Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd, by Barry Clifford with Paul Perry
William Morrow 2003
276 pages, photos, no index
Library: 910.9 CLI
Description
When history's most famous pirate, Captain Kidd, was hanged in 1701, he left behind a trail of treasure and treachery that stretched halfway around the world. For undersea explorer Barry Clifford, the biggest prize of all would be to find the Adventure Galley, Kidd's legendary pirate ship. In the world of pirate archeology, it was the Holy Grail.
With the help of the Discovery Channel, Clifford fields an expedition that includes some of America's top experts in shipwreck recovery. Their goal is to find, identify, and possibly excavate the remains of history's most famous pirate ship. The search takes them to the exotic nation of Madagascar and a tiny island off its rocky coast known to historians as the model for Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.
There, amid pirate graveyards, broken porcelain intended for a European royal family, and native rituals that include blood sacrifice, Clifford and his crew find far more than they bargained for. The island's murky harbor is is filled with sunken pirate ships, making it difficult to single out the Adventure Galley, and the shores are teeming with people who want the expedition stopped. The team races to find the ship before the dark forces expel them from the island--forcces motivated by the same resentment and greed that caused Kidd's dowbnfall.
Return to Treasure Island and the Searcg for Captain Kidd's Treasure weaves ogether two exciting stories: the saga of Captain William Kidd, one of nistories most baffling and mysterious figures, and Barry Clifford's obsessive quest to find perhaps the most notorious pirate ship of all time. The result is a tale of treasure and adventure that ends in death--both Kidd's and, three hundred years later, that of a rival archaeologist who attempts to stop Clifford's expedition.
Table of Contents
Part 1: The First Expedition
1. Being There
2. Theft By Commission
3. A Jumbled Graveyard
4. Privateer, Inc.
5. Treasures to Explore
6. The Rogue's Rogue
7. A Likely Suspect
8. Murder and Piracy
9. The First Bank of Kidd
10. Now I Am One
11. Zebu-Que
12. Brethren of the Sea
Part 2: The Second Expedition
13. Return to TReasure Island
14. "Wickedness So Great"
15. The Tech TEam
16. England's Most Wanted
17. The Tunnels of Pirate IOsland
18. False REdemption
19. Pirate Gold
20. "Never a Greater Liar"
21. The Fiery Dragon
22. As Good as Hanged
Part 3: The Third Expedition
23. Friday the 13th
24. "Moved and Seduced"
25. Battle of the Full Moon
26. "Not Designedly Done"
27. A Son of a Pirate
28. The Greatest and Worst of All
29. The TRick-or-Treat Show
30. Twice to the Gallows
31. "No One Should Die Alone"
32. The Unrequited Legacy
33. The Brotherhood of Pirates
Acknowledgements
Photos
"Air Mad" flying into Ile Sainte-Marie
Orchidees Bungalows
Pirate and native girl on Ile Saint-Marie
Causeway crossing Prirate Bay/Baie des Forbans
Archaeologist John de Bry and Technician Charlie Burnham
Island guide Andre Mabily and John de Bry
Satellite image of Ile Saint-Marie
17th century map of Pirate Bay, with Ilot Madame and Pirate Island
Barry Clifford with dive mask
woodcut, Captain Kidd shooting William Moore
Brandon and Barry Clifford
John de Bry, Barry Clifford and Ben Parry
Unidentified natives and a zebu
Barry Clifford drinking betsa betsa, and unidentified islanders
French guide Gilles Gautier
Todd Murphy and Jenny Clifford
Jenny's sketch of wreck site
Alan Witten and GEM
Alan Witten's sketch of tunnels on Pirate's Island
Doug Miller of Witten TEchnologies, John DeBry, and unidentified individuals
Brandon Clifford
Howard Pyle's illustration of pirate's burying treasure on Grdiner Island
Barry Clifford and John de Bry
Gregory the local security guard
Double eagle motif on poreclain from Fiery Dragon
Annick Ratsiraka and unidentified man
John de Bry
Wes Spiegel with sonar
Stephanie de Bry
Dick Swete
Margot Nicol-Hathaway
French guides Fabrice andDigiovanni and Gilles Gautier
Captain Kidd on his gibbet
Bob Paine, Catherine Harker, Chris Macort
Jeff Denholm
Various artifacts from the Adventure galley site
Barry Clifford sand two unidentified men (one is De Bry)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Hardcore fishing team makes quite a discovery
Hardcore fishing team makes quite a discovery
Bradenton, Florida-- Have you ever been curious as to what lies below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico?
When moving from spot to spot, how many secrets could possibly be passed below, resting at the bottom of the Gulf floor?
I wonder this every time I run west from Bean Point or Longboat Pass, with the GPS set on one of my go-to spots I’ve fished countless times. I know what those spots hold -- but there is a seemingly infinite amount of secrets that have yet to be discovered.
CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS
Now, most of the time I find myself fishing inside 30 miles. There are few secrets, and nearly every wreck, reef and large piece of structure will have boats on it when the weather allows. Finding a new fishing spot that no one knows about seems harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
So what happens when you go, say, 120 miles or more into the Gulf of Mexico, where fishing boats rarely venture. For anglers Justin Hey, Danny Pool, Brian Beukema and Jay Travis, who comprise the hardcore fishing team Seaveeche, a needle in a haystack was found resting in 412 feet of water -- but the anglers were unaware of the extent of their discovery.
“We found a spot while trolling a few years ago,” Hey said. “We had two numbers in the general area that we fished. On one trip we were trolling when our depth finder alarmed us of something very large on the bottom. We knew it was a wreck of some type. We had fished it three or four times, catching amberjack to 90 pounds, Warsaw and gag grouper, and large red snapper.”
Keeping such a discovery a secret is hard to do, especially with undiscovered shipwrecks still haunting the Gulf of Mexico. So, when curiosity built within the anglers about the possibilities of their discovery, they made contact with Michael C. Barnette, an accomplished diver, author and photographer. Barnette has helped in identifying more than 30 unknown shipwrecks in the past 20 years.
“I was contacted by these hardcore anglers, curious about deepwater shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico off Southwest Florida,” Barnette said. “Brian gave me a rough position of their site to see if I had any shipwreck coordinates in the area in the off-chance the site might already be identified. ... Eventually, it was clear to me that their site was different and undocumented.”
With their curiosity climaxing, the anglers planned a trip with Barnette, dive partner Joe Citelli and support diver Michael Muscato to make the extreme plunge 400 feet down into the Gulf of Mexico. With every safety precaution taken, they left on a Friday night in September to calm seas. The crew arrived after running all night to see the mystery below light up their Furuno 585 depth finder on Saturday morning.
The divers made their way along the anchor line, passing huge schools of amberjack that the anglers knew would be present.
At 400 feet, there was no room for error. The divers had about 20 minutes of bottom time to take it all in, while also trying to comprehend what they had discovered. Equipped with a scooter and camera, Barnette worked his way around the wreck, documenting as much as he could. After a lengthy decompression, the divers surfaced and the journey was reset back for home.
“We discussed the wreck but ultimately could not answer the one inevitable question: What was the identity of the shipwreck?” Barnette recalled. “That would have to wait until I could get home to compare my notes and photographs from the dive with information archived in my shipwreck files.”
The discovery was compared with numerous reports, before Barnette pieced it all together.
“That mystery wreck is the 346-foot, 42-foot wide Whaleback steamer The City of Everette, built in 1894. This wreck is loaded with significant historical value. Originally built in Everett, Wash., by Pacific Steel, this was the first and last vessel built by them, as well as the only West Coast Whaleback vessel ever built.
“It was the first U.S. Steamship to pass through the Suez Canal, as well as the first to circumnavigate the globe. The ship was sunk during a storm on Oct. 12, 1923, while on a trip from Cuba to New Orleans. All 26 crewmen were lost after the radio operator relayed an S.O.S. and report the ship was going down stern first.”
So, the mystery has been solved for the curious anglers and divers, but they aren’t quite done with it yet.
“We are going to go back and see if we can recover any additional items on the wreck. On the first visit many pieces of antique china and portholes could be seen laying in the sand,” Hey said.
And in case you’re wondering, its location is still a secret known only to these select few.
If you’re interested in reading more in depth about Barnette’s dive on The City of Everette and the history of the wreck, check out the most recent Wreck Diving Magazine, available on most major newsstands with the cover story titled “A Whale of a Tale.”
Capt. Jon Chapman, who writes about Outdoors for the Herald, can be reached through his website at www.captainchappy.com.
Bradenton, Florida-- Have you ever been curious as to what lies below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico?
When moving from spot to spot, how many secrets could possibly be passed below, resting at the bottom of the Gulf floor?
I wonder this every time I run west from Bean Point or Longboat Pass, with the GPS set on one of my go-to spots I’ve fished countless times. I know what those spots hold -- but there is a seemingly infinite amount of secrets that have yet to be discovered.
CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS
Now, most of the time I find myself fishing inside 30 miles. There are few secrets, and nearly every wreck, reef and large piece of structure will have boats on it when the weather allows. Finding a new fishing spot that no one knows about seems harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
So what happens when you go, say, 120 miles or more into the Gulf of Mexico, where fishing boats rarely venture. For anglers Justin Hey, Danny Pool, Brian Beukema and Jay Travis, who comprise the hardcore fishing team Seaveeche, a needle in a haystack was found resting in 412 feet of water -- but the anglers were unaware of the extent of their discovery.
“We found a spot while trolling a few years ago,” Hey said. “We had two numbers in the general area that we fished. On one trip we were trolling when our depth finder alarmed us of something very large on the bottom. We knew it was a wreck of some type. We had fished it three or four times, catching amberjack to 90 pounds, Warsaw and gag grouper, and large red snapper.”
Keeping such a discovery a secret is hard to do, especially with undiscovered shipwrecks still haunting the Gulf of Mexico. So, when curiosity built within the anglers about the possibilities of their discovery, they made contact with Michael C. Barnette, an accomplished diver, author and photographer. Barnette has helped in identifying more than 30 unknown shipwrecks in the past 20 years.
“I was contacted by these hardcore anglers, curious about deepwater shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico off Southwest Florida,” Barnette said. “Brian gave me a rough position of their site to see if I had any shipwreck coordinates in the area in the off-chance the site might already be identified. ... Eventually, it was clear to me that their site was different and undocumented.”
With their curiosity climaxing, the anglers planned a trip with Barnette, dive partner Joe Citelli and support diver Michael Muscato to make the extreme plunge 400 feet down into the Gulf of Mexico. With every safety precaution taken, they left on a Friday night in September to calm seas. The crew arrived after running all night to see the mystery below light up their Furuno 585 depth finder on Saturday morning.
The divers made their way along the anchor line, passing huge schools of amberjack that the anglers knew would be present.
At 400 feet, there was no room for error. The divers had about 20 minutes of bottom time to take it all in, while also trying to comprehend what they had discovered. Equipped with a scooter and camera, Barnette worked his way around the wreck, documenting as much as he could. After a lengthy decompression, the divers surfaced and the journey was reset back for home.
“We discussed the wreck but ultimately could not answer the one inevitable question: What was the identity of the shipwreck?” Barnette recalled. “That would have to wait until I could get home to compare my notes and photographs from the dive with information archived in my shipwreck files.”
The discovery was compared with numerous reports, before Barnette pieced it all together.
“That mystery wreck is the 346-foot, 42-foot wide Whaleback steamer The City of Everette, built in 1894. This wreck is loaded with significant historical value. Originally built in Everett, Wash., by Pacific Steel, this was the first and last vessel built by them, as well as the only West Coast Whaleback vessel ever built.
“It was the first U.S. Steamship to pass through the Suez Canal, as well as the first to circumnavigate the globe. The ship was sunk during a storm on Oct. 12, 1923, while on a trip from Cuba to New Orleans. All 26 crewmen were lost after the radio operator relayed an S.O.S. and report the ship was going down stern first.”
So, the mystery has been solved for the curious anglers and divers, but they aren’t quite done with it yet.
“We are going to go back and see if we can recover any additional items on the wreck. On the first visit many pieces of antique china and portholes could be seen laying in the sand,” Hey said.
And in case you’re wondering, its location is still a secret known only to these select few.
If you’re interested in reading more in depth about Barnette’s dive on The City of Everette and the history of the wreck, check out the most recent Wreck Diving Magazine, available on most major newsstands with the cover story titled “A Whale of a Tale.”
Capt. Jon Chapman, who writes about Outdoors for the Herald, can be reached through his website at www.captainchappy.com.
20 Dec 2010: Scientists drill beneath Dead Sea in search of priceless data
Scientists drill beneath Dead Sea in search of priceless data
Rock samples underwater for eons are likely to be better preserved, researchers say. Expectations are high that the lowest place on Earth can answer questions on climate change and other key matters.
Reporting from Dead Sea — If you thought you couldn't get any lower than the Dead Sea, think again. You can go under it.
Scientists here are drilling 1,640 feet beneath the bottom of the Dead Sea, to a depth of more than 2,600 feet below sea level.
Rock samples that have been underwater for millions of years are likely to be better preserved, they say, than samples taken from under an exposed surface, which can be damaged by aridity and erosion.
As a result, the Dead Sea bore hole is expected to contain priceless information about the planet's past and to offer insight on its future. Expectations are high that the lowest place on Earth can answer questions on climate change, earthquake risk and untapped natural resources.
Since the region was mentioned in biblical contexts that include Sodom and Gomorrah, the ruins of which some scholars believe are submerged under the Dead Sea, the $2.5-million project might also crack an ancient mystery or two.
It's a massive undertaking. A unique rig was constructed and then towed more than 4 miles into the salty sea, where drilling will go on for 40 days and nights, perhaps appropriate for the region.
Forty scientists from six countries are taking part in the deep-drilling program, sponsored by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German-based International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, which conducts deep sea and lake drilling worldwide.
The samples are expected to provide a sort of tree-ring-style annual log, stretching over a half-million-year period, that will enable experts to say, for example, that "368,153 was a very rainy year," says Zvi Ben-Avraham, head of the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel-Aviv University.
At a nearby laboratory, the rings are clearly visible through Plexiglas tubes containing the first samples. A pair of layers, brown and white, represent a normal year with a wet season and a dry one. Variations bear witness to drought, flood and trauma. "These are the pages of our history," says Amotz Agnon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Dead Sea — a lake, really — is what has remained for the last few million years of a series of ancient bodies of water in the Jordan Valley, although its current version is only 11,000 years old. It fills one of Earth's deepest holes, located in a depression on the border between two tectonic plates forming part of the long Syro-African fault line. The plates are still moving. Small tremors are not infrequent, but Ben-Avraham says the region is relatively calm. The last big quake occurred in 1927.
Experts say the Dead Sea should provide invaluable historical data because the region served as a corridor through which humankind migrated from Africa.
Filled tubes are kept in a freezer outside an unassuming lab in Kibbutz Ein Gedi, in the hills above the water. Early batches have been passed through a scanner that buzzes and beeps while sending data to a computer.
More tubes lie on the floor of the lab, soon to be put through the machine. In one, a 4-inch stretch of mud reflects a century-long wet period around 400 years ago, in what is known as the Little Ice Age. Deeper samples should corroborate other documented events such as the volcanic eruption of Santorini about 3,500 years ago.
Data contained in these "archives," as Moti Stein of the Geological Survey of Israel puts it, are of global importance. The data of past relations between two climate belts, the Mediterranean and the desert, will help prepare climate models in times of global warming and desertification, Stein says.
The Dead Sea itself is as unusual as the drilling project.
Fresh water flowing into the sea is trapped; with no outflow, the only way out is up. High evaporation rates in this hot, arid zone result in extreme hyper-salinity.
The buoyancy draws tourists who come for a float. Others are attracted by the purported cosmetic and healing properties of the minerals, fabled since antiquity, or simply for the striking landscape.
But the Dead Sea is in trouble. Receding about 3 feet a year, the water, pessimists warn, could soon vanish. Stein says the lake has naturally recovered from catastrophic aridity before.
But humans are playing a role. "We're not helping," says Michael Lazar, the marine geophysicist from the University of Haifa who manages the project.
Tectonic plates aren't the only things grating against each other. There's regional politics too. The Dead Sea fills an area shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians. The site's nomination for the Seven Wonders of the World competition was almost undone by conflicting political claims.
Though no Jordanian or Palestinian scientists were to be seen during a recent media tour of the site, organizers said the multinational project includes both. A project official said Arab scientists were keeping a low profile because of political sensitivities.
"The Dead Sea doesn't belong to Israel, Jordan or the Palestinians," Lazar said. "They're in, and we're happy to have them."
Rock samples underwater for eons are likely to be better preserved, researchers say. Expectations are high that the lowest place on Earth can answer questions on climate change and other key matters.
Reporting from Dead Sea — If you thought you couldn't get any lower than the Dead Sea, think again. You can go under it.
Scientists here are drilling 1,640 feet beneath the bottom of the Dead Sea, to a depth of more than 2,600 feet below sea level.
Rock samples that have been underwater for millions of years are likely to be better preserved, they say, than samples taken from under an exposed surface, which can be damaged by aridity and erosion.
As a result, the Dead Sea bore hole is expected to contain priceless information about the planet's past and to offer insight on its future. Expectations are high that the lowest place on Earth can answer questions on climate change, earthquake risk and untapped natural resources.
Since the region was mentioned in biblical contexts that include Sodom and Gomorrah, the ruins of which some scholars believe are submerged under the Dead Sea, the $2.5-million project might also crack an ancient mystery or two.
It's a massive undertaking. A unique rig was constructed and then towed more than 4 miles into the salty sea, where drilling will go on for 40 days and nights, perhaps appropriate for the region.
Forty scientists from six countries are taking part in the deep-drilling program, sponsored by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German-based International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, which conducts deep sea and lake drilling worldwide.
The samples are expected to provide a sort of tree-ring-style annual log, stretching over a half-million-year period, that will enable experts to say, for example, that "368,153 was a very rainy year," says Zvi Ben-Avraham, head of the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel-Aviv University.
At a nearby laboratory, the rings are clearly visible through Plexiglas tubes containing the first samples. A pair of layers, brown and white, represent a normal year with a wet season and a dry one. Variations bear witness to drought, flood and trauma. "These are the pages of our history," says Amotz Agnon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Dead Sea — a lake, really — is what has remained for the last few million years of a series of ancient bodies of water in the Jordan Valley, although its current version is only 11,000 years old. It fills one of Earth's deepest holes, located in a depression on the border between two tectonic plates forming part of the long Syro-African fault line. The plates are still moving. Small tremors are not infrequent, but Ben-Avraham says the region is relatively calm. The last big quake occurred in 1927.
Experts say the Dead Sea should provide invaluable historical data because the region served as a corridor through which humankind migrated from Africa.
Filled tubes are kept in a freezer outside an unassuming lab in Kibbutz Ein Gedi, in the hills above the water. Early batches have been passed through a scanner that buzzes and beeps while sending data to a computer.
More tubes lie on the floor of the lab, soon to be put through the machine. In one, a 4-inch stretch of mud reflects a century-long wet period around 400 years ago, in what is known as the Little Ice Age. Deeper samples should corroborate other documented events such as the volcanic eruption of Santorini about 3,500 years ago.
Data contained in these "archives," as Moti Stein of the Geological Survey of Israel puts it, are of global importance. The data of past relations between two climate belts, the Mediterranean and the desert, will help prepare climate models in times of global warming and desertification, Stein says.
The Dead Sea itself is as unusual as the drilling project.
Fresh water flowing into the sea is trapped; with no outflow, the only way out is up. High evaporation rates in this hot, arid zone result in extreme hyper-salinity.
The buoyancy draws tourists who come for a float. Others are attracted by the purported cosmetic and healing properties of the minerals, fabled since antiquity, or simply for the striking landscape.
But the Dead Sea is in trouble. Receding about 3 feet a year, the water, pessimists warn, could soon vanish. Stein says the lake has naturally recovered from catastrophic aridity before.
But humans are playing a role. "We're not helping," says Michael Lazar, the marine geophysicist from the University of Haifa who manages the project.
Tectonic plates aren't the only things grating against each other. There's regional politics too. The Dead Sea fills an area shared by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians. The site's nomination for the Seven Wonders of the World competition was almost undone by conflicting political claims.
Though no Jordanian or Palestinian scientists were to be seen during a recent media tour of the site, organizers said the multinational project includes both. A project official said Arab scientists were keeping a low profile because of political sensitivities.
"The Dead Sea doesn't belong to Israel, Jordan or the Palestinians," Lazar said. "They're in, and we're happy to have them."
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
14 Dec, 2010, ISNA: Iran builds unmanned radio-controlled submarine
And for a plot device
From the Iranian Student's News Agency: Iran builds unmanned radio-controlled submarine
TEHRAN (ISNA)-An Iranian scientist has built unmanned radio-controlled submarine with the ability of information exchange five meters under water.
“The submarine is in the initial phase of construction and it will be turned into a smart one in the second phase,” said the project director, Reza Mohammadi.
A camera can be installed in front of the submarine, transferring images. The camera can send pictures out from water if connected online.
The submarine can also go down under water by five meters with the speed of two meter per second.
The project manager continued that the submarine is armed with a “balance tank” which prevents additional movements underwater.
The submarine is equipped with a system warning low battery, he said adding, “the newly-built device was tested in sweet water, but it can move in any kind of water.”
From the Iranian Student's News Agency: Iran builds unmanned radio-controlled submarine
TEHRAN (ISNA)-An Iranian scientist has built unmanned radio-controlled submarine with the ability of information exchange five meters under water.
“The submarine is in the initial phase of construction and it will be turned into a smart one in the second phase,” said the project director, Reza Mohammadi.
A camera can be installed in front of the submarine, transferring images. The camera can send pictures out from water if connected online.
The submarine can also go down under water by five meters with the speed of two meter per second.
The project manager continued that the submarine is armed with a “balance tank” which prevents additional movements underwater.
The submarine is equipped with a system warning low battery, he said adding, “the newly-built device was tested in sweet water, but it can move in any kind of water.”
14 Aug, 2010, China Daily: More than 30 shipwrecks off country's coast
China: More than 30 shipwrecks off country's coast
More than 30 archaeological shipwreck sites have been discovered off the country's shoreline, the national oceanic body has reportedly said.
The shipwrecks were discovered during a research project called 908, China News Service on Sunday quoted an unidentified official with the State Oceanic Administration's department of science and technology as saying.
The findings were released during a seminar on the project in Xiamen, Fujian province.
The research conducted by the administration between 2004 and 2009 covered 676,000 square kilometers of inland water and territorial sea.
Ancient merchants shipped vast stores of goods, including ceramics and bronze-wares, along the Maritime Silk Road.
"So there are plenty of underwater archaeological sites near southeast China's coast and around neighboring countries, such as Vietnam," Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage researcher Sun Jian said.
The Maritime Silk Road is a sea route dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), linking Quanzhou in modern Fujian province to India and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
"One ancient shipwreck usually abounds with tens of thousands of relics from the same dynasty," Sun said.
"The huge profits have enticed a growing number of fishermen to dive for these riches."
State Administration of Cultural Heritage official Chai Xiaoming said looting had undermined cultural relics' preservation.
Fujian police have launched crackdowns.
They uncovered 45 smuggling cases and seized 7,144 artifacts from shipwrecks in 2006.
They dealt with 25 cases and retrieved 2,700 relics in 2005, the Beijing-based China Culture Daily reported.
Sun, the researcher, said nearly all of the country's underwater archaeological sites are looted before excavation.
"In the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, we should protect underwater relics by strengthening the judicial system and developing stronger teams with cutting-edge technology," Tianjin Daily quoted Chai as saying on Saturday.
Currently, China does not have detailed laws protecting underwater cultural relics. The country has fewer than 100 certified archaeologists capable of underwater operations.
By Cheng Yingqi, China Daily
More than 30 archaeological shipwreck sites have been discovered off the country's shoreline, the national oceanic body has reportedly said.
The shipwrecks were discovered during a research project called 908, China News Service on Sunday quoted an unidentified official with the State Oceanic Administration's department of science and technology as saying.
The findings were released during a seminar on the project in Xiamen, Fujian province.
The research conducted by the administration between 2004 and 2009 covered 676,000 square kilometers of inland water and territorial sea.
Ancient merchants shipped vast stores of goods, including ceramics and bronze-wares, along the Maritime Silk Road.
"So there are plenty of underwater archaeological sites near southeast China's coast and around neighboring countries, such as Vietnam," Chinese Academy of Cultural Heritage researcher Sun Jian said.
The Maritime Silk Road is a sea route dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), linking Quanzhou in modern Fujian province to India and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
"One ancient shipwreck usually abounds with tens of thousands of relics from the same dynasty," Sun said.
"The huge profits have enticed a growing number of fishermen to dive for these riches."
State Administration of Cultural Heritage official Chai Xiaoming said looting had undermined cultural relics' preservation.
Fujian police have launched crackdowns.
They uncovered 45 smuggling cases and seized 7,144 artifacts from shipwrecks in 2006.
They dealt with 25 cases and retrieved 2,700 relics in 2005, the Beijing-based China Culture Daily reported.
Sun, the researcher, said nearly all of the country's underwater archaeological sites are looted before excavation.
"In the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period, we should protect underwater relics by strengthening the judicial system and developing stronger teams with cutting-edge technology," Tianjin Daily quoted Chai as saying on Saturday.
Currently, China does not have detailed laws protecting underwater cultural relics. The country has fewer than 100 certified archaeologists capable of underwater operations.
By Cheng Yingqi, China Daily
Monday, December 13, 2010
12 Dec 2010, The Record: Finding shipwrecks uplifting experience
Finding shipwrecks uplifting experience
KITCHENER — While the Titanic is probably the world’s most famous shipwreck, our own backyard — more specifically the Great Lakes — holds some incredible sunken stories.
Scuba diver and shipwreck enthusiast Jim Kennard was at The Museum on Saturday speaking as part of the Titanic speaker series.
Using side-scanning sonar — a sophisticated form of underwater radar — Kennard has shone a light into the cold darkness of the shipping graves at the bottom of the massive lakes.
One light shined a bit brighter than the rest when Kennard, and his partner Dan Scoville, discovered a wreck in May 2008 off the southern shore.
In 1780 the HMS Ontario, a 22-gun British warship carrying 122 people including about 30 Canadian crew members, sank in Lake Ontario during the American Revolution.
Kennard remembered how his “heart was in is throat” when a final pass of the torpedo-like sonar passed within six metres of the ship’s 228-year-old main masts.
It was the oldest shipwreck discovered on the Great Lakes, and a TV production company is now working with Kennard and Scoville to tell the story.
Kennard has found over 200 wrecks using side-scanning technology in and around the Great Lakes, but he said this discovery was different.
“We knew it was a war grave,” Kennard said.
He said there was “silent reverence” instead of high-fives when the ship was discovered.
Kennard shared a lot of high-fives over 35 years of shipwreck hunting, beginning in the early ’70s when he built the first non-commercial side-scanning sonar technology available within 800 kilometres of his home in Rochester, New York.
The sonar is towed by a boat or submarine, and shoots pulses perpendicular to the ground instead of down toward the ground like traditional sonar. This creates an image of the sea floor that is remarkably clear, but it’s not a perfect technology.
“I chased a school of fish around for two hours once,” Kennard said.
“The darned thing kept moving on me.”
A retired electrical engineer, Kennard still calls shipwreck hunting a hobby, but it’s a hobby that has seen his name printed in the New York Times connected with “Holy Grail” find like the HMS Ontario.
Kennard said part of the thrill of searching for the wrecks is “like being the first person on a mountain.”
“What can you do these days where you can say ‘you were the first — you’re the discoverer’?” Kennard asked.
“All the mountains have been climbed, but not all the ships have been found.”
Using video and artist renditions Kennard says it’s important to “write the final chapter” for the history of the ships and the lives of the people that were lost.
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit continues until January 23rd at The Museum, featuring more than 150 artifacts raised from the famous 1912 wreck.
The Museum chief executive David Marskell said the exhibit has so far been a big draw for a variety of groups – especially on the weekends – and the group sales expected revenue has already been reached with six weeks to go.
As the holiday season approaches he suggests purchasing tickets online and specifying a time to visit to avoid lineups.
Upcoming Titanic related events include a video conference with a museum in Virginia on Dec. 18, Rick Archbold, the author of The Discovery of the Titanic, will speak on Jan. 9 and Wilfrid Laurier professor Paul Heyer, author of Titanic Legacy: Disaster as Media Event and Myth will speak Jan 15.
KITCHENER — While the Titanic is probably the world’s most famous shipwreck, our own backyard — more specifically the Great Lakes — holds some incredible sunken stories.
Scuba diver and shipwreck enthusiast Jim Kennard was at The Museum on Saturday speaking as part of the Titanic speaker series.
Using side-scanning sonar — a sophisticated form of underwater radar — Kennard has shone a light into the cold darkness of the shipping graves at the bottom of the massive lakes.
One light shined a bit brighter than the rest when Kennard, and his partner Dan Scoville, discovered a wreck in May 2008 off the southern shore.
In 1780 the HMS Ontario, a 22-gun British warship carrying 122 people including about 30 Canadian crew members, sank in Lake Ontario during the American Revolution.
Kennard remembered how his “heart was in is throat” when a final pass of the torpedo-like sonar passed within six metres of the ship’s 228-year-old main masts.
It was the oldest shipwreck discovered on the Great Lakes, and a TV production company is now working with Kennard and Scoville to tell the story.
Kennard has found over 200 wrecks using side-scanning technology in and around the Great Lakes, but he said this discovery was different.
“We knew it was a war grave,” Kennard said.
He said there was “silent reverence” instead of high-fives when the ship was discovered.
Kennard shared a lot of high-fives over 35 years of shipwreck hunting, beginning in the early ’70s when he built the first non-commercial side-scanning sonar technology available within 800 kilometres of his home in Rochester, New York.
The sonar is towed by a boat or submarine, and shoots pulses perpendicular to the ground instead of down toward the ground like traditional sonar. This creates an image of the sea floor that is remarkably clear, but it’s not a perfect technology.
“I chased a school of fish around for two hours once,” Kennard said.
“The darned thing kept moving on me.”
A retired electrical engineer, Kennard still calls shipwreck hunting a hobby, but it’s a hobby that has seen his name printed in the New York Times connected with “Holy Grail” find like the HMS Ontario.
Kennard said part of the thrill of searching for the wrecks is “like being the first person on a mountain.”
“What can you do these days where you can say ‘you were the first — you’re the discoverer’?” Kennard asked.
“All the mountains have been climbed, but not all the ships have been found.”
Using video and artist renditions Kennard says it’s important to “write the final chapter” for the history of the ships and the lives of the people that were lost.
Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit continues until January 23rd at The Museum, featuring more than 150 artifacts raised from the famous 1912 wreck.
The Museum chief executive David Marskell said the exhibit has so far been a big draw for a variety of groups – especially on the weekends – and the group sales expected revenue has already been reached with six weeks to go.
As the holiday season approaches he suggests purchasing tickets online and specifying a time to visit to avoid lineups.
Upcoming Titanic related events include a video conference with a museum in Virginia on Dec. 18, Rick Archbold, the author of The Discovery of the Titanic, will speak on Jan. 9 and Wilfrid Laurier professor Paul Heyer, author of Titanic Legacy: Disaster as Media Event and Myth will speak Jan 15.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Searching for sunken 16th century ship
The Almanac: Searching for sunken 16th century ship
By Dave Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer
Inductive reasoning. It's what detectives use to work backwards from evidence at a crime scene to develop a chronology of events that, with luck and diligence, will lead to a suspect.
It's also the modus operandi for Portola Valley resident and geophysicist Sheldon Breiner and a team of archaeologists and a historian who meet periodically along the Mexican coast of Baja California. They're investigating the disappearance of a Spanish galleon believed to be the San Felipe.
The San Felipe left China in 1576 headed for Acapulco by way of Manila with a cargo that included silk, beeswax and tons of Ming Dynasty porcelain. Records show the details of the cargo but not the San Felipe's arrival at its destination, and the Spanish were meticulous with their records, Mr. Breiner says in an interview.
Mr. Breiner spoke about this exploratory adventure at Portola Valley's Historic Schoolhouse on Nov. 16. The town's Nature & Science Committee sponsored the free event and about 20 people showed up.
Shipments of porcelain left China for Spain twice a year for some 250 years starting in 1565, Mr. Breiner says. There is debris indicating that the 100-foot, 400-ton San Felipe may have run aground off the desert coast of Baja.
Lying on and under the shifting sands of this corner of Mexico's Sonoran Desert are about 1,000 artifacts. While the researchers haven't yet found any silk, which would have been encased in wax, they have found beeswax, some lead sheeting used on the hulls of 16th century ships to discourage underwater pests, and a great many pieces of porcelain scattered along a two-mile-long line in the sand, Mr. Breiner says.
Why might the ship have grounded? Strong prevailing winds, scurvy among the crew of 200, a need for food or water, or a new mast or spar -- the reasons are not known. Had the ship reached Acapulco, its cargo would have been offloaded and hauled overland to the Gulf of Mexico and then shipped to Spain, a two-year to three-year trip altogether, Mr. Breiner says.
With hundreds of thousands of years of predictable winds, waves and depositions of sand as reference points, the line of debris is readable. The team has worked backward from the locations of these artifacts to place the likely remains of the sunken hull. After scanning the area with an ultra sensitive magnetometer, the team now has tracking data showing magnetic anomalies consistent with a buried hull. In short, they have a strong suspicion as to where it is.
If this anomaly is a sunken galleon, it may never be known for certain whether it is the San Felipe. Ship owners back then did not paint names on hulls, Mr. Breiner says. The porcelain can be dated by experts skilled at matching a design with the year in which that design was current.
Mr. Breiner says he plans to return to the site in February to survey the wreckage in detail and create a grid-based map of the debris field. The magnetometer can detect ballast stones, cannon barrels, and iron spikes used to hold the ship's ribs to its keel. Other items with a smaller footprint but still detectable include weapons, tools, boxes, furniture parts and personal effects of the crew. The lack of oxygen under the sediment inhibits corrosion.
Team members, when they do speak about this project, hold back its exact location. Search and recovery work is undertaken only with the explicit permission of the Mexican government and in the presence of archaeologists from the INAH, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mr. Breiner says.
Once Mexican specialists isolate and recover the hull and debris, the pieces will be restored to the extent possible -- perhaps a five-year enterprise -- and displayed in a museum in Ensenada, the capital of Baja California, Mr. Breiner says.
The joy of a journey like this one, Mr. Breiner says, is that it takes on a breadth of field of its own. Geology, oceanography and map-making are as critical as magnetism in solving this puzzle.
The questions Mr. Breiner poses in a paper on the subject are many. Why is the line of debris so straight? Why are there more objects at the southern end? How do the answers to these questions help reconstruct the events of the shipwreck? Where are the ship's anchors and why are they where they are? What has happened to the hull over four centuries? How did the porcelain stay in relatively good condition for hundreds of years in such a sandy and abrasive environment?
"There's a lot of information that can come from a well understood search and study of an ancient ship," Mr. Breiner says.
Finding buried objects
One piece of equipment Mr. Breiner has not used and that wouldn't do much good in this exploration is a metal detector. That device transmits an electrical signal; if something metal is within range, the transmitted signal creates within the metal an electrical current detectable by the device.
The magnetometer, by contrast, is passive. It senses the Earth's magnetic field, which is present everywhere all the time. The device notes anomalies in that field caused by materials that have or do not have magnetic properties.
Airport and courtroom devices that screen for metal objects on a person are magnetometers that can sense a belt buckle's disturbance to the planet's magnetic field. The device in use by Mr. Breiner in Baja is thousands of times more sensitive.
At the shipwreck, grains of magnetic minerals in the sand will provide a uniform background noise, Mr. Breiner says. Any interruption in that noise, such as would be made by a buried nonmagnetic pile of wood and ceramics, will indicate its presence by the absence of that background noise.
By Dave Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer
Inductive reasoning. It's what detectives use to work backwards from evidence at a crime scene to develop a chronology of events that, with luck and diligence, will lead to a suspect.
It's also the modus operandi for Portola Valley resident and geophysicist Sheldon Breiner and a team of archaeologists and a historian who meet periodically along the Mexican coast of Baja California. They're investigating the disappearance of a Spanish galleon believed to be the San Felipe.
The San Felipe left China in 1576 headed for Acapulco by way of Manila with a cargo that included silk, beeswax and tons of Ming Dynasty porcelain. Records show the details of the cargo but not the San Felipe's arrival at its destination, and the Spanish were meticulous with their records, Mr. Breiner says in an interview.
Mr. Breiner spoke about this exploratory adventure at Portola Valley's Historic Schoolhouse on Nov. 16. The town's Nature & Science Committee sponsored the free event and about 20 people showed up.
Shipments of porcelain left China for Spain twice a year for some 250 years starting in 1565, Mr. Breiner says. There is debris indicating that the 100-foot, 400-ton San Felipe may have run aground off the desert coast of Baja.
Lying on and under the shifting sands of this corner of Mexico's Sonoran Desert are about 1,000 artifacts. While the researchers haven't yet found any silk, which would have been encased in wax, they have found beeswax, some lead sheeting used on the hulls of 16th century ships to discourage underwater pests, and a great many pieces of porcelain scattered along a two-mile-long line in the sand, Mr. Breiner says.
Why might the ship have grounded? Strong prevailing winds, scurvy among the crew of 200, a need for food or water, or a new mast or spar -- the reasons are not known. Had the ship reached Acapulco, its cargo would have been offloaded and hauled overland to the Gulf of Mexico and then shipped to Spain, a two-year to three-year trip altogether, Mr. Breiner says.
With hundreds of thousands of years of predictable winds, waves and depositions of sand as reference points, the line of debris is readable. The team has worked backward from the locations of these artifacts to place the likely remains of the sunken hull. After scanning the area with an ultra sensitive magnetometer, the team now has tracking data showing magnetic anomalies consistent with a buried hull. In short, they have a strong suspicion as to where it is.
If this anomaly is a sunken galleon, it may never be known for certain whether it is the San Felipe. Ship owners back then did not paint names on hulls, Mr. Breiner says. The porcelain can be dated by experts skilled at matching a design with the year in which that design was current.
Mr. Breiner says he plans to return to the site in February to survey the wreckage in detail and create a grid-based map of the debris field. The magnetometer can detect ballast stones, cannon barrels, and iron spikes used to hold the ship's ribs to its keel. Other items with a smaller footprint but still detectable include weapons, tools, boxes, furniture parts and personal effects of the crew. The lack of oxygen under the sediment inhibits corrosion.
Team members, when they do speak about this project, hold back its exact location. Search and recovery work is undertaken only with the explicit permission of the Mexican government and in the presence of archaeologists from the INAH, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mr. Breiner says.
Once Mexican specialists isolate and recover the hull and debris, the pieces will be restored to the extent possible -- perhaps a five-year enterprise -- and displayed in a museum in Ensenada, the capital of Baja California, Mr. Breiner says.
The joy of a journey like this one, Mr. Breiner says, is that it takes on a breadth of field of its own. Geology, oceanography and map-making are as critical as magnetism in solving this puzzle.
The questions Mr. Breiner poses in a paper on the subject are many. Why is the line of debris so straight? Why are there more objects at the southern end? How do the answers to these questions help reconstruct the events of the shipwreck? Where are the ship's anchors and why are they where they are? What has happened to the hull over four centuries? How did the porcelain stay in relatively good condition for hundreds of years in such a sandy and abrasive environment?
"There's a lot of information that can come from a well understood search and study of an ancient ship," Mr. Breiner says.
Finding buried objects
One piece of equipment Mr. Breiner has not used and that wouldn't do much good in this exploration is a metal detector. That device transmits an electrical signal; if something metal is within range, the transmitted signal creates within the metal an electrical current detectable by the device.
The magnetometer, by contrast, is passive. It senses the Earth's magnetic field, which is present everywhere all the time. The device notes anomalies in that field caused by materials that have or do not have magnetic properties.
Airport and courtroom devices that screen for metal objects on a person are magnetometers that can sense a belt buckle's disturbance to the planet's magnetic field. The device in use by Mr. Breiner in Baja is thousands of times more sensitive.
At the shipwreck, grains of magnetic minerals in the sand will provide a uniform background noise, Mr. Breiner says. Any interruption in that noise, such as would be made by a buried nonmagnetic pile of wood and ceramics, will indicate its presence by the absence of that background noise.
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