[Discovery Channel Fri. 7/10 21:00]
In 2008, Odyssey Marine Exploration discovered Britain’s greatest historic shipwreck and solved one of the world’s most enduring naval mysteries.

Codenamed ‘Legend’, HMS ‘Victory’ was the direct predecessor to Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, and was the largest, most sophisticated warship in the world.

‘Victory’ was lost in the English Channel during a ferocious storm in October 1744, which took its crew of 880 sailors and 50 volunteers from the noblest families in England, and one of the greatest Admiral in British naval History, the 74 year-old Sir John Balchin into the abyss.

HMS Victory

[Discovery Channel Fri. 30/9 21:00]
The RMS Lusitania became the first casualty of WWI when she was torpedoed in the summer of 1906. Thanks to a charter contract with the government of Ireland, the Odyssey is on its way to excavate the second most famous sunken liner in history. With priceless artwork on board, the team is on the hunt to find answers to unlock the mystery of why the famous ship sank so quickly. Environmental challenges make the task difficult, but the Odyssey team stays hopeful while exploring this beautiful and haunting piece of history.

RMS Lusitania

Vandaag maakte het Amerikaanse bedrijf Odyssey Marine Exploration bekend het wrak van de SS Gairsoppa, een Brits vrachtschip uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog, te hebben gelokaliseerd. Aan boord van het schip? Een lading zilver ter waarde van 152 miljoen pond. De natte droom van elke wrakduiker. Helaas wel een beetje voorbij Tx dieptes.

Hier een werkelijk schitterende film over Ray Ives. Ray een 75 jarige grazer laat zien hoe we er over een paar jaar uitzien. Gelukkig duurt het voor mij nog 25 jaar, maar ik weet dat er grazers zijn die eerder aan de beurt komen. De film duurt 15 minuten. Zet hem op full screen het geluid vol open en geniet! Een echte aanrader!

Ray: A Life Underwater from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Ray Ives

Photograph courtesy Wendy M. Welsh, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

Could this partly gilded hilt have held Blackbeard’s sword? There’s no way to know for sure, though it was found amid the North Carolina wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, the flagship of the infamous 18th-century pirate.

Since 1997, archaeologists have been excavating the Queen Anne’s Revenge. The sword hilt—found in pieces but reassembled for this picture—is among their latest finds and was revealed to the public this month.

After running aground on a sandbar in 1718 near the town of Beaufort (map), the ship was abandoned but likely remained intact and partly above water for as long as a year before collapsing and disintegrating, according to archaeologist David Moore of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

“In any event,” he said, “the pirates would have had ample opportunity to take anything that they thought valuable.” The newfound hilt may have been left behind because it was unwanted, or it may have been inaccessible, according to Moore’s colleague Wendy Welsh, a conservator on the project.

Blackbeard’s brief career as a pirate lasted only about two years, but during that time he became one of history’s most feared outlaws. Operating in the West Indies (map) and off the coast of colonial America, he struck terror into the hearts of commercial ships’ captains and once held the entire city of Charleston, South Carolina (map), hostage.

—Willie Drye