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When Shell Oil Company was conducting an oil and gas survey looking to see if any of their projects were disturbing anything sensitive to the ocean, little did they think that what they found would lead to an exciting discovery of a 200 year old shipwreck.
Frank Cantelas, a maritime archaeologist with NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research said:
The site is in over 4,000 feet of water and we knew nothing about it — we just had a fuzzy image from a sonar recording, which is like a camera but uses sound instead of light. But we wanted to see what it was because it was shaped like it could be a shipwreck.
So NOAA partnered with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), which issues permits for bottom-disturbing activities related to oil and gas exploration, to find the 200-year-old shipwreck.
The ship used telepresence technology to transmit what was happening on the ship live.
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Telepresence technology allowed the scientists on board the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer to use robots with lights and high definition cameras to view remnants of the ship which was laden with anchors, navigational instruments, glass bottles, ceramic plates, cannons and boxes of muskets.
The scientists then were able to reach audiences of maritime archaeologists, scientists and resource managers from a variety of federal, academic, and private organizations around the world who participated in the expedition through live streaming Internet video.
“Artifacts in and around the wreck and the hull’s copper sheathing may date the vessel to the early to mid-19th century,” said Jack Irion, a maritime archaeologist with BOEM, in a NOAA statement. “Some of the more datable objects include what appears to be a type of ceramic plate that was popular between 1800 and 1830, and a wide variety of glass bottles. A rare ship’s stove on the site is one of only a handful of surviving examples in the world and the second one found on a shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico.”
The ship is located about 200 miles off the northern Gulf coast and is about 4,000 feet deep. That depth has helped keep it largely undisturbed and although the wood dissolved long ago, the copper hull and its contents remain in place.
Reports say there were an astonishing number of bottles, particularly square gin bottles and wine bottles found along with ceramic cups, plates and bowls. Some green shell-edged pearl ware of British import circa 1800 - 1830 was also found along with an intact kitchen.
"Very few shipwrecks have been found that still have the stove intact," Irion said. "You can very clearly see the features of the stove. It's in rather good shape."
The researchers are not able to determine if it was a merchant, military or pirate ship. There was a good deal of pirate and military activity in the area at that time due to the War of 1812, the Texas revolution and the Mexican-American War. In addition, the pirate Jean Lafitte and other pirates sailed the Gulf to smuggle goods into New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and elsewhere.
Despite being found in what had been a very hazardous place at the time, there was no evidence of burning, explosions or cannon shot. The researchers tend to believe that the ship likely sank during a storm.
You can download the actual video footage from the NOAA, BOEM site here.
Mail Online from the UK offers some very good photos and a short Weather Channel video of the wreckage.