jewels, but the treasure that is historic shipwrecks around the world.
In addition, I share news which I think might be of interest to the "armchair Clive Cussler" - authors who are looking for interesting or off-beat facts with which to expand their novel or short story, add a bit of verisimiltude, or just provide the launching ground for a new plot. (And if you're not an author, the idea is to tweak your interest and have you say, "If I were a writer, this'd make a great plot for a book."
Volcano Seven has several other blogs as well, by the way:
Seaborn (oceanography)
Star Trek Report (space exploration)
Recreational Nuclear Physics
Recreational Volcanology
Computers Without Tears
Word Game Workbook
(Just nip over to Amazon, go to the Kindle section of the search list, and input those titles).
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posts here will focus on treasure hunters - people who seek (and have sought) not only for sunken gold and jewels, but the treasure that is historic shipwrecks around the world.
In addition, I share news which I think might be of interest to the "armchair Clive Cussler" - authors who are looking for interesting or off-beat facts with which to expand their novel or short story, add a bit of verisimiltude, or just provide the launching ground for a new plot. (And if you're not an author, the idea is to tweak your interest and have you say, "If I were a writer, this'd make a great plot for a book."
Volcano Seven has several other blogs as well, by the way:
Seaborn (oceanography)
Star Trek Report (space exploration)
Recreational Nuclear Physics
Recreational Volcanology
Computers Without Tears
Word Game Workbook
(Just nip over to Amazon, go to the Kindle section of the search list, and input those titles).
Happy Thanksgiving!
Shipwreck Hunter On Prowl
University of South Florida News: Shipwreck Hunter On Prowl
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Nov. 12, 2010) – David Mearns did not set out to be one of the world’s great shipwreck hunters, but when his first expedition to find a vessel that sunk under suspicious circumstances ended is a high-profile murder trial and life sentences for the saboteurs, the rest became maritime history.
Mearns turned his 1986 degree from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in physical oceanography into a high profile career of finding lost ships – from a 16th Century caravel that was part of Vasco de Gama’s fleet to some of the great maritime tragedies of World War II.
His finds have brought closure to war widows who never stopped grieving, sent guilty men to prison for life and helped the British government set new standards for ship construction, saving thousands of lives in the future.
With a career now as storied as some of the shipwrecks he seeks, Mearns returned to the College of Marine Science recently for a visit with faculty and students and lecture for the public at the Mahaffey Theater. He brought with him spellbinding tales of search across the world for lost ships and souls, and the astounding “Eureka!” moments when they become found.
“There are these terrific moments when you are successful,” said Mearns, president of Bluewater Recoveries, Ltd., “You spend years working on something and it often comes down to your judgment; whether you are looking in the right place.”
Mearns has found more than 20 shipwrecks and most recently led the expedition that found the wreckage of the AHS Centaur, an Australian hospital ship which was sunk by a Japanese submarine in May 1943 off the coast of Queensland. Of the 332 doctors, nurses and wounded soldiers and sailors aboard, 268 perished. The 2009 discovery ended a 66-year quest by families of those who were lost and Australian government officials.
Earlier this year, more than 300 people attended an at-sea memorial service at the site of the shipwreck to honor the doctors, nurses and service personnel killed in the attack. The group, which included one of just two remaining survivors of the attack, dropped floral wreaths and messages into the ocean waves, the closest they had been to their lost loved ones since the sinking.
The Centaur, though, is just the latest find to bring Mearns worldwide acclaim.
In 2001, Mearns lead teams to discover the wreckage of the HMS Hood, the British warship lost in the epic battle with the Nazi ship Bismarck . Mearns and his team – using extensive research, documents, eyewitness accounts and the most advanced technology available to pinpoint the ships’ locations - overcame the challenges of locating the shipwreck in 3,000 feet of water in the Denmark Strait. His efforts to locate the ship is the basis for the PBS documentary “Hunt for the Hood” and the subject of the 2002 book, “Hood and Bismarck.”
Yet Mearns considers the 2008 discovery of the HMAS Sydney II shipwreck his greatest discovery. It took six years and an international effort to locate the warship, which had been the pride of Australia when it sank in 1941 after an encounter with a German vessel disguised as a merchant ship. The attack left a stunned nation grieving the 654 men lost and with unanswered questions which persisted for decades.
Mearns’ documented the expedition in his second book, The Search for the Sydney, which immediately became a top seller in Australia.
His other finds include the Lucona, a cargo ship at the centre of a sensational European murder trial; the Derbyshire, which was lost with all hands and led to new rules covering survivability and structural requirements for bulk carriers; and the Esmeralda, a Portuguese Nau in the fleet of Vasco da Gama that is the oldest colonial wreck ever found.
Mearns said there was no direct pathway from the College of Marine Science to shipwreck hunting, but rather a happy accident of fate when he sought out what to do with his new master’s degree in geological oceanography.
“I didn’t want to work in oil and gas, and I didn’t have what it takes to be an academic,” Mearns explained. “So I did what a lot of geological oceanographers do, I went to work in the offshore industry.”
Mearns started with a company in Maryland that had contracts with the U.S. government to do search and recovery missions for lost U.S. Navy property in the deep seas – lost aircraft, vessels and cruise missiles were among the items they recovered. The company was hired by the Austrian government investigating the suspicious sinking of a ship, the Lucona.
Mearns had at his disposal advanced sensors and imaging systems, and a penchant for meticulously studying every document collected in wrecks to search for clues in accounts of debris fields, records of where survivors and bodies were found and any small notation that might provide a hint of a ship’s location that would augment his knowledge of the ocean floor.
“You have to be able to tell the difference between what is man-made and what is natural,” he said. “To be a geologist is to know what the sea bed is supposed to look like, it helps to interpret the images of these features.”
The Lucona had gone down in the Pacific Ocean in 1977, supposedly while carrying expensive uranium mining equipment. Authorities suspected fraud, but until Mearns found the wreck in 1991 they had no proof. It turned out the ship’s owner, a wealthy businessman, and his partner had loaded the ship with scrap metal and a time bomb as part of his scheme. Six crew members perished in the sabotage; the evidence Mearns helped gathered sent the men to prison for life.
He followed that success with the hunt for the Derbyshire, a bulk oil carrier that disappeared during a typhoon south of Japan in 1980, and shocked the British public because the large vessel left no trace in its sinking. Mears said in his investigation, he came to learn that carriers like it sailing under the flags of developing nations had also sunk – costing thousands of lives – without much public outcry.
After the Derbyshire was found, images and information Mearns collected along with work done by other scientists led to the British government rewriting regulations on the design and building of bulk carriers.
“There’s no question it has saved lives,” Mearns said. “That has to be one of my most satisfying ones.”
His attention soon turned to vessels lost in World War II, and he returned to Great Britain where he could be closer to maritime records in the British Archives. After his successful hunt for the Hood and an accompanying documentary, he was contracted by the Australian government to bring closure to its wartime tragedies.
“We had virtually all of Australia watching every move when we searched for Centaur and Sydney,” he said.
Mearns still has one quest at the top of his list: to find legendary Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton’s lost ship, the Endurance.
The vessel sank in 1915 after it became trapped in ice. Mearns said he has worked for years researching the expedition, applying his knowledge of currents and ocean features and getting permission from Shackelton’s family to explore the iconic wreck. Now it has come down to securing financing for the venture; shipwreck hunts can easily cost in the millions of dollars and this venture will be even more challenging given the formidable nature of the Antarctic, he said.
“To me, it’s the challenge of doing it, but the history is fantastic,” he said. “Shackelton is one of the top figures of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. People find his example in leadership enduring.”
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Nov. 12, 2010) – David Mearns did not set out to be one of the world’s great shipwreck hunters, but when his first expedition to find a vessel that sunk under suspicious circumstances ended is a high-profile murder trial and life sentences for the saboteurs, the rest became maritime history.
Mearns turned his 1986 degree from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in physical oceanography into a high profile career of finding lost ships – from a 16th Century caravel that was part of Vasco de Gama’s fleet to some of the great maritime tragedies of World War II.
His finds have brought closure to war widows who never stopped grieving, sent guilty men to prison for life and helped the British government set new standards for ship construction, saving thousands of lives in the future.
With a career now as storied as some of the shipwrecks he seeks, Mearns returned to the College of Marine Science recently for a visit with faculty and students and lecture for the public at the Mahaffey Theater. He brought with him spellbinding tales of search across the world for lost ships and souls, and the astounding “Eureka!” moments when they become found.
“There are these terrific moments when you are successful,” said Mearns, president of Bluewater Recoveries, Ltd., “You spend years working on something and it often comes down to your judgment; whether you are looking in the right place.”
Mearns has found more than 20 shipwrecks and most recently led the expedition that found the wreckage of the AHS Centaur, an Australian hospital ship which was sunk by a Japanese submarine in May 1943 off the coast of Queensland. Of the 332 doctors, nurses and wounded soldiers and sailors aboard, 268 perished. The 2009 discovery ended a 66-year quest by families of those who were lost and Australian government officials.
Earlier this year, more than 300 people attended an at-sea memorial service at the site of the shipwreck to honor the doctors, nurses and service personnel killed in the attack. The group, which included one of just two remaining survivors of the attack, dropped floral wreaths and messages into the ocean waves, the closest they had been to their lost loved ones since the sinking.
The Centaur, though, is just the latest find to bring Mearns worldwide acclaim.
In 2001, Mearns lead teams to discover the wreckage of the HMS Hood, the British warship lost in the epic battle with the Nazi ship Bismarck . Mearns and his team – using extensive research, documents, eyewitness accounts and the most advanced technology available to pinpoint the ships’ locations - overcame the challenges of locating the shipwreck in 3,000 feet of water in the Denmark Strait. His efforts to locate the ship is the basis for the PBS documentary “Hunt for the Hood” and the subject of the 2002 book, “Hood and Bismarck.”
Yet Mearns considers the 2008 discovery of the HMAS Sydney II shipwreck his greatest discovery. It took six years and an international effort to locate the warship, which had been the pride of Australia when it sank in 1941 after an encounter with a German vessel disguised as a merchant ship. The attack left a stunned nation grieving the 654 men lost and with unanswered questions which persisted for decades.
Mearns’ documented the expedition in his second book, The Search for the Sydney, which immediately became a top seller in Australia.
His other finds include the Lucona, a cargo ship at the centre of a sensational European murder trial; the Derbyshire, which was lost with all hands and led to new rules covering survivability and structural requirements for bulk carriers; and the Esmeralda, a Portuguese Nau in the fleet of Vasco da Gama that is the oldest colonial wreck ever found.
Mearns said there was no direct pathway from the College of Marine Science to shipwreck hunting, but rather a happy accident of fate when he sought out what to do with his new master’s degree in geological oceanography.
“I didn’t want to work in oil and gas, and I didn’t have what it takes to be an academic,” Mearns explained. “So I did what a lot of geological oceanographers do, I went to work in the offshore industry.”
Mearns started with a company in Maryland that had contracts with the U.S. government to do search and recovery missions for lost U.S. Navy property in the deep seas – lost aircraft, vessels and cruise missiles were among the items they recovered. The company was hired by the Austrian government investigating the suspicious sinking of a ship, the Lucona.
Mearns had at his disposal advanced sensors and imaging systems, and a penchant for meticulously studying every document collected in wrecks to search for clues in accounts of debris fields, records of where survivors and bodies were found and any small notation that might provide a hint of a ship’s location that would augment his knowledge of the ocean floor.
“You have to be able to tell the difference between what is man-made and what is natural,” he said. “To be a geologist is to know what the sea bed is supposed to look like, it helps to interpret the images of these features.”
The Lucona had gone down in the Pacific Ocean in 1977, supposedly while carrying expensive uranium mining equipment. Authorities suspected fraud, but until Mearns found the wreck in 1991 they had no proof. It turned out the ship’s owner, a wealthy businessman, and his partner had loaded the ship with scrap metal and a time bomb as part of his scheme. Six crew members perished in the sabotage; the evidence Mearns helped gathered sent the men to prison for life.
He followed that success with the hunt for the Derbyshire, a bulk oil carrier that disappeared during a typhoon south of Japan in 1980, and shocked the British public because the large vessel left no trace in its sinking. Mears said in his investigation, he came to learn that carriers like it sailing under the flags of developing nations had also sunk – costing thousands of lives – without much public outcry.
After the Derbyshire was found, images and information Mearns collected along with work done by other scientists led to the British government rewriting regulations on the design and building of bulk carriers.
“There’s no question it has saved lives,” Mearns said. “That has to be one of my most satisfying ones.”
His attention soon turned to vessels lost in World War II, and he returned to Great Britain where he could be closer to maritime records in the British Archives. After his successful hunt for the Hood and an accompanying documentary, he was contracted by the Australian government to bring closure to its wartime tragedies.
“We had virtually all of Australia watching every move when we searched for Centaur and Sydney,” he said.
Mearns still has one quest at the top of his list: to find legendary Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackelton’s lost ship, the Endurance.
The vessel sank in 1915 after it became trapped in ice. Mearns said he has worked for years researching the expedition, applying his knowledge of currents and ocean features and getting permission from Shackelton’s family to explore the iconic wreck. Now it has come down to securing financing for the venture; shipwreck hunts can easily cost in the millions of dollars and this venture will be even more challenging given the formidable nature of the Antarctic, he said.
“To me, it’s the challenge of doing it, but the history is fantastic,” he said. “Shackelton is one of the top figures of the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. People find his example in leadership enduring.”
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