Posted on 02/15/2014 5:58:41 PM PST by SunkenCiv
...Considered by some to be a Holy Grail of Puget Sound archaeology, three men — a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney — believe they have found the fabled lost anchor of Captain George Vancouver’s exploration of the Pacific Northwest more than 200 years ago.
Lying in shallow water along the west side of Whidbey Island, the historic artifact could be recovered by the three-man team that makes up Anchor Ventures LLC within the month...
In 1791, British Navy Captain George Vancouver set out on a four-year exploration of the West Coast aboard the 99-foot HMS Discovery.
Accompanying the ship on its history-making voyage was the HMS Chatham [pronounced chat-uhm], an 80-foot survey brig, and it is from this smaller vessel that the famed anchor was lost. Personal journals and ship logs record the event on June 9, 1792, while navigating an unconfirmed area of Puget Sound.
“We found the tide here extremely rapid and endeavoring to get around a point to a bay in which the Discovery had anchor’d, we were swept to leeward of it with great impetuosity,” wrote Edward Bell, a clerk aboard the Chatham...
Forced to give up the anchor for lost, the two ships forged ahead with the historical exploration, leaving behind a mystery that would obsess treasure and history hunters more than two centuries later.
(Excerpt) Read more at southwhidbeyrecord.com ...
An artist’s rendering of the HMS Discovery and the HMS Chatham somewhere in Puget Sound. An anchor was lost during the famous exploration of the Pacific Northwest and a group of history hunters believe they have located the artifact on the west side of Whidbey Island. -- Steve Mayo, Bellingham Maritime Museum, watercolor
Pretty cool. My Great granddad was a mariner in around there but only around 100 years ago.
” we were swept to leeward of it with great impetuosity”
I Love the Language!
Thank you.
I’ve fished that part of the world many times.
And as they say, when the tide is coming in or going out, it doesn’t waste any time doing it!
“three men — a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney”
Sounds like the makings of a joke.
;’)
That’s pretty cool too. All of my great-granddads were farmers.
Sounds like they learned that one the hard way.
He was career Coastguard. He chased a lot of rum runners around those waters.
If they find a blue thermos, that’s mine.
Interesting, but I don’t really see what’s so special about this anchor?
Recorded history doesn’t go back that far on the West Coast. Having an artifact from explorers (for which so many PNW landmarks are named) is a BIG thing.
intersting. nice post, this
It may be just myth, but some believe Drake's records were coded as he was not to explore north of California or something. But stories of an old sword found in Oregon, treasure maps, etc. Nothing was ever found though, and the rumored spot is in a State Park.
a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney walked into a bar and the bartender asked “why the long face Lurch?”
They walk into a bar...
I loved that line, as well.
Well, we may already have a joke — a poor one — in that the writer’s twisted sentence composition has the 3 men described as a Holy Grail:
Considered by some to be a Holy Grail of Puget Sound archaeology, three men — a commercial diver, an amateur historian and an attorney....
***
He needs to take a basic composition course.
The language of former eras was far more fluid.
Its so easy to see where the degeneration of our language has taken us...
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