News Release

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

The lionfish is an invasive species that threatens Florida’s native wildlife and habitat. With that in mind, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on April 16 moved forward with steps to combat the spread of invasive lionfish.

Changes proposed by FWC staff at today’s meeting near Tallahassee will be brought back before the Commission at its June meeting in Fort Myers for final approval. Changes include:

• Prohibiting the importation of live lionfish;
• Prohibiting the development of aquaculture of lionfish;
• Allowing the harvest of lionfish when diving with a rebreather, a device that recycles air and allows divers to remain in the water for longer periods of time; and
• Increasing opportunities that will allow participants in approved tournaments and other organized events to spear lionfish or other invasive species in areas where spearfishing is not allowed. This will be done through a permitting system.

Staff has been working with the Florida Legislature on a bill in support of the initiatives to prohibit the importation of live lionfish and the aquaculture of lionfish.

“By targeting the importation of lionfish to our state, we can limit the number of new lionfish that find their way into Florida waters and, at the same time, encourage further harvest to reduce the existing invasive population,” said State Rep. Holly Raschein, sponsor of the House bill. “These fish pose a significant threat to Florida’s ecosystem, and I am proud to stand in support of the proposed ban. Anything we can do to limit new lionfish introductions and further facilitate the development of a commercial market for this invasive species is a step in the right direction.”

Changes like these will make it easier for divers to remove lionfish from Florida waters and will help prevent additional introductions of lionfish into marine habitats.

Lionfish control efforts, from outreach and education to regulatory changes, have been a priority for FWC staff. In 2013, they hosted the first ever Lionfish Summit, which brought together various stakeholders from the public as well as management and research fields to discuss the issues and brainstorm solutions. The changes proposed at today’s meeting came from ideas that were discussed at the Lionfish Summit.

To learn more about these changes, visit MyFWC.com/Commission and “Commission Meetings.” To learn more about lionfish, visit MyFWC.com/Fishing and click on “Saltwater,” “Recreational Regulations” and “Lionfish.”

The cause of dolphin strandings has long been a mystery but a new study shows that clues about survival rates after release may be found in the sea mammal's blood.

Published online ahead of print in Marine Mammal Science, the study analyzed blood work and body condition values from stranded common dolphins and compared them with survival rates after release. Responders in the field are now using the blood and health data to make better release decisions and predict survival outcomes.

"The establishment of these blood values provides a window into the overall health of the dolphin and, for responders onsite, collecting blood in the field is relatively easy to do," said Sarah Sharp, the paper's lead author and a third-year D.V.M. candidate at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. "Now we have a way to predict which stranded dolphins have a better chance of survival after release and this can help triage care."

The paper's authors -- including Dr. Joyce Knoll, an associate professor at the Cummings School and Sharp's mentor, and researchers from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution -- analyzed blood samples and body condition scores of 26 common dolphins that were stranded alive on the beaches of Cape Cod, Mass., between January 2010 and June 2012, and found significant hematological differences between survivors and non-survivors. Since 2010, IFAW has been operating a satellite tagging program to evaluate the post-release success of stranded dolphins, and the authors used this data to assess survival rates.

Dolphins that didn't survive the stranding or a three week post-release period had anemia and lower levels of red blood cells. Some potential causes of anemia in dolphins are chronic disease, poor nutrition, blood loss, pregnancy or liver disease. When compared to survivors, failed dolphins also had an increased concentration of acid in their blood, were dehydrated and had leaner body mass relative to their length. These health indicators and blood values, in addition to necropsy findings, suggest that the dolphins may have had pre-existing illnesses, stranding-induced conditions such as capture myopathy (a metabolic muscle disease resulting from the physical stress of being stranded on land), or both.

"Our team is already utilizing this new information in our stranding response protocols," said Katie Moore, IFAW's Animal Rescue Program Director. "This study is the culmination of more than a decade of hard work for our staff and volunteers. I have no doubt that it will help us to improve our responses and the care of individual animals."

Prior to starting her veterinary studies, Sharp was the stranding coordinator for IFAW's Marine Mammal Rescue and Research Program on Cape Cod. During her seven years in the field, she responded to approximately 50 mass stranding events, oversaw response to more than 1,200 individually stranded marine mammals, pioneered IFAW's cetacean satellite tagging program, and trained stranding responders both domestically and internationally. She has experienced the challenges of assessing stranded dolphins' overall health, especially with mass strandings when multiple animals need care.

Sharp participated in the 2012 Student Summer Research Program at Tufts University and her research was funded by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The John J. Prescott Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance Program provided support for stranding response efforts during the study period, and the Pegasus Foundation and Barbara Birdsey helped fund the IFAW Satellite Tag Program.

Dolphin strandings occur with consistency on Cape Cod, which has one of the highest cetacean stranding rates in the world. Over the 10-year period ending in 2011, common dolphins represented approximately one-third of the 1,300 cetaceans stranded in this area, making this research an invaluable tool in the rapid response and humane care of these mammals

A deep-ocean exploration company is seeking to recover a lucrative haul of gold aboard the shipwreck of the SS Central America, nearly 160 years after it sank off the coast of South Carolina in a hurricane.

The work that began this week follows a long court battle over treasure salvaged from the shipwreck in the late 1980s by a pioneering young engineer whose efforts were detailed in a 1998 bestselling book, "Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea."

The 280-foot (85 meters) sidewheel steamship carried as much as 21 tons of gold ingots, freshly minted gold coins and raw gold from the California mines, as well as the personal wealth and belongings of its 477 passengers, most of whom were lost when the ship sank in September 1857.

The ship's gold that is thought to remain on the ocean floor was valued at $760,000 in 1857 but worth millions today, according to Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc, a Tampa, Florida-based company, which won the contract to revisit the shipwreck.

"There's no doubt in our minds that there's going to be an economic return," Mark Gordon, the company's president and chief operating officer, said on Monday.

Gold recovered from the ship by a team led by Ohio engineer Tommy Thompson, which discovered the Central America using sonar and robotic technology he developed, became the focus of an extended legal fight over rights to the treasure and return for investors. Thompson has been a fugitive since 2012 when he failed to appear in court.

Last year, a court in Ohio appointed a receiver who will distribute some of the profits from further exploration to the former investors. In March, the receiver awarded Odyssey the contract to revisit the shipwreck, which lies 160 miles (257.5 kilometers) offshore and about 7,200 feet (2.2 kilometers) below the surface.

"We know that the wreck was only partially excavated, only about 5 percent of the site," Gordon said.

The company's research vessel, Odyssey Explorer, sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, last week with 41 crew members for a project he estimated will cost between $5 million and $10 million.The Central America steamship ran between Panama and New York, carrying prospectors and their fortunes made in the California Gold Rush. On its last trip, it held tons of commercial gold valued at about $93,000 in 1857 and passenger gold valued at up to $1.2 million, court experts estimated.

Historians say the ship's sinking triggered a New York banking panic that was part of a larger U.S. financial crisis known as the Panic of 1857.

The worth of the gold found by the Odyssey team will depend on what form they find it in, Gordon said. For example, U.S. $20 Double Eagle gold coins fetch $5,000 apiece on average from collectors, he said.

The market price for pure gold bullion on Wednesday was around $1,300 per troy ounce.

Researchers will remain on site for up to five months, rotating crew around the clock and making occasional port calls on Charleston, Gordon said. The company expects to report in about 60 days what the wreck might yield.

Using undersea robots, satellites and high-speed Internet to send live video from the seafloor to audiences ashore, a team of NOAA-led marine archeologists discovered a ship’s chronometer where time has stood still for about 200 years at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

This was the latest discovery made as part of the Gulf of Mexico expedition by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. From an Exploration Command Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, Frank Cantelas, a marine archaeologist with NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, spotted a partly buried circular object on the live video.

When the ROV’s cameras zeroed in, scientists were amazed to see the ancient timepiece. An expedition a year ago had missed the ship’s chronometer. “Do you see a dial, and a hand inside the circle as well,” Delgado asked the team that day. As the camera zoomed in, a scientist in Galveston added, “You can see Roman numerals.” The chronometer’s hand appeared to be pointing to 6:30.

A large anchor and capstan were previously discovered on the same shipwreck where explorers discovered the chronometer.

In an Exploration Command Center at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Jack Irion, a regional historic preservation officer with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said the chronometer’s discovery was rare and significant. While other evidence from the wreck suggests the ship predates 1825, it was unusual for merchant ships to have such an expensive instrument. “For this to appear on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Mexico at this early date is extraordinary,” he said.

A British carpenter perfected the design for the chronometer in 1761, a clock that could keep accurate time on a rolling ship at sea, so that sailors could determine their position by measuring the angle of the sun relative to high noon in Greenwich, England. The devices were so expensive initially that few ships carried them. It wasn't until 1825 that British Royal Navy ships carried chronometers.

”This chronometer is an object worthy of scientific recovery, preservation treatment to reverse the corrosive effects of two centuries in the sea, detailed study and eventually, display in a museum,” said Delgado.

Some scientists conjectured that if sailors survived a crisis at sea, they would have taken the valuable chronometer with them, leading scientists to theorize there may have been no survivors.

NOAA explores the largely unknown ocean to obtain baseline information that is vital to informing decisions by ocean resource managers and policy makers. This includes investigating shipwrecks to determine if they may be significant national maritime heritage sites. Such sites require not only study, but protection in partnership with industry and other federal partners.

Scientists have conclusive evidence that the source of a unique rhythmic sound, recorded for decades in the Southern Ocean and called the "bio-duck," is the Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). First described and named by submarine personnel in the 1960s who thought it sounded like a duck, the bio-duck sound has been recorded at various locations in the Southern Ocean, but its source has remained a mystery, until now.

NOAA announced it has found the underwater wreck of the passenger steamer City of Chester, which sank in 1888 in a collision in dense fog near where the Golden Gate Bridge stands today. The announcement was made during a press event at Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary’s San Francisco headquarters at Crissy Field.

The story of City of Chester will be shared with the public in a future waterfront exhibit NOAA will place at the sanctuary office at Crissy Field. The office is the former U.S. life saving service station built in 1890 in response to the City of Chester incident.

The 202-foot long steamship City of Chester had just left San Francisco and was headed up the California coast to Eureka with 90 passengers on August 22, 1888, when around 10 a.m. it was struck by the steamer Oceanic. Impaled on Oceanic, which was arriving from Asia, City of Chester remained afloat for six minutes before sinking. Sixteen people died in the accident.

SS City of Chester. (Credit: San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park K01.2.571PL)

 

The rediscovery of the wreck restores an important historical link to San Francisco’s early Chinese-American community. Reports at the time initially criticized Oceanic’s Chinese crew in the racially charged atmosphere of the times. Criticisms turned to praise, however, when the bravery of the crew in rescuing many of City of Chester’s passengers was revealed. The wreck was then largely forgotten.

“Discoveries like this remind us that the waters off our shores are museums that speak to powerful events, in this case not only that tragic wreck, but to a time when racism and anger were set aside by the heroism of a crew who acted in the best traditions of the sea,” said James Delgado, director of maritime heritage for NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, whose past work has included documenting historic wrecks in California.

In May 2013, NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey Navigational Response Team 6 (NRT6), in a 28-foot boat equipped with sonar, rediscovered what they thought was the City of Chester while surveying another nearby shipwreck, the freighter Fernstream, which sank after a collision in 1952. Delgado asked the NRT6 team to extend their survey to try and find the sunken steamer.

2013 Multi-beam sonar profile view of the shipwreck SS City of Chester. (Credit: NOAA Office of Coast Survey NRT6)

After working with historic data provided by NOAA historians, the Coast Survey team conducted a multi-beam sonar survey and a sonar target the right size and shape was found. The team spent nearly nine months sorting through the data. A follow-up side-scan sonar survey confirmed that the target was City of Chester, sitting upright, shrouded in mud, 216 feet deep at the edge of a small undersea shoal. High-resolution sonar imagery clearly defined the hull, rising some 18 feet from the seabed, and the fatal gash on the vessel’s port side.

This NOAA team was not the first to find the shipwreck. It was 125 years earlier that the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, NOAA’s predecessor agency which was charged with responsibility for charting the nation’s coasts and harbors, believed it had located the City of Chester in early September 1888 by dragging a wire from the tugboat Redmond to snag the hulk.

A veteran salvage diver of the time, Capt. Robert Whitelaw, also claimed to have relocated the wreck, sending a hard-hat diver down more than 200 feet in 1890 to report City of Chester nearly cut in two, with the tide running through the cut “like a millrace.” No attempt was made to raise the wreck then and there are no plans to do so today.

“Connecting to the history of the Chester is sad in one way, but we were also connecting to scientific history on a different level," said NOAA NRT6 team leader Laura Pagano. "Using our high-tech multibeam echo sounder to re-discover a wreck originally found over a century ago – by Coast Surveyors dragging a wire across the seafloor – is immensely fulfilling. We are equally proud to have provided information on an important link to the rich heritage of the San Francisco Chinese American community.”

Today, it is a protected site and a grave belonging to the state of California. “Whether we see them or not, wrecks like City of Chester should be remembered today and in future generations,” said NOAA’s Delgado.

Live Webcast from GOM Ocean Floor

By MarEx

From April 12-30, members of the public are invited to join NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer as it explores deep-sea habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. Virtual ocean explorers will have the chance to see canyons, deep-sea coral communities, and shipwrecks dating to the early 1800s via live video transmitted from the deep seafloor.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the public to join us as we explore the Earth’s ocean to obtain and share scientific information that describes largely unknown ocean areas. This information can then be used by ocean resource managers, coastal communities, offshore industries and others to inform decisions about how best to manage, use and protect the ocean and its resources,” said John McDonough, the acting director of NOAA’s Office of Exploration and Research.

“America's Gulf is our backyard, yet there is a great deal we still need to learn about its sea floor, sea life and maritime heritage," he added.

Anyone with Internet access can follow the expedition on NOAA’s website, which will chronicle the expedition through live and archived videos, background science essays, still images, logs from the science team, curricula and educational modules. 

Last year’s Okeanos expedition to the North Atlantic Ocean drew more than 900,000 visits to the web pages as the public watched dynamic underwater sea creatures, visited rarely seen underwater landscapes and heard scientists describe the underwater world. 

Technicians aboard the ship will launch Remotely-Operated Vehicles (ROVs), allowing scientists on shore to explore features such as salt domes, gas seeps, and canyons, while also investigating shipwrecks and marine life, including deep-sea coral habitats. NOAA’s ROV Deep Discoverer, accompanied by the ROV camera-sled Seirios, are equipped with high-definition video cameras and advanced lighting systems to obtain and send live video. The ROVs may operate as deep as 3,000 meters.

The live video timeframe will include Earth Day, April 22, when the team will explore a deep-sea canyon, characterizing the features, habitats and species they encounter. On April 15, 16 and 24, expedition scientists expect to investigate shipwrecks to determine if they may be significant national maritime heritage sites. Such sites require not only study, but protection in partnership with industry and other federal partners.

To view video on this year’s expedition, go here. 

Picture credits:
Ship and map: NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program
Underwater: Ocean Exploration Trust/Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, Texas State University

Source: Der Spiegel 

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For the past 137 years, a mysterious wreck has emerged at low tide each day on a beach off the coast of Panama. Researchers now know that it's the presumed lost "Sub Marine Explorer," one of the world's first submarines and a vessel that would ultimately kill its German inventor.

Big Fish Stories Getting Littler

Wednesday, February 05, 2014 - 11:38 AM

By Robert Krulwich : Host, Radiolab

          

• (Courtesy of Monroe County Public Library)

By John Tapley
Photos courtesy Larry McKenna

During a dive trip in Eastern Indonesia in 2005, Larry and Bonnie McKenna set out to capture footage of a Pacific leatherback turtle. After reaching a secluded beach via canoe, he encountered one of the majestic, endangered creatures first hand and experienced a spark of inspiration - he wished to see his new friend prosper.
Following a rigorous funding campaign, and largely thanks to the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association (DEMA), Larry’s dream came to fruition through a special organization: Save Our Leatherbacks Operation (S.O.L.O.).
Completely fueled by the passion of volunteers and generous donations, S.O.L.O. is a certified IRS 501(c) (3) non-profit charity foundation and a registered Texas environmental non-profit corporation. The organization’s three-fold mission agenda is to educate the public about the Pacific leatherback turtle and its plight, join people together in a democratic fashion to illicit change, and reverse the population shift via a series of hands-on initiatives and projects at nesting beaches.

Climate change has had a substantial negative impact on ocean life and the Pacific leatherbacks are no exception. As Pacific temperatures raise and water levels heighten, the reptiles’ nesting grounds are barraged
By intense heat and overwhelmed by flooding; many nestlings perish before they can properly hatch. According to McKenna, the threat facing Pacific leatherback turtles has far-reaching, though not immediately apparent, consequences to the oceans’ food chain. As the turtles primarily predate on jellyfish, which consume fingerlings, their extinction would cause a massive, irreparable crash in an already fragile environment.

Of special importance are S.O.L.O.’s partnerships with indigenous people residing on various islands in the Pacific. Because S.O.L.O. can only accomplish so much with its allocated visitation time, the hard work and dedication of local associates is vital to maintaining the mission. S.O.L.O. volunteers work closely with native villages and help provide them with the tools, provisions, and education necessary
To facilitate change. Banding together with locals, the organization has implemented several enterprises such as daily and nightly beach patrols, construction of protective fencing and scaffolding installations, and crucial data collection processes.

One of S.O.L.O.’s keystone fundraising and groundwork projects, Turtle Discovery Tours, allows participants to
Get a firsthand experience at the operation’s efforts and also provides unforgettable leisurely pursuits. This year’s excursion, slated to begin September 6, will take place in the Indonesian provinces of Bali and East Java in an area magnanimously titled “The Island of the Gods”. The
11-day tour includes a diverse array of activities and accommodations such as diving, snorkeling, traditional ceremonies, and much more.

For more information on S.O.L.O.’s new Adventure, above, its future projects, volunteer opportunities, and further details on September’s tour, contact them at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Aqua News: http://aquaviews.net/ocean-news/3-significant-giant-squid-sightings-history/#/ 

 

The legendary giant squid, once thought to be a myth, is an elusive creature that has captivated the imaginations of humans since we first set out on the sea. Mariners have reported sightings of the giant squid for hundreds of years, but the reports were often thought to be cases of misidentification or simply cautionary tales of the dangers of ocean travel.

These notions came to rest in the mid 16th century, when the first recorded specimen of giant squid washed ashore alive near a town in Denmark. Sightings of giant squid have picked up since then with improvements in research and technology, three of particular note which have taken place in the last decade.

On September 30, 2004, the giant squid was filmed in its natural habitat for the first time. A Japanese team, led by zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera, baited a line off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands of Japan. The team took multiple still photos of the squid showing its attack on the bait. This was the first time the squid’s hunting habits were caught on film.

 

First Live Giant Squid Video Emerges

In July of 2012, after continued research, Tsunemi Kubodera’s team became the first to obtain video of the giant squid in its natural habitat. As with the 2004 expedition, the team baited a line to entice the giant squid to come close enough for them to observe and film the squids hunting habits. The team witnessed the squid swimming against the current while holding on to the bait.

 

Largest Mediterranean Specimen Washes Ashore

The largest specimen ever found in the Mediterranean Sea was found on October 10, 2012 washed up on a beach in Andalucia, Spain. The specimen was dead when it was found, but was otherwise completely intact. Dissection of this squid in February of 2013 showed it to be thinner than the typical giant squid. This squid was preserved and displayed to the public.

Giant squid sightings have occurred since the beginning of maritime history, but the last 10 years have given scientists the most complete information about the giant squid to date. These giant squid sightings are certainly not going to be the last. As science searches for more information about the giant squid, sightings will become more plentiful. With more sightings, the legend of the giant squid will become more real than ever before

SCUBA Diveing Magazine http://www.scubadiving.com/photos/top-10-wreck-dives-north-carolina?pnid=331961 

 

1 — U-352 Without a doubt, one of the biggest draws to the Outer Banks is the opportunity to dive on this historic World War II German U-boat. On May 9, 1942, the U-352 was cruising close to the North Carolina coast in search of enemy targets when she picked a fight with the wrong ship. The scrappy USCG Cutter Icarus was on her game that day when the U-352 opened fired with torpedoes and missed. In retaliation, the Icarus launched depth charges and sunk the U-352 in 110 feet of water, 28 nautical miles south of Morehead City. Thirteen men perished in the attack while 33 survivors were picked up by the Icarus and retuned to Charleston where they spent the rest of the war as prisoners. Sitting with a 45-degree list to starboard and her conning tower intact, the U-352 fascinates divers and strikes at their imagination when they get a glimpse of a this amazing piece of WWII history.

2 — Papoose The wreck of the Papoose has a convoluted history since in actuality it is the wreck W.E. Hutton. During the early stages of WWII, German U-boats wreaked havoc along the Eastern seaboard sinking numerous Allied merchant ships. In the confusion, the wreck of the W.E. Hutton was misidentified by the United States Navy and thought to be the wreck of the Papoose. Even though this mystery has been solved, most still refer to the ‘Hutton’ as the Papoose. Sitting upside down in 120 feet of water, the 435-foot tanker is a favorite to many divers who come to see the plethora of marine life that includes the sand tiger sharks that are seen here with regularity. With the Papoose resting nearly 36 nautical miles from shore, its popularity is increased due to the clear waters of the Gulf Stream; 100 foot of visibility is not unheard of on the Papoose aka W.E. Hutton.

3 — USCG Cutter Spar Not all the wrecks of North Carolina met their end due to tragic events. The USCG Cutter Spar is one of the many wrecks sent to the bottom as part of the North Carolina artificial reef project. The 180-foot buoy tender sits in 110 feet of water with a strong list to port. It has become a very popular dive because it’s fully intact, easily navigable and a favorite hangout for sand tiger sharks, schools of Atlantic spadefish and the occasional giant southern stingray. Amazingly, the Spar was moved 200 feet from her original location and rolled over on her port side when Hurricane Irene struck the coast in August 2011. She weathered the storm intact, though — a tough little ship.

4 — USS Schurz The captured World War I German gunship, the USS Schurz, is a classic North Carolina wreck dive. The 255-foot ship was sunk June 21, 1918, 30 nautical miles south of Beaufort Inlet, after colliding with the SS Florida while sailing at night. When discovered in the 1980s it was a popular dive for those seeking to reclaim artifacts and take home a small piece of history. Brass portholes, crew personal effects and weapons were some of the many items removed. Today, it is illegal to take artifacts from the Schurz and most are content to see the beautiful reef system this wreck site has become. Colorful sea fans, abundant marine life, dense schools of baitfish and the occasional shark keep divers returning year after year to this treasure trove of a dive site.

5 — Caribsea One of my personal favorites, the wreck of the Caribsea is one of those hit and miss dive sites. Notorious for low visibility conditions as well as large schools of sand tiger sharks, this dive can be a top shelf experience when the blue water pushes in on rare days, exposing up to 100 sand tiger sharks in one spot. Sunk on March 11, 1942, by a German U-boat attack, this 251-foot freighter sits in 90 feet of water on the east side of Cape Lookout Shoals. Scientists believe the sand tiger sharks gather here during the summer months to mate.

6 — Aeolus The Aeolus is another one of North Carolina’s popular wrecks that was sunk as part of the artificial reef program and only a few hundred feet from the wreck of the Spar. This 400-foot wreck sits in 110 feet of water and was split in two during a powerful hurricane that swept through the region in the 1990s. During the 2012 dive season, the Aeolus became home to approximately a dozen sand tiger sharks that took up residence inside the wreck. Divers returned day after day to swim right amongst the sharks in what became known as ‘Club Aeolus,’ North Carolina’s coolest shark lounge.

7 — Proteous No top ten list for North Carolina would be complete without including this gem of a wreck. The 390-foot luxury steam liner, Proteous sunk on August 19, 1918, in a collision with the SS Cushing approximately 20 nautical miles south of Cape Hatteras. Mostly a low-lying debris field, with the exception of the prominent stern and propeller, she was popular dive for artifact hunters during the 80s and 90s. Today, it is a hot spot for shark sightings, vast numbers of grouper and big pelagic life, such as African Pompano, giant amberjacks and barracudas. The added feature of the regular appearance of clear warm Gulf Stream water makes it an impressive dive.

8— Atlas Another victim of a German U-boat attack, the 430-foot Atlas tanker was sunk on April 9, 1942, only a few miles from the wreck of the Caribsea in 115 feet of water. Like the Caribsea, the visibility on the Atlas can sometimes be less than 20 feet, but when the blue water rolls in this wreck site is a showstopper. Enormous sand tiger sharks at a whopping 10 feet in length can be seen patrolling the wreck by the dozen. The marine life is thick on this wreck and an opportunity to dive it should not be missed.

9 — USS Indra The wreck of the USS Indra has many humorous aliases, such as the Indra Maru after the famed Japanese wrecks of Truk Lagoon, or the Indra Doria after the Mount Everest of wreck dives, the Andrea Doria. This 330-foot landing craft was sunk in 60 feet of water only 10 miles from Beaufort Inlet as part of the North Carolina artificial reef program. Since the 1990s she has been visited by more divers probably then any other wreck off the Outer Banks. Because she is partially intact, sitting upright and within close proximity to Morehead City, she attracts both novice and advanced divers, alike. Whatever you call the ”Indra,” she is a legendary wreck site in her own right.

10 — Naeco On March 23, 1942, the 411-foot Naeco went down in a fiery mess at the hands of yet another German U-boat attack in World War II. Today, the ship sits in two distinct pieces about a mile apart some 38 nautical miles due south of Morehead City. This wreck, which sits in an average of 140 feet, is as far offshore as dive boats will venture. With clear, warm Gulf Stream water being the standard conditions here, it appeals to those divers who don’t mind the deeper depths.

The Tudor battleship has been stabilised and is now on display in a new museum. Jon Evans explores the chemistry stopping those timbers shivering

In many ways, the sea has not been particularly kind to the Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII’s navy when it faced an invading French fleet at the mouth of Portsmouth Harbour in July 1545. For a start, it engulfed the ship, with the loss of over 350 men.

The French claimed to have holed the Mary Rose, but there is no real evidence for this. In reality, the sinking was probably a combination of bad luck and bad seamanship. The Mary Rose was the first ship to sail out and engage three French galleys that had broken away from the fleet, during which it fired its guns. For some reason, the gun ports were then left open, allowing seawater to rush in as the Mary Rose manoeuvred, sinking it.

The Mary Rose came to rest on the seabed, around 14m down, at which point the sea really went to work. Through a combination of the abrasive action of silt flowing past and feeding by organisms such as shipworms and marine bacteria, the exposed wooden hull of the ship was quickly eroded away on the port side.

In one crucial way, however, the sea did the Mary Rose a huge favour, by gradually burying it in sediment. This covering of sediment protected the rest of the ship, together with many of the objects inside it, from further erosion and damage. ‘Basically it’s the sediments that built up over many, many centuries that helped preserve it,’ explains Mark Jones, research director at the Mary Rose Trust, the charity set up to conserve and preserve the ship.

As well as physically protecting the ship from abrasion, the sediment also created an anaerobic environment. This lack of oxygen prevented aerobic organisms from feeding on the wooden hull, and also stopped any damaging chemical reactions involving oxygen, such as metal corrosion, from taking place.

And so there the Mary Rose lay for over 400 years, before being discovered in 1971, when the first of what would eventually amount to 19,000 artefacts were brought up. Then, in 1982, what remained of the hull was raised from the seabed on live TV and carefully moved to its new home on Portsmouth dockyard.

De-salting the sea dog

If the raising of the Mary Rose was an impressive feat of engineering, it was nothing compared to the challenge of replicating the preservative effects of a simple layer of sediment. As soon as it was lifted free of the protective sediment, the Mary Rose and its artefacts began to be attacked by bacteria and fungi and to react with oxygen. Meeting this preservation challenge has kept Jones and his colleagues busy for more than 30 years, and although they have managed to overcome every problem so far thrown at them, new ones continue to appear.

Over that time, drying has remained the main aim of the preservation work. When wet, the artefacts and hull are inherently unstable and prone to deterioration, whereas they are much more stable and robust when dry.

For artefacts made of metal, stone, glass, ceramics and some fabrics, this drying process is fairly simple, merely requiring gentle heating to drive off the moisture. However, some of the more fragile artefacts made from fabrics such as leather need to be treated with waxy substances like glycerol to prevent them breaking apart as they dry. On top of this, several other treatment steps are often required to stop any further deterioration.

So, for example, preventing corrosion in artefacts made from metals such as iron, bronze and copper, including guns, powder scoops, nails and bolts, requires removing chloride salts. The most effective technique for doing this, especially for iron artefacts, is hydrogen reduction, which involves heating the metal artefacts to a temperature of 850°C in a hydrogen atmosphere. Although effective, this technique is highly controversial because it changes the metallurgical structure of the artefact, whereas ideally the artefact should be preserved in its original condition.

‘This is the only method that has successfully removed total chlorides from iron found in the marine environment, but we’ve stopped using it,’ says Jones. Instead, they’ve switched to other techniques, such as alkaline sulfide methods, although these tend to be much slower, especially for large objects.

Salts also need to be removed from stone, glass and ceramic artefacts, but for a different reason. ‘As these artefacts dry, salts crystallise out again and force these very pliable sections of glass apart, which just destroys the outer surface,’ explains Jones. In addition, artefacts made from natural materials need to be sterilised using chemicals or cold temperatures to kill off any bacteria or fungi that may be feeding on them.

Shower me timbers

But it’s the wooden objects and structures that present the biggest drying challenge. Before the Mary Rose became covered in its protective layer of sediment, marine bacteria and fungi had time to attack all the wooden objects, including the hull. They ate away much of the glucose-rich cellulose and hemicellulose in the cells making up these objects, leaving behind the harder-to-digest lignin.

The end result was that the cells were hollowed out. Only the lignin in the outer cell wall remained, forming a network outlining where the cells used to be, while seawater quickly entered and filled up the gaps in the hollowed-out cells. ‘What replaces the cell wall layers then is water, so that supports the shape of the cell,’ says Jones.

Fortunately, this only happened in the surface layers of the wooden objects, because the microbes didn’t have enough time to work their way any deeper before the covering of sediment created an anaerobic environment. ‘The first 10mm is very decayed, very soft, basically lignin, really. And that structure is just supported by water,’ reveals Jones. ‘Beneath that you’re then entering into very, very sound wood; the cell walls are saturated with water but are well preserved.’ If all this water is removed by drying, the wooden objects would shrink dramatically, by up to 50%, causing them to warp and crack.

So when the hull and other wooden objects were first raised, they were simply kept wet, while Jones and his colleagues worked out a way to dry them without causing any shrinkage. Smaller wooden objects were simply immersed in water-filled tanks and containers, while the hull itself was constantly sprayed with filtered, sterilised water, which continued until 1994.

The scheme they eventually came up with was inspired by the approach used on the Vasa, a Swedish warship that sank in Stockholm harbour in 1628 and was raised in 1961. This involves replacing the water in the wooden objects with the polymer polyethylene glycol (PEG), which prevents the objects from shrinking as they dry.

Wooden artefacts such as plates, arrows and gun-carriage wheels were immersed in a tank containing liquid solutions of PEG. The artefacts were immersed for up to six months, giving sufficient time for the PEG to penetrate deep into the wood and displace the water in the cell walls, where it bound with what remains of the cellulose via hydrogen bonds.

Next, the artefacts were freeze-dried to drive off the majority of the remaining water. This involves placing the artefacts in a sealed chamber, where they are first frozen to temperatures of around –35°C and then dried by reducing the pressure and gradually raising the temperature. The advantage of this process is that any ice formed during the freezing process sublimes directly into vapour without going through a liquid stage, reducing drying stresses and preventing damage to the wooden objects. It’s also much faster than air drying, taking two to three weeks rather than up to a year.

Treating the wooden objects with PEG and then freeze-drying them has been going on for almost 20 years now, and has been a massive undertaking. The Mary Rose Trust owns several freeze-drying chambers of different sizes, with the largest able to dry entire gun-carriage wheels and wooden beams. ‘We have probably the largest number of vacuum freeze driers for archaeological material in the UK,’ says Jones, who was awarded an MBE in the 2014 New Year honours for his work on the Mary Rose.

One hull of a challenge

The hull of the Mary Rose, which is 32m long and weighs around 280 tonnes, presented an even greater challenge, as it is far too big to be immersed in a tank or placed in a vacuum freeze dryer. So in 1994, Jones and his team stopped spraying the hull with water and started spraying it with PEG. Initially, they used PEG with a molecular weight of 200 grams per mole, which is liquid at room temperatures and so could diffuse deep into the wood to displace the majority of the water in the sound cells. But this liquid PEG wouldn’t provide sufficient support for the completely hollowed-out cells near the surface.

So in 2006, after ensuring that the PEG 200 had diffused throughout the hull, they started spraying a solution of PEG with a molecular weight of 2000 grams per mole. Unlike its smaller cousin, PEG 2000 solidifies when dry, providing the physical support necessary to retain the structure of the hollowed-out cells.

The sprayers were finally switched off at the end of April 2013, when the drying process began. This involved installing a network of ducts to transport conditioned air with a relative humidity of 55% and maintained at a temperature of 18–20°C around the hull, with the aim of steadily drawing out the moisture.

The sprayers were switched off just a month before a new £35 million museum housing the Mary Rose was opened to the public. Because the Mary Rose could not be moved, this new museum was built around the ship, with visitors now able to view the ship through windows as it dries.

As they walk past the ship on one side, the other side presents a mirror-image replica of the hull, with artefacts such as guns and the surgeon’s chest displayed in the same position as they would have been found on the actual ship. Other dried artefacts, such as longbows, clothing, glasses, coins and even the skeletons of an archer, the ship’s dog and one of the rats that the ship’s dog would have caught, are displayed in climate-controlled cases in several rooms throughout the museum.

By the end of 2015, the ship should have dried sufficiently for the network of ducts to be dismantled and the wall separating the visitors from the ship to be removed, while still maintaining the same constant temperature and relative humidity around the ship. The hull will also be cleaned, because some of the PEG 2000 has formed white deposits on it. Then, the Mary Rose will be in the most pristine state since it first sailed the seas over 500 years ago.

An ongoing concern

That doesn’t mean, however, that all the preservation work can stop, because new and unexpected challenges are arising all the time. For example, a few years ago Jones and his team discovered that sulfuric acid was forming in the hull, raising concerns that this acid could gradually degrade and break down the wooden timbers. The problem was first spotted in the Vasa, but subsequent research showed that it was also happening in the Mary Rose.

Rather unexpectedly, it turns out that the hull of the Mary Rose contains quite a lot of sulfur, around two tonnes, which is an unfortunate consequence of the anaerobic environment provided by the sediment. Although this oxygen-free environment protected the Mary Rose from aerobic organisms, it allowed anaerobic marine bacteria to thrive.

Many of these anaerobic bacteria reduce sulfates in seawater as part of their respiration process, producing hydrogen sulfide as a waste product. Over the course of more than 400 years underwater, huge amounts of this hydrogen sulfide diffused into the hull of the Mary Rose. When the hull was then raised from the seabed, the hydrogen sulfide could react with oxygen in the atmosphere to form sulfuric acid and sulfate salts.

What made the situation even worse is that this process is catalysed by iron, and the Mary Rose contains lots of iron in the form of guns, nails and bolts. Iron readily reacts with hydrogen sulfide to form iron sulfide, which then reacts with oxygen to form sulfuric acid.

Fortunately, this sulfuric acid is proving reasonably easy to deal with. ‘We did neutralise the acid during the PEG treatment and we removed a lot of the iron using some chelating agents,’ says Jones. Nevertheless, together with researchers at the University of Kent, Jones is also looking at a method for removing the threat of sulfuric acid altogether. This would involve spraying the hull with strontium carbonate nanoparticles, which react with the sulfur in the hull to form stable strontium sulfates that don’t react with oxygen to produce sulfuric acid. Initial studies have shown that these nanoparticles can impregnate wood and will react with the sulfur to form unreactive species.

There is, however, a potentially more insidious problem, because oxalic acid may also be forming in the hull of the Mary Rose. Oxalic acid can be produced by fungal activity, and a few active microbes will still be inside the hull, but it can also be produced by the breakdown of PEG. Again, this problem was first observed in the Vasa, but Jones and his colleagues are now looking to see whether it’s happening in the Mary Rose.

‘We are looking into this at the moment to see if we’re finding any PEG breakdown products,’ Jones says. If they do find such products, then this raises troubling questions about the long-term stability of PEG. ‘It all depends on what else is inside that timber that could interfere with the PEG,’ he adds.

The Mary Rose has been through a lot over the past 500 years and has certainly earned a comfortable retirement. As with any elderly pensioner, though, it’ll just need continual check-ups.

Jon Evans is a science writer based in Bosham, UK

Rich & Laura Howard celebrated their 20th Wedding Anniversary in La Paz Mexico at Costa Baja Resort/Spa. Their dive with the friendly resident sea lion colony was interrupted when whales dropped by. Watch the amazing video as these whales play "like dolphins" in the wake of their boat. Check out http://www.oceansofimages.com/ for more images of these Killer Whales / Orcas. Enjoy & excuse all the screaming.. we were blessed & so lucky to witness these "large dolphins" at play! http://scubadiverlife.com/2014/03/10/killer-whales-chase-speedboat/

Extremely rare catch made after an hour-long fight off Los Suenos

6/27/13 By Jennifer Lawinski of MSN News

 

 

http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/2010battleoftheatlantic/ 

During the first half of 1942, war raged off the shores of North Carolina. Explosions were seen and heard from the shore, oil washed up on the beaches, and dozens of valuable ships were sent to the bottom. The residents of the Outer Banks lived in constant and realistic fear of Axis forces landing soldiers on their beaches. Today, remnants of 'the war that came home' can be seen strewn all along the North Carolina coast. Four German U-boats, along with several Allied war ships and scores of merchant vessels dot these beautiful waters and offer a tiny glimpse into that portion of our nation's history.

The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary's previous Battle of the Atlantic expeditions in 2008 and 2009 focused on the U-boats and Allied vessels that sank during World War II just off the North Carolina shore. During this year's expedition, archaeologists, marine biologists, and researchers will come together to explore the final piece of the triangle. They will focus their attention on the merchant vessels that were sunk in these waters, as they attempted to bring supplies to the war that raged in Europe.

Although the plight of these merchant ships is often left untold, the merchant marine vessels actually took the hardest toll during World War II. By researching and documenting a few pieces of the merchant marines' story during the war, the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary hopes to offer a better understanding of the important role these ships and their mariners played during World War II, as well as highlight their value as heritage resources, and promote increased access and preservation. Come join the expedition, as we learn more about the Battle of the Atlantic and the historic shipwrecks that help make the waters off the coast of North Carolina such a unique place.

Expedition Summary

The 2010 summer expedition is the third part of a larger multi-year project to research and document a number of historically significant shipwrecks tragically lost in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. The project is dedicated to raising awareness of the war that was fought so close to the American coastline and to preserving our nation's maritime history. Using non-invasive methods, NOAA divers and partners will survey and photograph visible sections of several merchant vessels, which hopefully will allow scientists to understand the structural integrity of the remains and make recommendations for management options.

The merchant shipwrecks are located in an area known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic," which encompasses shipwrecks from both sides of the Battle of the Atlantic. While some of the wrecks lie at recreational diving depths (less than 130 feet), many are located in deeper waters where they remain as windows into the past and serve as monuments, and in many cases grave sites, from one of the darkest chapters in the Nation's history.

Consistent with the established ethics promoted within the recreational dive community of respecting and preserving underwater resources, NOAA supports open access to these shipwrecks and encourages responsible behavior. Through this expedition, NOAA hopes to highlight our shared maritime history and demonstrate the importance of preserving these shipwrecks for the study and enjoyment of future generations of divers and for all Americans.

NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries is conducting this survey in partnership with Minerals Management Service, National Park Service, State of North Carolina, NOAA's National Center for Coastal and Ocean Science, East Carolina University, Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration Research and Technology, and the University of North Carolina Coastal Studies Institute, who are all providing technical expertise and logistical support for the expedition.