Note: this topic is from 1/19/2013. Thanks Uncle Chip.
Posted on 01/19/2013 9:25:13 AM PST by Uncle Chip
The history of humanity is filled with stories of tragic naval catastrophes that took a heavy tool in both blood and treasure, leaving behind only wooden or steel carcasses exposed to the elements.
According to a United Nations report, there are more than three million shipwrecks on the ocean floor alone, most of which will forever remain out of view to rust away and be consumed by living organisms.
However, the fate of other remnants of shipwrecks is different. Those ill-fated vessels that ended up grounded or sank close to shore may yet be explored, cataloged and photographed, sharing their ghostly, crumbling beauty with the world as they fade away.
Decommissioned, burned, long-neglected boats, liners and once-proud freighters can be seen rising from the frothy waves like ghost ships the world over, from the Gulf of Mexico to Hawaii, from Alaska to Greece, from Shipwreck Beach in Angola to Rogue River in Oregon, according to Gizmodo.
While no longer serving any obvious purpose, the ships continue to write their tragic narrative in rust, fighting a losing battle against nature that will inevitably win in the end.
Lying on their side in the water, or proudly thrusting their decaying, corroded bows in the air, shipwrecks are assaulted by wind and water day and night, their hulls and keels wasting away under the abrasive touch of currents and squalls.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Back in ‘89-91, I don’t remember precisely the year, I was staying in Miami Beach for a few weeks off of Collins near Ocean Drive when one night a small tramp steamer like one of those shown here washed up right onto the beach, and lay on its side near 5th Street and beside a beach club known as Penrods. It held a cargo of Vespa motor scooters, of all things, but not for long. IRRC, it was empty by the second night, after which they posted guards.
I like the ads for rust removers next to the picture:)
Or the car seat snuggled up next to the one wreck.
Retired from the sea, I now enjoy pictures of old wrecks far more than when I steamed past the actual wrecks.
its cargo of hemp and matches caught fire
Wow. Who coulda seen that coming.
Too bad Americans could not have such stark visual images of once-great nations who, through ignorance or neglect, suffered a similar fate.
"...experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government), those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be, to illuminate...the minds of the people...to give them knowledge of those facts, which history exhibiteth. History, by apprizing them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future...it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views...." - Jefferson's Bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge for Virginia
"Although all men are born free, slavery has been the general lot of the human race. Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them. But what is the lesson?...the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united, that after establishing a government they should watch over it....It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently free." - James Madison
I saw the Dimitrios last October when I was in Greece. It’s just outside the town of Githio. I was driving on the coast road on a bluff and when I rounded a corner I could see it below. I hadn’t known it was there and so it was a real surprise.
I was waiting for someone to draw the connection and then post a picture of the shipwreck of the USS OBAMA.
In 1918 as WWI was drawing to a close and the Germans knew they had lost, an agreement was made whereby the Germans were instructed to bring their entire High Seas Fleet to the British Grand Fleet’s home harbor at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The German ships, 74 in total, were manned by skeleton crews at anchor while the details of the armistice were drawn up. Right before the agreement was reached and fearing that their ships would be divided up among Britain, France, Italy and the U.S., the Germans scuttled all the ships one night when a prearranged signal was given.
http://scapaflowwrecks.com/
Beautiful wrecks. Yet when any commercial company tries to salvage anything off a wreck they are treated like criminals and the various courts and countries try to take it all. Apparently they woudl rather let the wrecks decay and be lost forever.
Who owns the cargo after a shipwreck???
Google, “Lloyd’s Form.”
And, I seem to remember, several of those German sailors while in the act of scuttling their ships, were shot by the British.
I believe it was after the sea cocks had been opened and they were fleeing on harbor craft.
FMCDH(BITS)
Who owns the cargo after a shipwreck???
***
The insurance company.
Very cool shots thanks for posting this.
Note: this topic is from 1/19/2013. Thanks Uncle Chip.
One of those photos reminds me of the wrecked ships and barges from Hurricane Betsy that were washed up on the banks of the Mississippi. We used to play around those when we were kids.
Thx ct.
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