Posted on 11/15/2004 10:32:55 PM PST by uglybiker
C.B. wreck hunters
reveal treasures
Riches worth hundreds of millions in waters near Sable Island
By TERA CAMUS / Cape Breton Bureau
MAIN-A-DIEU - A share of sunken treasure recovered off the coast of Cape Breton this summer was handed over to the province Friday.
Officials with Le Chameau Explorations Ltd., a treasure hunting company based in Cape Breton, delivered dozens of precious gold, silver and copper items, including coins, sword handles, silverware, crosses and pieces of ships. The items were recovered during the summer from several wreck sites off Cape Breton and near Sable Island.
"These wrecks are worth hundreds of millions," a soft-spoken Capt. Bob MacKinnon of Le Chameau Explorations said last week in his lab.
Nearby, staff and marine archeologists quietly and carefully packed the goods recovered so far for shipment.
The treasure was discovered in 2002 from an area that some treasure hunters have called the richest shipwreck site in the world.
Mr. MacKinnon said parts of Nova Scotia's coastline are among the richest in the world based on the number of wrecks, estimated to be in the thousands.
The province takes a 10 per cent share of all goods recovered from such wrecks. Le Chameau Explorations and its shareholders get the rest to sell at auction houses, mostly in Europe or the United States.
This summer's find included newly minted New England gold coins from the 1700s. The coins, the size of a loonie, were found near a French wreck containing gold coin lost in the 1800s when heading for Louisbourg.
Some of the gold coins, which glistened on the counter in Mr. MacKinnon's lab, are in near-perfect condition, except for a few dings along the edges.
While the coins are in good shape, time is taking its toll on other treasure, some of which is at risk of being forever lost on the ocean floor.
"It's a very harsh environment," Mr. MacKinnon said of the sea.
"Most sites are covered with heavy stone, some as big as this building. The sea can easily pick up stone the size of this building and move it."
Marine archeologist Duncan Matthewson of Florida said Nova Scotia's southern and eastern waters are full of wrecks because of the low shoal that follows the rugged shoreline.
"They can't survive very long," he said of the wooden vessels that wrecked in the harshest of seas.
"Every recovery tells us about the ship and the maritime history of the area. . . . Some sites are not just one ship, but there may be as many as three ships from different periods so we're trying to work out the sequence of events. . . . It's like being like Sherlock Holmes under water."
To continue its treasure hunting, the company plans to hire another 50 workers next summer to join the staff of 20, which includes many scientists like James Sinclair, the first archeologist to visit the Titanic when she was found.
Next summer, Mr. MacKinnon's company, along with American parent Sovereign Marine Explorations, hopes to get the green light from the province to begin searching several other sites as well, including that of the 1822 wreck of L'Africaine near Sable Island.
That ship arrived in Martinique on Oct. 17, 1821, and departed for France loaded with riches, mostly gold and silver bullion, at the time she sank months later.
They also plan to go after the wreck of the steamer ship State of Virginia, lost in July 1874, along with her sizable stash of gold and silver, some of which has already been recovered near Sable Island.
The team also plans to continue piecing together the history of Le Chameau - the ship from which some of this summer's treasure was recovered. The wreck of the French pay ship is mixed in with the remains of two other colonial-era ships, one of which was Le Triton.
Le Triton, owned by the Spanish, was captured with its riches when heading for Spain near Nantucket Island, Mass., on July 4, 1711, by the English frigates Kingston and Leostoff. According to historic documents, Admiral Hovenden Walker, commander of the British fleet, sent orders to not proceed to Britain with the prize capture but instead stay near Cape Breton to await orders.
Seven of 11 ships sent by the admiral to patrol Cape Breton that month in September were lost in storms between Main-a-Dieu and Louisbourg. Some of the goods sent Friday were positively identified as belonging to the Triton.
Among the wreck sites the company has pinpointed for recovery next year includes an area near St. Paul Island that's believed to hold rare gold coins and other precious goods stolen from the White House during the War of 1812.
"If we can get to it (the Washington wreck site) . . . items recovered below could go up over $1 billion in value," Mr. MacKinnon said with a smile.
According to historians, British forces in the war ransacked the national capital and burned the White House, but not before filling several of their ships with riches for the return voyage home.
Many of those ships heading overseas stopped in Halifax but were lost in heavy storms just south or east of the province.
***Marine archeologist Duncan Matthewson of Florida said Nova Scotia's southern and eastern waters are full of wrecks because of the low shoal that follows the rugged shoreline.***
Nonsense! Anyone with an ounce of brains knows that the cause is the evil Nova Scotia Triangle that sucks ships in and sinks them just as the evil Bermuda Triangle does the same!
Doomed I tell you! Doomed!
Sarcasm off.
--Boot Hill
What a letdown... c'mon back... what's your handle, good buddy?
I can't think of any New England gold coinage from the 1700's, most of it wasn't gold, and what was gold wasn't made by the colonies/states.
The History Channel did some stuff about that subject. I believe we took our own sweet time getting the U.S. Mint off the ground. It was nigh on the mid-nineteenth century before we had enough of our own coinage that we stopped accepting spanish reales and british shillings.
BTTT
regards,
Ping
Wouldn't it be interesting if something looted from the White House when it was burned turned up in one of these wrecks?
Ping!
Probably mighty cold diving!
Semper Fi
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Cool. Something not many know, this is a hobby of mine. I even worked as a salvage diver for part a summer for one of Mel Fishers sub companies out of the Keyes. Dove the Atocha wreck site!
10% is cheap. Usually it's "the Kings fifth (20%)" or like Florida, they want the whole thing.
Kwitcherbellyaichin'.
omg.....I recognize this word!!! lol!
They are working in the area of the "Andrea Gail". I hope that they find her, so that crew may come home finally.
BTTT
Monday, November 15, 2004 Back The Halifax Herald Limited Contributed These gold coins and cross were found off Sable Island from the French frigate HFM L'Africaine, lost May 16, 1822. The ship was bound for France with a full cargo of Latin American gold and silver bullion, worth three million pesos at the time. The Grand Cross, given by Louis the 15th of France, belonged to Jacques IV Gouyon de Matignon who was onboard with other officers.
It's been a couple of years since i've been to hoserland...
Hopefully the dollar will be gaining soon. Last week I had to pay $1.37 per Euro.
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