Shipwrecks - Time Capsules of Human Civilization

2006 - Year of New Underwater Shipwreck Discovery and Exploration

The following article is a modified extract of a comment that I made to fellow underwater explorer, Steve Libert about several of my projects over the next three months. I hope that you enjoy....

I thought that it might be tough to top all the exciting and wonderful expeditions that I had in 2005 that included Titanic, Empress of Ireland, the Bermuda Triangle rescue aircraft - Martin Mariner PBM-5, various historical shipwrecks that ranged from naval to merchant and old treasure galleons to ocean liners (including a Blue Riband Cunard Liner Oregon).

2006 is shaping up to be an even better and more historic diving season that will be highlighted by our series of events surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the Collision and Sinking of the Andrea Doria. I will be releasing some new nautical forensic information and underwater video regarding this beautiful Italian liner's sinking that will change the historical perception of that tragic evening. In two weeks, I am off to Florida diving deep in the underground caves using a mixed-gas, closed circuit rebreather (as part of a cave diving course run by two of the world's best instructors - legendary Tom Mount and former British Special Forces diver Andrew Driver). Hopefully we will find in situ evidence for some prehistoric species deep within these underwater caves (a mastodon or mammoth would be nice). In March, I have two presentations to give. The first presentation is at the American Academy of Underwater Sciences meeting at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratory (FHL) in the San Juan Islands -located north of Seattle between the mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia about the latest scientific observations about the biological decay of Titanic. The second presentation of the month will be at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida about Diving to the Italian Liner Andrea Doria. Before the end of the month of March, I am off to the Black Sea and this should be very interesting - perhaps, if I am very lucky, I might discover Noah's Ark (just kidding!). In addition, I have some other "secret" shipwreck explorations and projects that I can't quite divulge yet (don't want the bureaucrats to put a damper on all the adventure) but will provide some significant new information about several historic shipwrecks.

Thank you for your continued support for this web site which is globally the number one blog ( weblog ) for shipwrecks. I find that it is a perfect forum for me to get things off my chest without feeling inhibited about the dives, expeditions and science. As a corporation, Nautical Research Group is thriving and we have been able to pick and choose the best and most interesting underwater projects. Our unique blend of nautical archaeology and deep technical diving - wrapped around our roots in the biological sciences is unparallelled.

TypePad Server Ready for Action!

I am very sorry for the issues that we have been having with our web log service provider TypePad.  TypePad is the largest and best web log provider in the world and is growing at a staggering rate. Due to its unprecedented success, their servers have been pushed to their limits. A few months ago, TypePad had to move from its original location because it did not have enough room for the huge amounts of servers that are needed to support the business. The move was accomplished with minimal service disruptions and the latest problem was handled relatively well. Our latest blogs were down for less than two days but have been restored as of yesterday. Our web log only uses the best and latest in technology and I am sure that a great company like TypePad will continue providing wonderful service well into the future!

Ocean Exploration - Aspirations of High School Students

I spend a good amount of my time giving lectures and presentations at many leading universities throughout the United States on shipwreck exploration. The youthful enthusiasm of these students for viewing a nautical research expedition unfold in front of their eyes is truly an uplifting experience for me. I have always had a wonderful reaction from the audience to my presentations and have been quite intrigued by the diverse questions that accompany each talk. Obviously with the proliferation of underwater exploration documentaries on television, many student have a vast interest in undersea adventure.

Since I have been involved with close to 50 television documentaries (and growing), it is very easy for me to see the correlation between these underwater television specials and the interests in oceanography, marine sciences and nautical archaeology. On Monday, I presented my latest Titanic documentary to the Hunterdon Central Regional High School's novel Oceanography course taught by Ms. Kathleen Keoughan. I must commend this high school for putting together an introductory "college course" for oceanography to expose its students to the wonders of the sea. A point that I was very fascinated about was that the interest and enthusiasm that I have found at such schools like Columbia, Penn State, Rutgers, Harvard etc. was manifested in the same eyes of these talented high school students. Congratulations to those students enrolled in this course and the teacher, Ms. Keoughan, for putting together such a fascinating syllabus!

Scientists know more about the far side of the moon and the planet Mars than we know about the deep ocean floor. There are many excellent organizations that specialize in K-12 ocean education that could assist your high school or even middle school to have oceanography or marine sciences taught at your schools. Two groups that I have done work with is NOAA and their coordinator is Paula Keener-Chavis - National Education Coordinator/Marine Biologist NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and the Mote Marine Laboratory headed up by Dr David Niebuhr and their coordinator is Lorienne White. Another great source for ocean education is CORE - Consortium for Ocean Research and Education, a Washington, DC non-profit educational group that represents many leading academic and institutional oceanographic facilities throughout the country. Please visit these sites and see why it is so important to get the study of our oceans to our next generation. My thanks to Hunterdon Central for a thoroughly enjoyable experience!

Leading Shipwreck Blog - Many Thanks!

This Shipwreck weblog has been in operation for only six months. During this period of time, we have dove and explored shipwrecks from around the world including famous ocean liners, military ships, merchant vessels and other places of nautical interest. Our readership during this period of time has expanded from about a thousand visits per month to almost seven thousand per month. This amazing burst in readership could not happen without your support.  I would like to personally thank all the subscribers using RSS that actively access our articles as they are released. If you would like to receive this feature, it is very easy using the syndicate link on the bottom left-hand portion of our blog.

We have been very proud of the fact that we not just report the latest diving news, but we actually CREATE the news via our various dive projects and expeditions. Our scientific research expeditions to the Titanic, historic treasure-ladened vessels and discovery of military wrecks have been leading front-page news throughout the world. Additionally, our weblog has had input from several leading global shipwreck explorers and researchers that have contributed articles about their novel projects and expeditions. Many of these explorers and researchers have been subscribers of our blog from its inaugural postings. Using the latest in digital computer communications, we have reported live webcasting from remote sites, utilized the satellite for blog submission while in the middle of the ocean and incorporated our copyrighted video, films and photography to our viewers while out on the dive. We have made a huge investment of our resources in providing the public access to the very latest nautical information.

As we move forward over the next year, we would like to continue to incorporate the latest multimedia advancements in web technology to get you even closer to our diving expeditions. Please visit our corporate website at www.nauticalresearch.com for the latest news about our projects and expeditions. In the fall season, we will be taking advantage of the corporate website to provide an educational component that people can access to gain information about certain significant wrecks. It is envisioned that our intensive research will be unveiled on the corporate site and would include our latest work, videos and photographs. We have registered new domain names and other websites for conveying our latest information. Collectively, this web ring of underwater resources will be tied together through the corporate backbone.

Success breeds success - and based on the tremendous viewership numbers and wonderful emails that we have received, it is obvious that we are doing some very good things!

Lots of Wrecks, Much to Report

We have spent the past month almost exclusively reporting on RMS Titanic. It has been quite an adventure revisiting this lost liner and I can certainly report that the second time was better than the first! We had a chance to premiere video footage from the 2005 expedition at Whitaker Center for the Science and Arts this past Friday and this gave me my first opportunity to look at the film footage. Judging from the audience response and my own personal observations, this video footage was much more vibrant and dynamic than the film footage that we took in 2003. We will be releasing segments from this video footage in September so please come back often for the latest news.

In the meantime, let me entice you with some other wrecks that we have had an opportunity to explore throughout the summer. We will update you on a seventeenth century French merchant ship that is reportedly the richest shipwreck find ever recorded that we were the first to dive last December.  Another major project that I led was a discovery/exploration project on a lost Navy wreck in collaboration with the US Naval Historical Center and NBC News. The complete two-hour undersea documentary will tentatively be shown by NBC in November. Another lost liner that we will profile in the coming weeks is photos from our Empress of Ireland ten-day diving expedition. We have been spending some time diving the shipwrecks of the St. Lawrence River that we will get you informed about including the oil tanker Jodery. There have been some updates to the Griffon story that we would like to share with our readers in the next week. Another wonderful ship that we have explored this summer is the early Cunard liner SS Oregon, which held the Blue Riband, emblematic of the fastest transatlantic crossing, that collided and sank in 1886.

We have completed our fifth month as a weblog and have had a huge reader response. We would like to thank you for your past support for our shipwreck blog and will promise you that we will continue to give you new and interesting stories directly from the source. We do not regurgitate shipwreck news from other sites, we develop and create the stories from our own experiences and adventures. This fact makes our site most unique and we thank you for making it a tremendous success!

Mote Marine Research Laboratory

Last month, I was invited to visit the Mote Marine Research Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida. I was truly amazed to see such a wonderful facility that is dedicated to the study and sciences of the sea. The facility boasts of a world-class aquarium, underwater research laboratories, marine mammal stranding center, aquaculture park and a top-rate public educational organization. My gracious host was Lorienne White, Public Programs Coordinator within the Education division of Mote. I can truly state that I was very impressed with the Education Division at Mote and their head, Dr. David Niebuhr. They have many programs for public education including a telecommunications area that can give many high schools, universities, libraries and museums remote programming about the seas from their facility. Being a biologist and nautical researcher, I was thrilled to talk with their scientists on their latest studies and felt at home talking with their technologists about their latest underwater tools such as ROVs (remote operated vehicles) and scanning technologies ( side-scan, magnetometer etc.) .
Two of the world's foremost women scientists, Dr Sylvia Earle (Trustee) and Dr. Eugenie Clark (Trustee Emeritus) are members of Mote's Board of Directors. Another fascinating person that I met while at Mote was their nautical archeologist named J. Coz Cozzi. We had a wonderful chat about several of the recent shipwrecks discoveries such as the Nantucket Lightship, Queen Anne's Revenge, the Alligator, Hunley and Monitor. I could of spent the entire day just talking with Coz about all the fascinating ships that we have explored or would like to in the future. Hopefully, this may come about as Nautical Research Group has many projects on-going in Florida and Mote would be an excellent organization to partner with on a research project. If you and your family are in the Sarasota area, then a trip to Mote would be an excellent way to spend the day-and you will certainly learn much about the sea and have a fun time doing it!

Overwhelming Success - Many Thanks!

Although this weblog has only been a little over a month old,  it has already received over one thousand visitors, numerous emails and wonderful acclaim. Within the past month, we published three series of weblogs on such diverse subjects as the Nantucket Lightship, RMS Titanic and the rich nautical history of Philadelphia. As we go forward, we will be reporting live from our numerous dive expeditions and projects throughout the globe. Several of our global viewers have asked some questions regarding ships and our weblog that I thought that I could share the answers to these questions with all our viewers.

Q) I enjoy your weblog but notice that you do not limit yourself to just shipwrecks. Why is this?    J.A. Ramsgate, Kent, England
A) We are very fortunate to have many historical ships still afloat that are used as a tremendous educational tool to teach nautical history. We are very keen on providing a firm context of the shipwrecks that we explore with that of the ships that are available for public display to tell a more inclusive and complete history of nautical history.

Q) I live in Beverly, Massachusetts and our family vacations on Nantucket Island during the summer. I enjoyed your articles on the Nantucket Lightship and was wondering about the famous ship, Andrea Doria, that sank off the coast of the island? A.M. Beverly, MA USA
A) The Italian Luxury Liner Andrea Doria collided with the Swedish-American liner Stockholm and sank on July 26, 1956. The ship was a floating art museum, flag-ship of the Italian line and the pride of all travelers going to/from Italy. We will be covering this ship very extensively on this weblog. Nautical Research Group has three Andrea Doria museum exhibits and there is an Andrea Doria exhibit that is permanently displayed on Nantucket Island at the Nantucket Lifesaving Museum.

Q) What do you mean when you entitle your weblog as "Time Capsules of Human Civilization"? P.H. Sydney, NSW, Australia
A) When a ship sinks, it literally is frozen in time. Therefore, a ship that sank in the 1750's, is still from the 1750's even though we are visiting her in 2005. This is especially poignant when we discover a new shipwreck. When we explore her for the first time, we are literally going back in time to the exact period that the ship sank. From this standpoint, the ship has become a time capsule where we can go back in time to explore what life was on that ship during its time afloat. Nautical archaeologists, in the advances of recent technology, are finding extraordinary discoveries about man and their relationship with the seas via the exploration of these time capsules.

Many thanks for your emails and I will share several of these throughout the year. Please, do not be shy, leave comments for others to see and share. Although I love your emails, it would be nice for others to see your comments on our posts.

Inaugural Posting

This is our first posting to the new weblog. This weblog will be totally devoted to discussions regarding shipwrecks and nautical archaeology.  The focus on shipwrecks will be very diverse and can range from the initial boats that plied the Mediterranean to the most recent ocean liners that sank in the 20th Century. We will provide ample space to discuss shipwrecks that were military; as well as those that were used commercially. Please look over this new site and provide spirited, but positive, comments. Obviously, we love debate and can appreciate a vibrant discussion; however, all spam, vulgarities and personal attacks will not be allowed (hey-this is a fun site that is used to distribute wonderful historical information). Many thanks for your interest in making this site the number one place for shipwreck information and discussion!