Free Republic

Shipwreck Could Hold Thousands of Litres of Rum • Sunken British warship the Lord Clive could hold “treasure worth millions”, including “vast stocks” of 250-year-old rum which will be recovered later this year. The wreck, which sunk off the coast of Uruguay, was discovered in 2004, but the Uruguyan government has only given permission for its recovery this year. Salvage of the ship, which was sunk by Spanish cannons in 1763, will require cranes, excavators and around 80 workers and is expected to begin within two months. The ship, which was constructed in Hull for the Royal Navy and was...

A four-day emergency management exercise simulating a ‘climate change’ disaster during which heavy rain floods the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) of Ontario, Canada may have been rescheduled and now appears set to commence one day before the U.S. military’s ‘Operation Jade Helm 15.’

A shipwreck discovered in Tonga is thought to be a famous pirate vessel that sank in the 19th century with a hold full of treasure. Legend has it that the Port-au-Prince was attacked by warriors near the South Pacific archipelago in 1806 and most of its British crew massacred on the orders of King Finau 'Ulukalala II. The British had captured the ship from the French and made into a privateer - meaning it had permission to attack and plunder boats belonging to rivals Spain and France.

A group of US archaeologists may have uncovered a section of hull and coral-covered chests that privateer Henry Morgan lost during his 1671 raid of Panama. The team from Texas State University is led by underwater archaeologist Frederick Hanselmann. He led last year's discovery of cannons at the mouth of the Chagres River that may also have belonged to five ships Morgan is believed to have lost. The team have been working slowly to uncover the wreckage of the ship that has been buried in the sand. "When we get to an archaeological site, like a shipwreck that has a...

An American company that discovered a lost ship with what may be history's richest sunken treasure has signed an agreement with the British government, which owns it, to raise it from the bottom of the Mediterranean and split the proceeds. The agreement is a legal breakthrough that could open the way to the recovery of perhaps up to $4 billion (U.S.) in gold coins that went down with HMS Sussex in 1694, and of dozens of sunken vessels in seas around the world. Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. of Tampa, Fla., found what's believed to be the Sussex during four expeditions...