American Shipwrecks « Shipwreckology

Archives For November 30, 1999

Dive Expedition to Blackbeard’s Ship Begins this Week

September 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard
Photo: Wiki Commons

An archaeological team from the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch will spend eight weeks excavating the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the flagship of famous pirate Blackbeard. The vessel was discovered in 1996 near Beaufort, NC and several excavations have been conducted by the state’s Underwater Archaeology Branch over the past few years. Numerous cannons, the ship’s anchor and approximately 16,000 artifacts have been recovered thus far. A permanent exhibit at the Beaufort branch of NC’s Maritime Museum opened in June 2011 to display the artifacts and educate visitors about the life of a pirate. Blackbeard’s name has become synonymous with 18th century piracy even though his career lasted a mere two years before he was killed in 1718 during a fight with Royal Navy forces near Ocracoke, North Carolina. The Queen Anne’s Revenge is only the second pirate ship to be discovered and excavated, with the other being the Whydah off the Massachusetts coast.

In 18th Century, 21st Century, American Shipwrecks, Conservation, Royal Navy, Warships

Book Review – Fatal Dive

August 28, 2012 — Leave a comment

Peter Stevens

Reporter Peter Stevens’ latest book, Fatal Dive, is an engaging and easy to read work about the disappearance of the US sub USS Grunion off the coast of Alaska during World War II. Launched only a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Grunion’s first combat deployment was against Japanese shipping in the Aleutian Islands. Commanded by Lieutenant Commander Jim Abele, Grunion and her 70 man crew successfully sank 2 Japanese sub-chasers, survived a depth charge attack by a Japanese destroyer and then disappeared with all hands after crippling the Japanese merchantman Kano Maru. Apart from Western Union telegrams declaring the crew members Missing In Action, the relatives of the crew were largely kept in the dark as to the causes of the sub’s loss.

Stevens’ straightforward writing style and the book’s relatively short-length of 175 pages (plus a 60 page appendix containing short bios of each crew member) make it a quick, but thoroughly enjoyable read. Fatal Dive chronicles the life of Lt. Commander Abele, the Grunion’s first combat cruise and subsequent loss, and the dramatic story of her discovery by Lt. Commander Abele’s sons 65 years later. Stevens’ avoids getting bogged down in historical minutiae and instead focuses on the characters in the story from both sides of the conflict. His writing effectively conveys the sense of excitement and danger faced by the Abele brothers and their crew as they work to locate the ship in the treacherous waters of the Bering Sea. Stevens concludes the book with a discussion of the causes of the ship’s sinking and why the US Navy subsequently chose to torpedo any explanation of her loss. Fatal Dive is a great choice for a quick weekend read for any history or mystery buff.

In 20th Century, 21st Century, American Shipwrecks, Book Reviews, Japanese Shipwrecks, Merchant Vessels, Warships, WWII

Mapping of Charleston’s Civil War Naval Battlefield Completed

August 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

The Attack on Fort Sumter, Currier & Ives

Archaeologists from the University of South Carolina just completed a 4 year long survey of Charleston, South Carolina’s Civil War naval battlefield. While many associate Charleston with the attack on Fort Sumter or the CSS Hunley, the city was the scene of multiple naval engagements and an important port for Confederate blockade runners. The archaeological team created a map of wrecks, gun emplacements and harbor obstructions in 2010 and has spent the last 2 years surveying some of those sites.

Among the sites are the wrecks of several Union ironclads that were sunk in action with Confederate land batteries or by “torpedoes” – early versions of what are mines in today’s naval parlance. The archaeologists also sought the wrecks of the “Stone Fleets” – a fleet of approximately 30 ex-whaling ships and merchant vessels purchased by the US Navy, stripped of all valuable implements, loaded with stone and then sunk as block ships in the approach channels to Charleston Harbor. Because the ships were wooden hulled and had been stripped of most of their metal fittings, the USC team had to rely on side scan sonar, further complicating the task of locating the ships. The remains of Confederate blockade runners were also surveyed by the team, including a set of three wrecks that are now buried beneath dry land due to the shifting sands of the beach. The survey will be helpful not only to historians, but also to the US Army Corps of Engineers and other planning entities for the avoidance of wrecks and other obstructions in the harbor.

In 19th Century, 21st Century, American Shipwrecks, Atlantic Ocean, Civil War Shipwrecks, Conservation, Merchant Vessels, Warships

SS Richard Montgomery + 1,500 Tons of TNT = Serious Navigational Hazard

August 23, 2012 — 3 Comments

The remains of SS Richard Montgomery
CC Image courtesy of tomylees on Flickr

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the abandonment and beginnings of salvage on the SS Richard Montgomery. The ship ran aground near an approach channel to the Thames River on August 20, 1944 and salvage operations began on August 23rd after it was determined the ship could not be saved. Named after Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery, the SS Richard Montgomery was a Liberty Ship carrying a cargo of ammunition from the United States to the UK. Liberty Ships were designed by William Francis Gibbs to be cheap, mass-produced cargo haulers for the Allied powers during World War Two. Over 2,500 were built and only two survive today, carrying on service as museum ships – SS Jeremiah O’Brien and SS John W. Brown.

Salvage operations were unable to remove all of its deadly cargo and according to a survey performed in 2010 by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the wreck has 1,500 tons of high explosives still aboard. Due to the presence of so many tons of TNT, the ship remains a serious hazard to navigation and is closely monitored with yearly surveys by UK authorities. A detonation of the ship’s cargo could occur from natural deterioration, a collision with another vessel or even an act of terrorism and would result in an explosion 1/12th the size of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The BBC reported in 2004 that UK authorities believe an explosion could cause a 1,000 x 10,000 foot column of debris and water as well as a 16 foot high wave that would swamp low lying coastal areas.

In death, the SS Richard Montgomery has taken on a pop culture life of its own and has been featured in numerous novels and tv shows. It was even the centerpiece of the fictionalized plot of a 1970s novel wherein terrorists attempted to use speedboats to detonate the ship’s explosives and wreak havoc on the English coast.

In 20th Century, American Shipwrecks, Merchant Vessels, UK Shipwrecks, WWII

Salvage Permit Issued for Lost Klondike Bars (of Gold)

August 17, 2012 — 5 Comments

Photo: Nick Messinger

A century old mystery may soon be solved in the frigid depths off Alaska’s coast. The SS Islander, a 240 foot liner operated by the Canadian Pacific Navigation Company, sank on August 15, 1901 while en route from Skagway, Alaska to Vancouver, British Columbia. Approximately 40 people perished in the sinking including the highest government official of the Yukon Territory. The steamer was purportedly carrying 6 tons of gold which led to a series of salvage efforts beginning only weeks after the ship’s sinking. Not until 1934, though, were any successful attempts made due to hazardous working conditions and primitive salvage equipment. The 1934 expedition used a process similar to that employed on the Swedish Vasa shipwreck to raise a 175 foot section of the ship and beach it on shore. The tremendous efforts expended to float the ship are documented in Sunken Klondike Gold written by the expedition’s official photographer, Leonard Delano. Unfortunately for the salvors, only $75,000 in gold dust and nuggets was found – not even enough to cover the expedition’s costs. Either the 6 tons of gold was never aboard or it had been stored in the Mail and Storage Room in the bow of the ship which wasn’t recovered.

Eight decades later another group, Ocean Mar, Inc., has returned to (hopefully) complete the salvage of the ship. Ocean Mar began its efforts in the early 1990s, but were stymied by legal wranglings with another salvage company – Yukon Recovery LLC. A federal court finally resolved the dispute in June of 2012 and the state of Alaska issued Ocean Mar, Inc. a work permit for the site this week, nearly 111 years to the day since the ship’s sinking. The permit extends through December 31 and the Alaska State Museum will serve as a repository for salvaged artifacts. If recovered, the melt value of the gold alone would be worth more than $300,000,000.00 in 2012 dollars. Ocean Mar has a salvage agreement in place with Salvage Association of London whereby Ocean Mar would pay Salvage Association 25% of any recovery in order to pay off any insurers’ claims.

In 20th Century, American Shipwrecks, Legal Disputes, Passenger Liners, Treasure Hunting

Potential Odyssey Marine Shipwreck Targets

August 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

As this year’s recovery season winds down, noted exploration company Odyssey Marine is wrapping up two deep water recoveries (the SS Gairsoppa and SS Mantola) and currently on hold with the excavation of HMS Victory. The 2012 season marked several firsts for Odyssey – the completion of a shipwreck salvage under government contract, the validation of their deepwater recovery methods and the beginnings of legitimacy for their role in “academic” archaeology with their efforts on the HMS Victory. What lies ahead for Odyssey is a question of much debate. Below are five of the most discussed targets for Odyssey along with pros and cons for each.

1. Merchant Royal – widely believed to be the target of Odyssey’s “Atlas” search, the Merchant Royal went down in a storm off Great Britain in 1641 with a cargo of gold and silver valued around ~1 billion in current dollars. This is the Holy Grail of shipwrecks and would be an incredible find both for the monetary and publicity windfall. Apart from the difficulty involved in locating the wreck, there are no significant cons to recovering the Merchant Royal.

2. Prins Frederik – sunk in 1890 after a collision with the Marpessa in the Bay of Biscay, this Dutch mail steamer carried 400,000 silver rijksdaalders in its bullion room. Disputes over the actual location of the ship (and thus who was to blame for the collision) have created a wide search area and significantly affect the depth of water it could be located in – 500 feet if where the captain of the Prins Frederik claimed or 6,000 feet if where the captain of the Marpessa claimed. A British company claimed to have found the wreck in shallow water in 1994 which could generate legal issues for Odyssey if it is indeed the Prins Frederik. Odyssey could also face legal claims from insurers who paid out on claims or the Dutch government as the cargo was for payment of colonial forces in Indonesia. The Prins Frederik would be an excellent target for an arrangement similar to the Gairsoppa and Mantola where the Dutch government receives a portion of the proceeds after expenses.

3. I-52 – re-discovered in 1995 by Paul Tidwell, the I-52 was sunk by American naval forces in 1944 while en route from Japan to Nazi Germany. The I-52 was carrying 2.2 tons of gold and now sits in 17,000 feet of water. While Odyssey’s deepwater recovery methods would enable recovery of the wreck, apart from a multi-party agreement on salvage rights between Tidwell, the Japanese government and Odyssey no recovery is possible. Tidwell has also stated he is pursuing recovery of the sub and it is doubtful Odyssey would be brought in on the deal.

4. Port Nicholson – a British freighter loaded with $3 billion in platinum, the Port Nicholson was torpedoed off the coast of Massachusetts in 1942 and was located in 2008 by Sub Sea Research. Sub Sea Research gained title to the ship in 2009 and planned recovery in 2012. No word has emerged on whether or not the group has been successful in their salvage and there are doubts as to whether the platinum even exists onboard. If Sub Sea is unable to recover the wreck due to a lack of expertise or funding, then a collaboration with Odyssey would benefit both parties and be the most valuable recovery yet, surpassing even Odyssey’s Black Swan recovery (and subsequent loss).

5. Bonhomme Richard – John Paul Jones’ famous flagship went down after his epic battle with HMS Serapis. The past few years have seen renewed efforts to find the ship, but any recovery would be limited by the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Because the Bonhomme Richard was an American warship it cannot be salvaged without the permission of the US government. An arrangement with the US government similar to that of the HMS Victory one is a possibility, but doubtful because the upside isn’t nearly as high as it is for other wrecks.

There are dozens of other wrecks Odyssey could be pursuing – the company claims to have dozens of high value shipwreck targets in its proprietary database. Based on Odyssey’s stated business model of pursuing high value targets with easily ascertainable legal ownership and inaccessible to normal salvors, Odyssey will most likely pursue deepwater commodity shipwrecks where the cargo can be quickly monetized and not the storied Spanish Galleons of treasure hunting lore.

Disclosure: I am an Odyssey Marine shareholder.

In 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, American Shipwrecks, Atlantic Ocean, Japanese Shipwrecks, Odyssey Marine, Revolutionary War, Royal Navy, Russian Shipwrecks, Treasure Hunting, UK Shipwrecks, WWI, WWII

Life on the Mississippi

August 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

“When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboatman.”

Chapter 4, Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Mark Twain mined his rich experiences as a riverboat pilot to craft some of America’s finest novels. Recently, drought in the US Midwest has helped bring to the surface a piece of Twain’s beloved riverboat culture. In 1884 the Missouri River claimed yet another victim in the form of the 283 foot steamboat Montana, the largest stern-wheel steamboat to ever ply the Missouri’s waters. Low water levels, though, have exposed a ~180 foot section of the boat’s hull.

Professors and students from East Carolina University’s Maritime Archaeology program previously conducted extensive excavations on the site and published their findings in The Steamboat Montana and the Opening of the American West.

In 19th Century, American Shipwrecks, Riverine

SS Central America Still Making Waves

August 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

Lost in an Atlantic hurricane in 1857, the SS Central America took with it ~550 passengers and several tons of gold. For more than a century it remained lost to the sea until an enterprising Ohioan named Tommy Thompson assembled a team to find and recover the ship. Utilizing cutting edge technology Thompson and his team located the wreck in 1987. The group salvaged approximately $50 – 100 million in gold from the wreck, however, the conclusion of recovery operations was just the beginning of the story for Thompson. Two days ago, nearly 25 years since the discovery of the wreck, Thompson was to appear in a federal district court to reveal the location of millions of dollars from the recovered gold due to a payment dispute filed by former employees. Unfortunately for salvors, lengthy legal proceedings are not unusual in the realm of admiralty law – another recent example is that of Odyssey Marine’s Black Swan epic court battle which involved the US State Department, sunken Spanish treasure, artwork looted by the Nazis and WikiLeaks.

Thompson’s search for the SS Central America was well documented in Gary Kinder’s Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea as well as several television programs. Although an ingot from the SS Central America is expected to garner $140,000 at auction on September 2 and another ingot sold for a record breaking $8.1 million, Forbes reported in 2006 that Thompson’s last known address was a Florida trailer park.

In 19th Century, American Shipwrecks, Atlantic Ocean, Legal Disputes, Merchant Vessels, Odyssey Marine, Passenger Liners, Treasure Hunting

Plans Afoot to Identify Captain Cook’s Endeavour

August 15, 2012 — 2 Comments

A little known fact of the Revolutionary War is that Captain James Cook’s bark, HMB Endeavour, was purposely sunk by the Royal Navy in the waters off Providence, RI. British leaders ordered the ship, along with ~13 other transports, scuttled to prevent Continental and French forces from entering the harbor. The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project recently launched a $300,000 fundraising effort to finance operations to identify HMB Endeavour from among eight Revolutionary War era shipwrecks it has previously discovered.

HMB Endeavour is most widely associated with Captain James Cook’s 18th century expeditions throughout the Pacific Ocean and exploration of Australia. A full-size replica was built in 1993 and serves as a floating exhibit of the Australian National Maritime Museum. Also designed for exploration, NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour, was named in honor of Captain Cook and his ship. Following Captain Cook’s voyages, the Royal Navy sold off the bark and it was renamed Lord Sandwich (incidentally, Captain Cook named what is today Hawaii as the Sandwich Islands in honor of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, the then First Lord of the Admiralty). Lord Sandwich was contracted in 1776 by the Royal Navy as a transport and was employed as a prison ship prior to being scuttled in 1778.

In 18th Century, American Shipwrecks, Oceanian Shipwrecks, Revolutionary War, Royal Navy, UK Shipwrecks

Freeze Dried Shipwreck, Some Assembly Required

August 15, 2012 — Leave a comment

Archaeologists in Texas are pioneering a new method of shipwreck preservation – freeze drying the ship’s wooden planks to remove seawater and then re-assembling them. Traditional conservation techniques often involve time consuming electrolysis immersion to remove concretions or prevent wooden items from decaying when exposed to the atmosphere. If successful, the technique could be a significant breakthrough in the preservation of wooden artifacts raised from the deep. According to the Associated Press, the same technique will soon be used to preserve the Newport Medieval Ship which was discovered in 2002 in Wales.

The Texas project, a French ship named La Belle, sank in 1685 and was re-discovered in 1995 by archaeologists from the Texas Historical Commission. La Belle was lost in a storm while en route to resupply the French explorer Robert La Salle in his quest to establish a colony on the Gulf coast. More than 700,000 items were salvaged during its recovery and the ship has remained immersed in a chemical solution since its recovery. For more information on the ship and its history, see today’s AP article and the Texas Historical Commission’s website.

In 17th Century, American Shipwrecks, Conservation, French Shipwrecks, Gulf of Mexico

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