shipwrecks

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Colombia's Going After 'Holy Grail' of Shipwrecks

It will spend millions to raise treasure-filled Spanish galleon San Jose, put it in a museum

(Newser) - After years of controversy, Colombia says it will begin raising the " holy grail of shipwrecks " within days. The Spanish galleon, San Jose, was sunk by the British off the coast of Cartagena in 1708 while transporting treasure from Spain's colonies in South America to Europe, killing 600...

Dad, Daughter Discover Shipwreck While Fishing
Dad, Daughter Discover
Shipwreck While Fishing
in case you missed it

Dad, Daughter Discover Shipwreck While Fishing

Vessel is believed to be one that was lost in 1871

(Newser) - A Wisconsin man and his 6-year-old daughter may have discovered an 1871 shipwreck while fishing off Green Island in Lake Michigan over the summer. Tim Wollak tells WLUK his daughter, Henley, first spotted something strange on the sonar and thought it was a Green Bay octopus. But to Wollak, it...

Cargo Recovery Won't Be About Treasure, Colombia Promises

San Jose cargo could be worth billions, but UN agency asks for scientific approach

(Newser) - The Colombian government said Thursday it will try to raise objects from the 1708 shipwreck of the galleon San José, which is believed to contain a cargo worth billions of dollars. The 300-year-old wreck, often called the "holy grail of shipwrecks," has been contentious, because it is both...

Infamous Treasure Hunter Is a Hedge Fund Exec
Infamous Treasure Hunter
Is a Hedge Fund Exec
LONGFORM

Infamous Treasure Hunter Is a Hedge Fund Exec

'Businessweek' spent 11 months finding 'the Originator'

(Newser) - While most of us handed in our treasure maps sometime during childhood, finding lost bounties at sea has become something between a hobby and an investment for a mysterious shipwreck hunter connected to major finds. Through ironclad NDAs and business maneuvering, he's evaded recognition despite devoting significant time and...

Florida Road Workers Make 'Incredible' Find Under Highway
Florida Road Workers Make
'Incredible' Find Under Highway
in case you missed it

Florida Road Workers Make 'Incredible' Find Under Highway

Shipwreck believed to be from 1800s discovered in St. Augustine, 'encapsulated in soil and mud'

(Newser) - A construction crew doing routine roadwork in a Florida city have made a decidedly unroutine find. FOX 35 and 10 Tampa Bay report that workers with the state's Department of Transportation were recently working on a stretch of road near the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, the continuation...

Team Researching Mussels Finds Shipwreck From 1895

Lake Huron wreck was covered in invasive mussels

(Newser) - A husband-and-wife team filming a documentary on invasive mussels in the Great Lakes found a shipwreck from 1895—covered in mussels. Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick searched the Lake Huron lakebed after fisheries scientists notified them of an "unusual bump" in a flat area, CBS News reports. They say...

Judge: France Owns 'Most Historically Important Shipwreck'

Battle over 16th-century La Trinite, off Florida coast, may finally be over

(Newser) - The wreck of a three-masted ship that sank in 1565 rests a stone's throw from a Cape Canaveral beach in less than 33 feet of water. It holds three bronze cannons, worth more than $1 million each, along with untold treasures. Yet since the discovery of La Trinite in...

Schooner That Sank in 1881 Found Intact in Lake Michigan

The Trinidad's crew survived, reaching Wisconsin shoreline

(Newser) - Shipwreck hunters have discovered the intact remains of a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan in 1881 and is so well-preserved that it still contains the crew's possessions in its final resting spot miles from Wisconsin's coastline. Wisconsin maritime historians Brendon Baillod and Robert Jaeck found the 156-year-old...

Texas Drought Yields Dino Tracks, WWI Shipwrecks

'If I was ever going to find anything, this would be the best time to do it'

(Newser) - As of Monday, 79% of the state of Texas was in drought , with 12% in "exceptional drought." Those conditions, though challenging for residents, have the upside of revealing some remarkable finds. At Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, officials have uncovered at least 70 new dinosaur tracks...

Crews Rescue Migrants After Shipwrecks

Italy reports woman, child died in attempted Mediterranean crossing

(Newser) - Dozens of migrants were dramatically rescued by Italy as they foundered in the sea or clung to a rocky reef Sunday after three boats launched by smugglers from northern Africa shipwrecked in rough waters in separate incidents over the weekend. Survivors said some 30 fellow migrants were missing from capsized...

Malaysia Thinks Chinese Barge Was Looting WWII Warships

Chinese-registered vessel busted on suspicion of illegally salvaging 2 UK shipwrecks

(Newser) - Malaysia's maritime agency said Monday it found a cannon shell believed to be from World War II on a Chinese-registered vessel and was investigating if the barge carrier was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea. Illegal salvage operators were believed to...

Ship That Met Tragic End in Lake Huron Is Found

Ironton's captain, some crew got into a lifeboat that was pulled to bottom

(Newser) - Though it went down in a perilous swath of northern Lake Huron that has devoured many a ship, the Ironton's fate seems particularly cruel. The 191-foot cargo vessel collided with a grain hauler on a blustery night in September 1894, sinking both. The Ironton's captain and six sailors...

Shipwreck in Norwegian Lake Could Be From Middle Ages

More vessels likely to be discovered during sonar scan of Lake Mjosa

(Newser) - A survey of the biggest lake in Norway has revealed an almost perfectly preserved shipwreck, possibly from the Middle Ages. The 33-foot-long wooden ship is believed to have sunk between the 1300s and 1850 based on signs of a central rudder at what appears to be the ship's stern,...

World's Oldest Jeans Sell for $114K
World's Oldest Jeans
Sell for $114K

World's Oldest Jeans Sell for $114K

Are there any ties of pants retrieved from 1857 shipwreck to dungarees icon Levi Strauss?

(Newser) - Pulled from a sunken trunk at an 1857 shipwreck off the coast of North Carolina, work pants that auction officials describe as the oldest known pair of jeans in the world have sold for $114,000. The white, heavy-duty miner's pants with a five-button fly were among 270 Gold...

Long-Lost Warship From 1600s Is Finally Found

The Applet, sister ship of the doomed Vasa, discovered off Stockholm

(Newser) - The sister ship of the iconic 17th-century Swedish warship Vasa has finally been found, almost 400 years after its intentional sinking. The Applet was discovered in a strait off Vaxholm island outside Stockholm in December, then explored further this past spring, according to the Swedish Museum of Wrecks . "Our...

Footage Offers 'Unprecedented' Look at Titanic

First 8K video of shipwreck emerges; meanwhile, tourists are heading down to see it for $250K a pop

(Newser) - An underwater tourism company has emerged with new footage of the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, and it's jaw-dropping in its clarity—the highest-quality recording of the ship since it sank during its 1912 maiden voyage. The haunting one-minute clip released to the public by OceanGate Expeditions, which has...

Texas Explorer Finds the Deepest Shipwreck Ever

USS Samuel B. Roberts went down in WWII fighting Japanese warships in Philippine Sea

(Newser) - In its determined last stand in October 1944, the Sammy B took on the Japanese during a World War II battle that eventually sent it down to the ocean floor. The US Navy destroyer (official name: the USS Samuel B. Roberts) remained lost to humankind for nearly 80 more years—...

It Sank in 1682. Its Discovery Has Been a Secret for 15 Years

Gloucester was carrying the future King James II when it met its demise off coast of England

(Newser) - A royal shipwreck discovered off the coast of England is being called "the single most significant historic maritime discovery" for the country in four decades. Found by amateur divers in 2007 but only revealed this week, the wreck of the Gloucester—which ran aground and sank on May 6,...

Colombia Shares New Pics of 'Holy Grail' Shipwreck

The navy also revealed the discovery of other shipwrecks in the vicinity

(Newser) - The wreck of the San José galleon was discovered in 2015 off the coast of Cartagena, and it’s known as the “Holy Grail” of shipwrecks because of the enormous treasure it was carrying when it went down in 1708. This week, Colombian President Iván Duque announced that...

'We Have Made Polar History': The Endurance Is Found

Incredibly well-preserved shipwreck discovered some 10K feet down in Weddell Sea

(Newser) - Ernest Shackleton wrote that his ship the Endurance sank in "the worst portion of the worst sea" in 1915. Now, more than a century later, its wreckage has been found some four miles from where the ship's captain believed it went down. "We have made polar history...

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