Shipwrecks - Time Capsules of Human Civilization

Bad Weather Spoils Underwater Expedition to the Empress

The poor weather and rain that has plagued the Northeast of the USA was readily apparent up in Rimouski, Quebec where our diving to the Empress of Ireland was severely curtailed. The amount of dives that we were able to get in were around 30% of our projected schedule. Undeterred, we were able to get a few notable dives to various areas of the ship that included the complete bow section of the wreck site, a visit to the anchors and ship name, a tour of the forecastle and cargo holds and penetration to the first and second class dining areas. The visibility was horrible as we averaged between 4 -10 feet all week and there was very little ambient light coming down to the wreck site - which made it pitch black. The best visibility on the wreck was when we penetrated her dining room and social room compartments.  Due to the bad weather, ripping currents and limited visibility, we were unable to do much photography or video on the wreck. This was our most devastating aspect of the entire expedition as the purpose of the expedition was to catalogue and chronicle the deterioration of the ship.  Unfazed by this year's lack of success, I am even more excited to be leading a group out next year to mark my twentieth year of diving on this famed Lost Liner.

Our Corporate Web Site Acknowledged By Prestigious Organization

One of the major goals and missions of the Nautical Research Group is to fostering the education of nautical and maritime history. We accomplish these objectives by offering a full array of diverse educational products that support these educational values. Our corporation has been recognized for its intrinsic educational source by the National First Ladies' Library organization. As the first and only facility of its kind, the National First Ladies' Library serves as a unique national resource for patrons from school children to serious scholars.  I am pleased and honored that my corporation, Nautical Research Group has been designated as a primary source link for the education of students in the area of the great ocean liners. The link for access to their educational site is:  http://www.firstladies.org/curriculum/curriculum.aspx?Curriculum=1484 . Our corporate site, under the link to Educational Services, provides valuable information on various shipwrecks and include a recent scientific research paper on the decay of Titanic and over 40 copyrighted photographs from our underwater expeditions to Titanic.

The following is an excerpt from Nautical Research Group's Corporate Profile:

Nautical Research Group, Inc. is a consulting firm that provides full service discovery, exploration, research and analysis on the sea and shipwreck disasters throughout the world. Our group of professional consultants are the leaders in their field for the scientific analysis of ships, shipwrecks and their historical preservation. Our corporation has had great success in the discovery and exploration of historic shipwrecks. Utilizing the latest in underwater and deep-diving technology, we have been exploring shipwrecks for thirty-five years. Our corporation provides nautical expertise in the following main areas:

DISCOVERY&EXPLORATION                     RESEARCH

PRESERVATION                                                   MARITIME EXHIBITS

MEDIA SERVICES                                                ACADEMIC SERVICES

                                      EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

Please visit Nautical Research Group, Inc. main corporate web site at: http://www.nauticalresearch.com for more information about our corporation and for many rare underwater and land-based photographs of historic vessels.

Empress of Ireland Side-Scan Sonar Imagery

On the Internet are fascinating side-scan sonar (SSS) photographs of the Empress of Ireland taken some years ago by the Canadian Navy Route Survey Office using a Klein 5000 SSS. The web site's URL for seeing these photos are at: 

http://www.northernatlanticdive.com/empress_sss.htm

It looks like the Empress is literally melting into the bottom of the St. Lawrence. What you are seeing is in fact the way she is lying on the sea floor. The upper decks have collapsed and have slid down the starboard side of the wreck exactly like the Klein SSS is showing. It is very difficult to get a view of the whole wreck because you would have to capture small glimpses of the wreck over multiple dives. Visibility is very bad and the lighting is extremely dark. These Klein sonar pieces are dated as the wreck has deteriorated much more than what is seen on these sonar pictures. The center portion of the ship where salvage was undertaken to remove the teak decking in the mid-1990's causing most of the long term damage. I would suspect that the removal of this teak has accelerated the demise of this shipwreck by about 75 years. Additionally, it has caused the stern to partially "cave-in" and its once pristine section where I once sat in a wrought-iron ship deck chair, paying my respects to over 800 still entombed in her wreckage, now totally gone. I will be leading a dive expedition out to the wreck site beginning next weekend with the purpose of capturing video and photographs of the ship's current state of decay.

Reuters Report on the Titanic Auction

A couple of weeks ago, Reuters television reported on the successful auction of Titanic-related materials and rarities at the Christies auction held in New York City. Many fantastic items from the Titanic that included plaques and other items from the recovered lifeboats were included in this event. I was invited to this auction but unfortunately had some other projects that kept me away from attending this gala affair.

For those of you that missed this auction, the following link is a Reuters news report about the auction that highlights several of the key Titanic pieces. Included in this film clip is my underwater video footage of the Titanic that I took during my 2003 scientific research diving expedition to the wreck site.  I have been profiled several times by Reuters news service for my underwater video footage of Titanic. The link for this news report can be found at : http://today.reuters.com/tv/videoChannel.aspx?storyid=ba90bbbe52187f3d646516b2d5cef91d12de720d

Additional footage that I have shot on Titanic have found themselves in several television documentaries that include two National Geographic specials, a History Channel special and a commercially-available National Geographic DVD. Our Titanic underwater footage was used by Partisan Pictures for the promotion of the 2004 Robert Ballard  / NOAA expedition to Titanic.

Do I Save the Passengers or Save the Ship?

The captain of the Andrea Doria, Piero Calamai, had a huge decision to make. Should he save the ship by driving it into the Nantucket Shoals or should he save the passengers by staying out in the "Times Square" of shipping and rescue his passengers. If he drove the ship off to the Shoals he would not be able to lower the lifeboats and potential rescue crafts would of been too far away to assist should abandon ship be required. Remember, the list of the boat was at least 20 degrees making the rudder ineffective. If he stayed in the Times Square area, many ships would be in the area and there would be a high percentage of passengers saved; however, the ship would be doomed. Captain Calamai did the heroic thing and saved the passengers over the ship. He was the last Italian Officer to leave the ship and was pretty much resolved to go down with the ship (Second Officer Guido Badano convinced him to leave the ship). Initially Calamai did wait and hold out for a tow but realized by the time he left that any efforts were in vain. His valiant attempts to save the passengers and ship will be formally recognized by the Andrea Doria Survivors Reunion.

The Andrea Doria's Untold Psychological Scars

A new book about the Andrea Doria will be put out by Andrea Doria survivor Pierette Domenica Simpson this month entitled Alive on the Andrea Doria. This book is advertised as the first Doria book written by a survivor about the tragedy.  Actually, two survivors have written about their Andrea Doria accounts in two very obscure books that deal with psychological trauma of surviving this tragedy and how they deal with their lives. The first book was written by Canadian Doria survivor Eugene Gladstone and was printed in the mid-1960's entitled In the Wake of the Andrea Doria and the second book was printed in the late 1960's by Doria survivor Barbara Boggs Benzinger entitled The Prison of my Mind. In both books, the authors try to deal with their lives following the psychological impact of this tragedy. I can tell you that there were only 46 deaths on the Andrea Doria but uncounted hundreds of survivors that experienced post-traumatic stress syndrome following this tragedy.

Eugene Gladstone's book was originally a 'diary' that his doctor suggested he put together following his psychological trauma on board the Andrea Doria.  It delves into his coming to terms with his entire life and what it means to him to be alive. He has taken this diary and made it a remarkable book about the dealings of mental disorder.

Barbara Boggs Benzinger's book "The Prison on my Mind" is a fascinating read. The book was written from her coming to terms with her own mental illness that she became aware of following the trauma caused by the Andrea Doria tragedy. The book branches out into her own phobias and how she tried to overcome her demons. Although you might not learn much more about the tragedy itself, you will finally gain an understanding of the hidden scars that the Andrea Doria tragedy produced in many survivors. No book about the Andrea Doria has captured this element and I have found that it was one of the most devastating emotion that many survivors carry even to this day.

Busy, Busy, Busy..... New Shipwreck Information Gathered

It has been quite a busy time for me over the past month.  I have logged over 25,000 miles, been to 5 different countries on three continents, given 5 Shipwreck presentations on three different ocean liners and presented a scientific research paper on Titanic.  All of this travel has enabled me to provide my blog readers with firsthand research materials for shipwreck study - so it was extremely productive. Even though the amount of blogs has decreased this month, the quality of materials gained through my travels will allow me present you with new, unique and relevant information on the latest developments on shipwreck exploration in the immediate future.

Much of my work has been focused on the Andrea Doria of which I have made many dives and have done over 25 years of research. The 50th anniversary of the Andrea Doria's collision and sinking is being remembered by many throughout the globe and I have been inundated with media requests. Three of this month's presentations have been about the Andrea Doria and were viewed by over 800 people. In addition, I have been working on the Andrea Doria Survivor's Reunion, two Andrea Doria documentaries, a consultant on PBS (Public Broadcasting Systems) Andrea Doria website  and started publicity on a new Andrea Doria book entitled Alive on the Andrea Doria by Doria survivor Pierette Simpson. Yesterday, a newspaper review by the Daily Collegian of my presentation to a scientific crowd at the Pennsylvania State University's Marine Science Program was published. Although the article did not contain the science behind the collision and sinking of the Andrea Doria, I had a great time interacting with students, professors, administrators and guests at this event. In July, I will be leading the Official Andrea Doria Diving Expedition to the wreck site and will be doing some high definition filming of the current morphological changes to the ship.

The final presentation of this week was to an organization of Lockheed Martin retirees about the tragic sinking of the Empress of Ireland at their group's luncheon. They were treated to a brief historical account of the tragedy and a forty-minute, high-quality digital virtual dive to the shipwreck. The Empress is considered a very dangerous dive due to its cold water temperatures, limited dark visibility and ripping currents. It was great to talk to this group about the Empress as this ship is the most tragic ship accident that most people have never heard about.  Later this summer, I will be leading a diving expedition to the Empress and look forward to broadcasting LIVE from the dive site as I did last year.

I will be continuing the series on my expedition to Turkey on the next blog. I look forward to chatting with you about this adventure to ancient nautical times. Look forward to a new Titanic story from a Titanic passengers' family with a unique twist that we will exclusively broadcast later this month. There is so much to write about!

INTRODUCTION : Turkey's Historic Shipwrecks - Cultivation of Human History

I must apologize to my faithful readers for not having a new post in over a week. I have spent the past ten days visiting the wonderful seas and straits surrounding one of the world's most historic waterways through the country of Turkey. I had planned on reporting my adventures LIVE on this weblog but unfortunately -  due to technical, logistical and security reasons - I was unable to access this web log. Despite this setback, I will be giving you the details on a truly wonderful trip back through human civilization via Turkey's waterway.

The mission of this trip was to explore the rich historical shipwreck history of the vessels that plied the waterways from the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea. The goal would be to select potential underwater projects to partner with government, conservatory and academic communities in pursuit of their nautical archaeology endeavors. Although I am a biological scientist, my background has been utilized in many archaeological finds to better explore and investigate the historical nature of shipwrecks. Over the course of this new and exclusive weblog series on Underwater Turkey, we will be reporting on shipwrecks that ranged in time from the legendary Noah's Flood through to the ANZAC battle for control of the Dardanelles. This is a very special series that I know you will enjoy!

Future Scientific Studies Involving the Biological Ecosystem of Titanic

The Titanic is proving to be a literal treasure-trove for scientific study of the deep ocean floor. Obviously, the difficulty of conducting scientific studies at this depth limits the number and types of comprehensive examination that can be performed on the wreck site of Titanic.

Because there are only five submersibles in the world that can visit the extreme depths of 12,600 feet, where Titanic resides, every visit to the ship have proven to be of tremendous value to the scientific community. Each dive to the Titanic has the potential to discover a new species of plant or animal life - and in most cases, many new life forms has been found and cataloged for further study. The area surrounding Titanic can now be referred to as a natural field laboratory for the study of deep ocean ecosystems. By further understanding this in-situ environment, we can provide the associated research that could aid in the preservation of the Titanic.

From Nautical Research Group’s studies on the bow of Titanic, there is clear evidence of natural deterioration processes that are compromising the structural integrity of the shipwreck. Almost all of these structural changes can be attributed to the interactions between the microbes and the exposed steel areas on Titanic. Other natural factors that are contributing to the collapse of Titanic are the settling pressure effects, as the ship is slowly becoming part of the ocean floor. Many of the unique physical structures on the bow are in danger of total collapse within the next decade or two. Other studies will include the analysis of the sea snow that is raining down on Titanic and its interactions with the microbes. Further comparator data will provide an enormous wealth of information that can provide the scientific community with extremely valuable knowledge. This knowledge can be used as a basis for monitoring the physical condition of Titanic throughout the twenty-first century.

Andrea Doria Presentation in Florida

For my Florida viewers, I will be back in the Sunshine State giving a high-quality digital video presentation on the life and times of the Italian luxury liner Andrea Doria. The presentation is supported by the Mote Marine Research Laboratories and sponsored by Mote Trustee Robert Williams and his wonderful wife Jill on Monday March 20th at their Sarasota Florida facility.

Further information can be found at their web site and the following link:
http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=events&srctype=profile&id=514&category=Events

A brief abstract of the presentation follows:

Andrea Doria: Dive to Adventure and Danger

The night was deep with fog, as the luxurious Italian steamship, Andrea Doria, one of the last of the truly elegant transatlantic ocean liners, was making for New York and safety. The Doria was completing a run from Genoa, and carrying 1706 passengers and crew. Ominously, out of the gloom and hazy mist, the Swedish-American liner Stockholm, appeared before the starboard side of the helpless Andrea Doria. Before evasive maneuvers could be fully undertaken, the Stockholm impaled its reinforced ice-breaking bow into the defenseless Doria. The impact on the 29,000-ton Italian liner mortally wounded her and she sank eleven hours later. The events that occurred following this disaster would become of epic proportions.

This program presents a multifaceted view of the Andrea Doria tracing her history from the initial planning stages to the most recent diving salvage expeditions in 260 feet of cold North Atlantic waters. Utilizing the latest multimedia digital technology, you will virtually board the Andrea Doria in its home port of Genoa, take a walking tour of all the elegant social and boarding accommodations, meet the officers of both the Doria and Stockholm, experience the collision of both ships near Nantucket Shoals, be rescued by a Doria lifeboat and brought aboard the Ile de France to safety. Furthermore, you will have the opportunity of experiencing a virtual dive to the Doria and viewing her watery remains.