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51-462: Shipwrecked is the past tense of shipwreck . Shipwrecked may also refer to: Shipwreck When a ship's crew has died or abandoned the ship, and the ship has remained adrift but unsunk, they are instead referred to as ghost ships . Historic wrecks are attractive to maritime archaeologists because they preserve historical information: for example, studying the wreck of Mary Rose revealed information about seafaring, warfare, and life in

102-730: A glacial-fed lake, Arctic waters, the Great Lakes , etc.) slows the degradation of organic ship materials. Decay, corrosion and marine encrustation are inhibited or largely absent in cold waters. Many modern shipwrecks contribute to marine pollution , mainly as sources of significant oil spills . A 2005 survey of shipwrecks since 1890 found that over 8,500 of the submerged wrecks may still contain oil. Oil spills can have devastating effects on marine and coastal environments as well as fisheries. In addition to being toxic to marine life, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), found in crude oil , are very difficult to clean up, and last for years in

153-553: A European ship in the Americas to have been scientifically excavated . In 1976, unlicensed treasure hunters discovered a wreck on Molasses Reef, on the southwestern edge of the Caicos Bank near French Cay. The site of the wreck has been described as a "ship trap". The remains of several other wrecks are scattered on top of and around the earliest wreck. The treasure hunters, who were looking for Spanish treasure ships , recognized that

204-555: A blanket ban on all diving; for other wrecks divers may visit provided they do not touch, interfere with or penetrate the wreck. In the United States, shipwrecks in state waters are regulated by the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987. This act is much more lenient in allowing more open access to the shipwrecks. Following the beaching of MSC Napoli , as a result of severe damage incurred during European storm Kyrill , there

255-446: A certain age, the original owner may have lost all claim to the cargo. Anyone who finds the wreck can then file a salvage claim on it and place a lien on the vessel, and subsequently mount a salvage operation (see Finders, keepers ). The State of North Carolina questionably claims "all photographs, video recordings, or other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic materials in

306-782: A greater or lesser degree in an Australian case and in a Norwegian case. The American courts have been inconsistent between states and at federal level. Under Danish law, all shipwrecks over 150 years old belong to the state if no owner can be found. In Spain, wrecks vest in the state if not salvaged within 3 years. In Finland, all property on board shipwrecks over 100 years old vests in the state. The British Protection of Wrecks Act , enacted to protect historic wrecks, controls access to wrecks such as Cattewater Wreck which can only be visited or investigated under licence. The British Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 also restricts access to wrecks which are sensitive as war graves . The Protection of Military Remains Act in some cases creates

357-456: A shipwreck) and adventurae maris (material still at sea), which are treated differently by some, but not all, legal systems. Wrecks are often considered separately from their cargo. For example, in the British case of Lusitania [1986] QB 384 it was accepted that the remains of the vessel itself were owned by the insurance underwriters who had paid out on the vessel as a total loss by virtue of

408-753: A treasure almost three miles (16,000 ft; 4,800 m) deep. A U.S. federal court and a panel from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit have upheld the Spanish claim to the contents of the ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes ; Spain took control of the treasure in February 2012. A very small number of coins and effects recovered from the ship were deposited in Gibraltar, because they showed clear signs coherent with an internal explosion on

459-471: A variety of olive jars  [ es ] , escudillas  [ es ] (bowls) and lebrillos  [ es ] (basins) of styles typical of Spanish and Portuguese pottery of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Some more crudely made vessels of uncertain provenance were also found. The ship that wrecked on Molasses Reef has not been identified despite extensive searches of records. Over 120 European ships are known to have been lost in

510-684: Is Queen Anne's Revenge which is undergoing archaeological recovery by the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources near Beaufort Inlet, NC. An important international convention aiming at the protection of underwater cultural heritage (including shipwrecks) is the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage represents

561-486: Is an international treaty aimed exclusively at the protection of underwater cultural heritage and the facilitation of international cooperation in this regard. It does not change sovereignty rights of States or regulate the ownership of wrecks or submerged ruins. In 2011, the most valuable cargo of a sunken shipwreck was identified near the western edge of the Celtic Sea . This World War II era sinking of Gairsoppa led to

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612-541: Is that any such finds and recovery must be reported within 28 days to the Receiver of Wreck . Failure to do so is an offence under the Merchant Shipping Act and can result in a criminal record for theft by finding . After several days, the police and Receiver of Wreck, in conjunction with the landowner and the contracted salvors , established a cordon to prevent access to the beach. A similar situation occurred after

663-406: Is the historical value of the shipwreck that counts as well as any slight piece of information or evidence that is acquired. Exposed wooden components decay quickly. Often the only wooden parts of ships that remain after a century are those that were buried in silt or sand soon after the sinking. An example of this is Mary Rose . Steel and iron , depending on their thickness, may retain

714-523: The Antikythera Mechanism , is perhaps the earliest example of what would be known as today as an analog computer , and the technology it encompasses predates any other recorded description by hundreds or thousands of years. Molasses Reef Wreck The Molasses Reef Shipwreck is the site of a ship which wrecked in the Turks and Caicos Islands early in the 16th century. It is the oldest wreck of

765-508: The Great Lakes of North America, have remained intact with little degradation. In some sea areas, most notably in Gulf of Bothnia and Gulf of Finland , salinity is very low, and centuries-old wrecks have been preserved in reasonable condition. However, bacteria found in fresh water cause the wood on ships to rot more quickly than in seawater unless it is deprived of oxygen. Two shipwrecks, USS  Hamilton and USS  Scourge , have been at

816-577: The Pinta and other wrecks of treasure ships in the area. Concerned about the salvage company's plans, the Turks and Caicos Islands government invited the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University to survey the wreck site. Later a new group arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands, claiming to have inherited the rights of the earlier salvage company. After receiving permission to explore wrecks other than

867-459: The ordnance in the wreck was from the 1490s or early 1500s, too early for a treasure ship. In 1980, a salvage company organized by those treasure hunters applied for a license from the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands to explore and salvage shipwrecks. After receiving the license, the company announced that it had discovered the wreck of Christopher Columbus ' ship Pinta , and anticipated making large profits from marketing artifacts from

918-610: The sediment and marine environment. Shipwreck pollution may also originate with a ship's cargo or munitions, such as unexploded ordnance or chemical weapons canisters. German trawler V 1302 John Mahn , sunk in the North Sea in 1942, has multiple unexploded depth charges on board which render the wreck hazardous. Samples taken from the wreck and nearby sediment show the presence of heavy metals like nickel and copper, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , arsenic and explosive compounds into surrounding waters, which have changed

969-489: The 16th century. Military wrecks, caused by a skirmish at sea, are studied to find details about the historic event; they reveal much about the battle that occurred. Discoveries of treasure ships , often from the period of European colonisation , which sank in remote locations leaving few living witnesses, such as Batavia , do occur as well. Some contemporary wrecks, such as the oil tanker Prestige or Erika , are of interest primarily because of their potential harm to

1020-542: The Americas by 1520, but none of them can be matched to the Molasses Reef Wreck. The lack of personal possessions in the wreck indicates that the crew was able to abandon ship, but there are no signs that the Spanish tried to salvage the armament on the ship. Four sets of bilboes were found at the wreck site. The bilboes may have been for use in punishing crew members, but they were also used to restrain slaves aboard ships. The ship may have been hunting for Lucayans in

1071-487: The German government, although Nazi Germany (the government at the time) is long-defunct. Many military wrecks are also protected by virtue of being war graves . However, many legal systems allow the rights of salvors to override the rights of the original owners of a wreck or its cargo. As a general rule, non-historic civilian shipwrecks are considered fair game for salvage. Under international maritime law , for shipwrecks of

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1122-569: The Molasses Reef wreck, but not to remove any artifacts, this group proceeded to take artifacts without permission from numerous sites, including Molasses Reef. The government then revoked the company's salvage license, and invited the Institute of Nautical Archaeology to excavate the Molasses Reef Wreck. When researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology returned to Molasses Reef in 1982 they discovered that extensive damage had occurred since

1173-509: The artifacts on and around the wreck at Pickles Reef and the over-lapping wrecks at the Molasses Reef Wreck , or contemporary pollution in bodies of water, that severely affect shipwrecks by changing the chemical structures, or further damaging what is left of a specific ship. Despite these challenges, if the information retrieved does not appear to be sufficient, or a poor preservation is achieved, authors like J.A. Parker claim that it

1224-510: The bottom of Lake Ontario since they sunk during a violent storm on August 8, 1813, during the War of 1812 . They are in "remarkably good" condition. Wrecks typically decay rapidly when in seawater . There are several reasons for this: An important factor in the condition of the wreck is the level of destruction at the time of the loss or shortly afterwards due to the nature of the loss, salvage or later demolition. Examples of severe destruction at

1275-549: The catastrophic Titanic , MV Doña Paz , Britannic , Lusitania , Estonia , Empress of Ireland , Andrea Doria , Endurance or Costa Concordia . There are also thousands of wrecks that were not lost at sea but have been abandoned or sunk. These abandoned, or derelict ships are typically smaller craft, such as fishing vessels. They may pose a hazard to navigation and may be removed by port authorities . Poor design, improperly stowed cargo , navigation and other human errors leading to collisions (with another ship,

1326-590: The custody of any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions" to be its property. Some countries assert claims to all wrecks within their territorial waters, irrespective of the interest of the original owner or the salvor. Some legal systems regard a wreck and its cargo to be abandoned if no attempt is made to salvage them within a certain period of time. English law has usually resisted this notion (encouraged by an extremely large maritime insurance industry, which asserts claims in respect of shipwrecks which it has paid claims on), but it has been accepted to

1377-448: The damage of marine creatures that create a home out of them, primarily octopuses and crustaceans. These creatures affect the primary state because they move, or break, any parts of the shipwreck that are in their way, thereby affecting the original condition of amphorae , for example, or any other hollow places. Finally, in addition to the slight or severe destruction marine animals can create, there are also "external" contaminants, such as

1428-454: The earlier survey. Someone had used pipe bombs to dislodge artifacts from the wreck, leaving a large crater and damaged artifacts. Over the next three years the archaeologists spent a total of six months excavating the site. They shipped more than ten tons of artifacts to Texas for cleaning, stabilization and study. Responsibility for the wreck and artifacts was transferred to a non-profit entity, Ships of Exploration and Discovery Research, which

1479-421: The environment. Other contemporary wrecks are scuttled in order to spur reef growth, such as Adolphus Busch and Ocean Freeze . Many contemporary and historic wrecks, such as Thistlegorm , are of interest to recreational divers that dive to shipwrecks because they are interesting to explore, provide large habitats for many types of marine life, and have an interesting history. Well-known shipwrecks include

1530-486: The hull and metal pieces from the rigging, have been recovered from the wreck. Arms on the ship included two bombardettas , fifteen versos (a type of breech-loading swivel gun ), haquebuts , haquebuzes (a smaller type of arquebus), grenades , crossbows and quarrels , swords, daggers, breech chambers (powder cartridges) for the bombardetas and versos , shot molds, and sheets of lead to be melted as needed to make shot. The wreck also contained many pot sherds from

1581-434: The international community's response to the increasing looting and destruction of underwater cultural heritage. It forms part of a group of UNESCO standard setting instruments regarding the domain of cultural heritage, encompassing seven conventions adopted by UNESCO Member States, which constitute a coherent and complementary body guaranteeing a complete protection of all forms of cultural heritage. The UNESCO 2001 Convention

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1632-410: The law of subrogation (who subsequently sold their rights), but that the property aboard the wreck still belonged to its original owners or their heirs. Military wrecks, however, remain under the jurisdiction – and hence protection – of the government that lost the ship, or that government's successor. Hence, a German U-boat from World War II still technically belongs to

1683-450: The local microbial ecology. Iron and steel wrecks are subject to corrosion, which is most rapid in shallow sea water where the salinity induces galvanic corrosion, oxygen content is high and water movement replenishes the oxygen rapidly. In deeper water and in still water the corrosion rates can be greatly reduced. Corrosion rates of iron and steel are also reduced when concretions, solid layers of rust, or layers of marine organisms separate

1734-712: The metal from the ambient water, and encourage the development of a layer of relatively stable black oxide in the hypoxic layers. Ships that sink upright onto a sand bottom tend to settle into the sand to a similar level to that at which they would normally float at the surface. The thinner materials of the upper works tend to break up first, followed by the decks and deck beams, and the hull sides unsupported by bulkheads. The bow and stern may remain relatively intact for longer as they are usually more heavily constructed. Heavy machinery like boilers, engines, pumps, winches, propellers, propeller shafts, steering gear, anchors and other heavy fittings also last longer and can provide support to

1785-406: The remaining hull, or cause it to collapse more rapidly. Vessels that come to rest upside down on a yielding seabed can be relatively stable, although the upper decks usually collapse under the load and machinery and fittings fall. Wrecks that rest on their side tend to deteriorate quickly, as the loads are not what they were designed to support, and poorly supported hull sides give way fairly soon and

1836-472: The sea floor by parts of the hull that had disintegrated since the wreck. The ship was about 19 meters long with a beam of five to six meters and a draft of two meters or a bit more. The ship had at least three masts; metal parts of rigging found indicate that both square-rigged and lateen sails were used on the ship. The surviving parts of the hull showed construction techniques typical of 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish ships, indicating this ship

1887-544: The ship and thus confirmed Spanish claims to the wreck being that of the Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes . They were not returned to Spain until 2013, when a court finally ordered Odyssey Marine to return the missing pieces. Archaeologist Valerios Stais discovered one of the most notable instruments of time keeping and prediction of celestial events off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera on May 17, 1902. The device, known as

1938-490: The ship's structure for decades. As corrosion takes place, sometimes helped by tides and weather, the structure collapses. Thick ferrous objects such as cannons , steam boilers or the pressure vessel of a submarine often survive well underwater in spite of corrosion. Propellers , condensers , hinges and port holes were often made from non-ferrous metals such as brass and phosphor bronze , which do not corrode easily. Shipwrecks in some freshwater lakes, such as

1989-407: The shoreline, an iceberg, etc.), bad weather, fire , and other causes can lead to accidental sinking. Intentional reasons for sinking a ship include: intending to form an artificial reef ; destruction due to warfare , piracy , mutiny or sabotage ; using the vessel for target practice ; or removing a menace to navigation. A ship can be also used as breakwater structure . Many factors determine

2040-402: The state of preservation of a wreck: The above - especially the stratification (silt/sand sediments piled up on the shipwrecks) and the damages caused by marine creatures - is better described as "stratification and contamination" of shipwrecks. The stratification not only creates another challenge for marine archaeology, but also a challenge to determine its primary state, i.e. the state that it

2091-409: The time of loss are: After the loss, the vessel's owners may attempt to salvage valuable parts of the ship and its cargo. This operation can cause further damage. Shipwrecks in shallow water near busy shipping lanes are often demolished or removed to reduce the danger to other vessels. On charts, some wreck symbols have a line under the symbol with a depth mark, which indicates the water depth above

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2142-440: The whole or part of the ship, its cargo, or its equipment. An example was the salvage of the scuttled German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow in the 1920s and 1930s. The unauthorized salvage of wrecks is called wrecking . Shipwreck law determines important legal questions regarding wrecks, perhaps the most important question being the question of ownership. Legally wrecks are divided into wreccum maris (material washed ashore after

2193-499: The wreck by analyzing growth rings on a large coral head growing on the wreck, but the coral was found to be only 250 years old. Artifacts found at the wreck site included items typically carried on Spanish ships in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Haquebuts , a type of arquebus , which ceased being part of a Spanish ship's usual equipment after about 1515, and a type of bowl called melado escudilla (literally, "honey bowl"), which stopped being used after about 1520, were found in

2244-467: The wreck of Cita in 1997. Historic wrecks (often but not always defined as being more than 50 years of age) are often protected from pillaging and looting through national laws protecting cultural heritage. Internationally they may be protected by a State ratifying the Unesco Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage . In this case pillaging is not allowed. One such example

2295-413: The wreck. On the seabed, wrecks are slowly broken up by the forces of wave action caused by the weather and currents caused by tides . Also, more highly oxygenated water, which promotes corrosion , reduces the strength of ferrous structural materials of the ship. Deeper wrecks are likely to be protected by less exposure to water movement and by lower levels of oxygen in water. Extreme cold (such as in

2346-470: The wreck. Other types of artifacts which were commonly carried on Spanish ships later in the 16th century were not found at the wreck site. This evidence indicates that the ship probably wrecked within a few years of 1513, making it the earliest wreck of a European ship in the Americas that has been scientifically excavated. A large number of arms, including cannons and small arms, bowls and storage jars, surgical and carpentry tools, as well as wooden pieces of

2397-418: The wreckage collapses. Wrecks supported by a rocky seabed tend to collapse over and around the rocks relatively rapidly. Submarines tend to last longer as they are built much more strongly to withstand the working loads of external pressure, and may last for centuries. A shipwreck may have value in several forms: Often, attempts are made to salvage shipwrecks, particularly those recently wrecked, to recover

2448-662: Was a caravel . The age of the wreck indicates that the ship was built in Spain or Portugal and sailed across the Atlantic. The ballast was found to consist of stones from several points of origin, primarily from near Lisbon , but also from one or more of the Macaronesian islands (the Azores , Madeira and/or the Canary Islands ) and from near Bristol , England . An attempt was made to date

2499-491: Was confusion in the press and by the authorities about whether people could be prevented from helping themselves to the flotsam which was washed up on the beaches at Branscombe . Many people took advantage of the confusion and helped themselves to the cargo. This included many BMW motorbikes and empty wine casks as well as bags of disposable nappies ( diapers ). The legal position under the Merchant Shipping Act 1995

2550-406: Was in when it sank. Stratification includes several different types of sand and silt, as well as tumulus and encrustations. These "sediments" are tightly linked to the type of currents, depth, and the type of water (salinity, pH, etc.), which implies any chemical reactions that would affect potential cargo (such as wine, olive oil, spices, etc.). Besides this geological phenomenon, wrecks also face

2601-441: Was set up by the archaeologists working on the project. In 1990 all of the artifacts were returned to the Turks and Caicos Islands and placed in a new National Museum, opened in 1991, housing displays about the wreck. While only a very small portion of the wooden hull had survived, the archaeologists were able to determine the size and some of the structure of the ship from the distribution of ballast stones and from marks made in

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