Posted on 02/08/2009 6:15:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
With its thruster motors fighting the current, the submersible pushed through a blizzard of sediment. Far above, in a darkened control room, the robot's operator squeezed his eyes shut to push away the fatigue. Making three dives a day, he had lost count of how many times he had approached suspected wrecks only to find a clump of ferrous rocks or junk from a ship. This time it would be different.
The announcement this week that Odyssey Marine Exploration, the world's biggest commercial shipwreck exploration specialist, has discovered what appear to be the remains of HMS Victory has caused a sensation. At the time of her sinking in 1744, the Victory was the most powerful warship in the world and was the immediate predecessor of Nelson's flagship now berthed at Portsmouth.
The 240ft Odyssey Alert had towed high-frequency sonar and sophisticated metal detectors across the search area, identifying anything that did not appear to be natural. Odyssey Marine had surveyed about 4,700 sq miles (12,170 sq km) of ocean floor in the Western Approaches of the English Channel alone. Then the 251ft Odyssey Explorer arrived with the robot Zeus to take a closer look with cameras.
About 270 wrecks had been found so far, but on paper this latest target did not appear to be important. Then, into the glare of Zeus's halogen lamps, loomed a huge bronze cannon. “It was pretty amazing,” said Greg Stemm, Odyssey's chief executive. “We knew the Victory was out there somewhere, but we were expecting this 110-gun ship to look huge — but it was a tiny reading. We almost missed it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
I’ve been watching this on the Discovery Channel, pretty neat..
Historian Arthur Herman directly attributes Britain's ability to forge bronze cannon with her domination of the seas and, as a result, her empire. Pick up To Rule the Waves if you have time. Its a great read.
Fascinating find. I wonder how much they'll be able to bring up & display.
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/treasure-quest/treasure-quest.html
http://blogs.discovery.com/ocean_odyssey/
Here’s a couple of links to the Discovery Channel.
Crap - I got it backwards. According to Herman Britain out produced Spain & Portugal, who relied on bronze which were far more difficult to make, by effectively forging cast iron cannon.
Mark
8,000 lbs. of gold aboard. A cool ten mil.
I know. My wife is following the story on the Discovery Channel.
I'll give you 12M.
Even with gold @ $1000/oz, 8 x 1000 x 12 = $96,000,000. (if the weight quoted isn't troy, it's even more)
“A cool ten mil.”
Get a new calculator
Last week they were complaining about how anyone with a computer and internet access could track them anywhere in the world.
Both are in port ATM. I wouldn't have thought to look except for his complaint. ;-)
Nusmismatic value will exceed that several times.
The historic value, because it was recovered from the HMS Victory will increase it several times more.
I believe the switch over started in the late 1700s. But even during the French Revolution/Napoleon Wars many British Frigates and Ship of the Lines still had bronze cannons. They are shorter range then the iron long guns, but much bigger caliber. The bronze cannons were usually 32 pounders, but the iron ones were usually 8 pounders with perhaps a couple of 12 pounders per ship. The French were building new bigger and faster Frigates at the time and they all had cast iron cannons with the exception of a few bronze cannons for close in work. The Spanish were already waning and had not made the change over.
From: The Frigates (Wordsworth Military Library) by James Henderson
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| Wreck of renowned British warship found in Channel |
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| 02/01/2009 9:42:19 AM PST · Posted by george76 · 19 replies · 671+ views Associated Press | February 01, 2009 | MITCH STACY, Florida deep-sea explorers who found $500 million in sunken treasure two years ago say they have discovered another prized shipwreck: A legendary British man-of-war that sank in the English Channel 264 years ago. Odyssey Marine Exploration hasn't found any gold this time, but it's looking for an even bigger jackpot. The company's research indicates the HMS Victory was carrying 4 tons of gold coins that could be worth considerably more than the treasure that Odyssey raised from a sunken Spanish galleon in 2007, co-founder Greg Stemm said ahead of a news conference set for Monday in London. So far, Odyssey... |
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| Wreck of HMS Victory 'recovered from Channel' |
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| 02/01/2009 4:24:28 PM PST · Posted by PotatoHeadMick · 31 replies · 918+ views Daily Telegraph (UK) | 01 Feb 2009 | Jon Swaine Wreck of HMS Victory 'recovered from Channel' The shipwrecked predecessor to Lord Nelson's HMS Victory, which is thought to contain millions of pounds' worth of gold, is thought to have been found at the bottom of the English Channel. The ship, the fourth of six HMS Victories, sunk with its 1,150 sailors in October 1744 around The Casquets, a group of rocks off the Channel Islands. Among other valuable artefacts, it is thought to contain 100,000 gold coins. After months of secrecy, Odyssey Marine Exploration, a US company, is expected to confirm on Monday that the ship, codenamed "Legend", that... |
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Gods |
Thanks nickcarraway. |
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same here. raising that cannon was impressive.
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