Wrecks News

Between January 2023 and February 2024, TDI-Brooks conducted an extensive site investigation program in two offshore wind blocks in state and federal waters. The projects involved surveying in excess of 20,000 line-kms of analogue and either single or multi-channel seismic in lease blocks and cable routes along the coasts of New York and New Jersey. Various tasks were carried out at different stages, such as offshore geophysical surveys, UHRS detailed surveys, archaeological identification surveys…

Humans have sailed the world’s oceans for thousands of years, but they haven’t all reached port. Researchers estimate that there are some three million shipwrecks worldwide, resting in shallow rivers and bays, coastal waters and the deep ocean. Many sank during catastrophes – some during storms or after running aground, others in battle or collisions with other vessels.Shipwrecks like the RMS Titanic, RMS Lusitania and USS Monitor conjure tales of human courage and sacrifice, sunken treasure and unsolved mysteries.

Washington Island Ferry Line (WIFL) has been the essential link between the residents, business and visitors of Washington Island and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula for more than eight decades.Picturesque and peaceful Door County isn't named for some intrepid settlers named Door. The name has a more ominous meaning. It's derived from the treacherous passage between the peninsula and Washington Island that mariners called Porte des Mortes, or Death's Door.A unique combination of environmental…

Malaysia's maritime authorities on Monday said cannon shells believed to be from World War Two have been found on a China-registered bulk carrier ship detained at the weekend for anchoring in its waters without permission.The discovery comes amid reports this month that scavengers have targeted two British World War Two wrecks off the coast of Malaysia - the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse - which were sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1941, just three days after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

For many, the ocean is life. It provides transportation, work, commerce, food, recreation—tales as old as time and shared by people across the globe. These stories are lived day to day, passed down between generations, and shared with the public through various media. Maritime museums assume responsibility to share these histories while honoring the communities shaped ocean exploration and commerce. In a decade where ocean health and climatic events have become a primary focus…

Of all the rivers in the world, the St. Lawrence River is undeniably one of the most challenging for mariners.This water highway is at some spots as narrow as a large river and, at others, as wide as a small sea. It has played a vital role over the last three centuries as an important artery for trade, communication, transportation and settlement. And since 1959, the year the St. Lawrence Seaway was inaugurated, it has been a gateway to the heart of the continent.The first European explorers who sailed the St. Lawrence discovered it was not easy to master: it was long, but never calm.

An ancient shipwreck found off the shore of Israel and loaded with cargo from all over the Mediterranean shows that traders from the West still came to port even after the Islamic conquest of the Holy Land, researchers say.A surprise storm? An inexperienced captain? Whatever the reason, the merchant ship made from fir and walnut trees and carrying containers with delights from far-off lands sank in the shallow waters off what is today the Israeli coastal community of Ma'agan Michael more than 1…

The decades long mystery of a missing U.S. Coast Guard Ship has finally been solved. U.S. Revenue Cutter (USRC) Bear, lost at sea in 1963, has been found on the seafloor about 90 miles south of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, NOAA Rear Adm. Nancy Hann announced Thursday.Widely considered one of the most historically significant ships in American history, Bear was purchased by the U.S. government and first put into service by the U.S. Navy as part of the rescue fleet for the Greely Expedition to the Arctic in 1884, attaining legendary status for the rescue of the expedition's few survivors.

A privately funded mission has found, surveyed and filmed the USS Johnston, the world’s deepest known shipwreck, offshore Samar Island in the Philippines Sea.The expedition was backed by Victor Vescovo, is an entrepreneur, explorer and retired U.S. Navy Commander who personally piloted his submersible DSV Limiting Factor down to the wreck during two separate, eight-hour dives 21,180 feet (6,456 meters) below the ocean's surface. These constituted the deepest wreck dives, manned or unmanned…

The Dutch emergency response team hired to free the vast ship blocking the Suez canal has pulled off some dramatic recoveries, including lifting Russia’s Kursk nuclear submarine from the Barents Sea floor, but says this is one of the trickiest.Weighing 200,000 tonnes without cargo, the Ever Given is the heaviest vessel that Smit Salvage, a subsidiary of the Dutch marine services company Boskalis contracted in the rescue, has faced in its nearly 180-year history.With real-time emergency response crews across the globe…

The ongoing oil pollution incident from the grounded 203,000 DWT bulk carrier MV Wakashio is threatening an ecological catastrophe around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, endangering corals, fish and other marine life already under threat from climate change (IPCC 2018).In addition, it risks bringing devastating consequences for the economy, food security, health and tourism industry. Tourism in Mauritius - a popular destination for its pristine beaches - reportedly contributed about $1.6 billion to its economy during the last year…

Driven by the need to organically protect maritime Task Groups from the threat of sea mines, the Royal Australian Navy is introducing a deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability under the first phase of Project SEA 1778.The Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) SEA 1778 deployable Mine Counter-Measures (MCM) capability is both a small step forward in the spiral development process and a “technological leap” into autonomy.”The RAN is looking to replace its four legacy Huon-class minehunter coastal ships (MHCs) with a new deployable MCM capability.

The ocean is a very large and increasingly congested place. More and more shipping and industry is using it. But the risks hidden below the waterline, that established navigational tools don’t always detect, remain.But what if the trend for new surface-based sensor technology, the likes of which enable cars to detect potential collision hazards, could be available for shipping to detect underwater obstacles?That’s just what Sonardyne International Ltd. has developed with its new Vigilant forward looking sonar (FLS).

A new forward looking sonar (FLS) from marine technology company Sonardyne International Ltd. supports collision avoidance capability for vessels.Vigilant FLS offers mariners subsurface situational awareness, providing live and past vessel track, detailed 3D bathymetry out to 600 meters and automated warnings of unseen collision hazards on and beneath the waterline out to 1.5 kilometers.Compact in size and with mounting options for both new build and retrofit, Vigilant is suitable for naval, commercial, passenger and private vessels of all sizes and types.

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigeria Navy are set for a regime of improved information sharing as arrangements to integrate the Command, Control, Computer Communication and Information (C4i) Cente of the Deep Blue Project along with the Falcon Eye of the Nigerian Navy.The Director General of NIMASA Dr. Bashir Jamoh said, “Just like we did by ensuring that our Special Mission Vessels are manned by men of the Nigerian Navy, we are also looking at the possibility of effectively linking the C4i center at kikiriki with the Falcon Eye of the Nigerian Navy.

A World War II era submarine sunk during a Cold War training exercise off the shores of Hawaii more than six decades ago has been discovered by a team of ocean explorers utilizing pioneering robotics and methods at the forefront of today's underwater technology.USS Stickleback (SS 415), lost in nearly 11,000 feet of water 62 years ago, was discovered by veteran ocean explorer and Tiburon Subsea CEO Tim Taylor and his "Lost 52 Project" team equipped with a combination of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV)…

An abandoned cargo ship landed on the coast of Ireland this week after more than a year drifting alone at sea.The Irish Coast Guard said it responded to a merchant vessel aground near Ballycotton, Cork on Sunday, only to discover there was no one was on board.It turns out that the mysterious vessel is the 250-foot Tanzanian-flagged Alta, which had been left crewless and adrift on the other side of the Atlantic when the U.S. Coast Guard rescued all 10 crew members on board after the vessel lost power while en route from Greece to Haiti in September 2018.At the time of the rescue, the U.S.

The UK’s Department for Transport is to acquire a new ship for the General Lighthouse Authority Trinity House to replace THV Patricia, which has been in service since 1982, to ensure other vessels continue safe and smooth operations in UK waters and overseas. The General Lighthouse Authority is responsible for providing more than 600 aids a year to navigation around UK waters, including ships, lighthouses and buoys. The as yet unnamed vessel will deliver critical navigation aids to ships in some of the most dangerous waters in the world…

Saudi Arabia has acceded to two important International Maritime Organization (IMO)  treaties – the 1988 Protocol to the International Convention on Load Lines and the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks.The 1988 Load Lines protocol harmonizes the Load Lines Convention's survey and certification requirement with those contained in the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions and revises certain regulations in the technical Annexes to the convention.The Nairobi Convention provides the legal basis for States to remove, or have removed, shipwrecks that may have the potential to affect adversely the safety of lives, goods and property at sea…

A remediation programme to protect island ecosystems from damage caused by oil pollution from World War II wrecks sunk in the Pacific Ocean will launch in Newcastle Harbour today (Thursday 23 May).The programme is the result of a partnership between Major Projects Foundation, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) – an intergovernmental Pacific regional organisation made up of 26 members – and the University of Newcastle. It will see expert teams of scientists, engineers and marine archaeologists work with Pacific island communities to meet the challenges posed by the degradation of wrecks.There are in excess of 3…

Hazardous shipwrecks can cause many problems. Depending on its location, a wreck may be a hazard to navigation, potentially endangering other vessels and their crews.International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention (WRC) goes some way to resolving these issues. It covers the legal basis for States to remove, or have removed, shipwrecks, drifting ships, objects from ships at sea, and floating offshore installations.The Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007, was adopted by an international conference held in Kenya in 2007. The Convention provides a set of uniform international rules…

The third edition of the Asian Marine Casualty Forum (AMCF) concluded with delegates calling for greater cooperation and continuing dialogue to address the major challenges now facing the marine casualty and salvage industry.Following the unprecedented success of the Forum last week, the organisers LOC, hope the AMCF will return for a fourth edition of the conference during Singapore Maritime Week in April 2021.Highlights of the final day on Friday 12th of AMCF 2019 included a session on bribery and corruption, wrecks and the environment and container ship casualties, with delegates hearing from world leading industry specialists and…

Guyana has signed up to a host of International Maritime Organization (IMO) treaties supporting safe, secure and clean international shipping.According to the UN body, the treaties cover a wide variety of topics including marine pollution, dumping waste at sea and responding to pollution incidents involving hazardous and noxious substances.Guyana ratified two key IMO measures designed to preserve bio-diversity – the Ballast Water Management Convention and another on use of harmful anti-fouling systems on ships hulls – as well as others covering unlawful acts against the safety of navigation and removing wrecks from the seabed.It also signed four instruments covering liability and compensation.In all, Guyana ratified eleven IMO instruments.