Jaybee2
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Shipwrecks My thoughts
Hi Wills As an introduction to this page, I thought a brief outline on the subject might be in order.Many ships over the years, and in many of the seas and oceans of the world have been wrecked by one means or another. It might have been as a result of storms, War or just human error. In these following pages we hope to add storys about various wrecks, Some famous ones and by comparrison some of the lesser know ones. Also we will try to feature Historical wrecks.
If one could imagine all the wrecks on the seabed over the centuries and compare them to the ships of today that ply our seas, The number of wrecks would outway those that are afloat.
Old shipwrecks are usually found by divers, Old time sailing ships, Galleons ( One hopes still laden with treasure) and artifacts of the time.If a wreck is of historical importance, underwater Archaeologists can be called into survey the remains, and if they are of great interest or underwater threat, to excavate them as well.Today with deep sea ocean submersibles exploration of shipwrecks has taken on a new light.Before anything on a wrecksite is disturbed, Archarologist make a careful map of the wrecksite and any surrounding debris field.This allows them to see how the wreck broke up or sank, and to interact with its new enviroment.
From this they can work out how the ship and its contents were arranged before its wrecking took place, The process is rather like the investigation of a crash site on land.
Archaeology is a slow and painstaking work,wheter on land or under water. It takes pratice to do. Meticulous work of this kind in weightless conditions of the underwater world.is both hazardous and dangerous.
Diving on a wreck
In 1830 the first diving suit was invented, air at high pressure was pumped down to a diver in a cumbersome suit with a large round helmet. And on the divers assent to the surface care had to be taken not to surface to quickly for fear of the bends, Oxygen getting into the blood. It was'nt until 1942 that the aqualung was developed, this allowed the diver much more freedom of movement, with flippers and a tank of compressed air strapped to his back and fed via a regulator at a desired pressure to assist breathing.
Many shipwrecks are as a result of war at sea.From the outset of ships, many have been used and built and designed for warfare.At first they were just simple means of conveying armies to war over long distances involving sea passages.A classic example is the Viking era when Vikings raided Britain and other countrys, However with the introduction of gunpowder and the developement of cannons, warfare at sea took on a different meaning, Multi gunned ships of the line came upon the scene. Ships could travel the world in their quest for wealth and treasure, and at the same time be sunk by storms or other ships. Many of these wrecks of bygone ships have been found and well documented, a good place to start looking is " The British Museum Encyclopedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology" In this book are storys of hundreds of discovered wrecks We cannot hope to compete with that book but on lt touch on a few of the interesting ones.Look back over history at some of the great sea battles that have been fought then try to imagine the wrecks that abound on the seabeds of the world. But moving on from sailing and early ships we now come to the introduction of steel ships powered by massive engines, Now with these shipwrecks adding to the vast ammount on the seabed we have more to discover.
When one considers that with the sailing ships era, these vessels relied soley on the wind to move,Sails were hung from the yards which in turn are raised or lowered on the mast. sailing ships worked best with the wind directly behind them but they could sail up to 60 Degrees into the direction from which the wind was blowing.
Steamships were free of this and it was their own motive power that propelled them through the water.Steel ships were designed with speed in mind and manouverability also had a major role to play.In the early 1800's& 1900's these ships plied their trade on the oceans of the world, and were not excused from disasters or shipwrecks, A ship it must be remembered displaces its own weight in water, The more that it is loaded the lower it sinks in the water, If loaded beyond its own limits of bouyancy it will sink adding itself to another wreck on the seabed,
On the early sailing ships try to imagine life onboard such a vessel, No Electricity,or heat,No TV or newspaper and sanitation at a all time low, It makes one wonder, Artifacts recoverd from some of these wrecks only give a brief glimpse of what life onboard was like, But with the dawn of the new breed of ocean going steamships a new world of travel was opened up, with each shipping company trying ti better their rivals,
Many of the shipwrecks discovered in the last two hundred years and the new diving and exploration advances, have opened up a panorama of various wrecksites, The Titanic, Lusitania and many more, Hardly a day passes without another wreck being discovered.Many of these recent wrecks have been visited time and time again and artifacts and pieces of these long lost ships have been bought up to the surface giving us a futher insight to the period from which they belong.
The seabeds of the world are a vast treasure trove of wrecks, It would take one a lifetime and more to discover them all.
I have covered a few wrecks on My Maritime History site,I can copy them here or add a link to each wreck in turn, Let me know which you prefer. Cheers John
--- Interested in Maritime subjects, Visit:: Chat Titanic
http://www.freewebs.com/maritime-history-one/ |
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Feb/1/2007, 5:50 pm
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wills
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Re: Shipwrecks My thoughts
Which ever is best for you .. and a great post that was..thanks..
if you would like to post the link to your forums on here I do have a Titanic link site a little further down the page...titanic links
please feel free to post them in there if you wish..
will
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Suicide is a permenant solution to a temporay problem........
Whatever obstacles control,
Go on, true heart,
thou'lt reach the goal.
http://com4.runboard.com/bthetitanicshack
wills~~~~~
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Feb/1/2007, 7:31 pm
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Lights
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Re: Shipwrecks My thoughts
Hi Jaybee  I have wondered what it would be like were it possible to remove the oceans of the world, how many thousands of shipwrecks we would find. Ditto for the Great Lakes region, where I come from.
CUriously, wrecks on the deeper lake bed, especially that of Lake Ontario are almost unbelievably well-preserved. National Geographic Channel did a great show on shipwrecks in the Great Lakes and one of the wrecks they showed was a sailing ship which had sunk sometime in the mid-1800s. Even the rigging was intact, as well as most if not all the wood. They did not show (for obvious reasons) a ship which sank in the 1900s--when dievers found it, it was still possible to recognise members of the crew who went down with their ship.
Robert Ballard has said that the oceans of the world are a priceless maritime museum in their own right and I agree with him 100%
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"What I remember about that night- what I will remember as long as I live- is the people crying out to each other as the stern began to plunge down. I heard people crying, 'I love you.'"
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Feb/6/2007, 4:33 am
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EMAILLights
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wills
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Re: Shipwrecks My thoughts
Well said Lights well said ..
william
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Suicide is a permenant solution to a temporay problem........
Whatever obstacles control,
Go on, true heart,
thou'lt reach the goal.
http://com4.runboard.com/bthetitanicshack
wills~~~~~
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Feb/6/2007, 1:35 pm
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wolfldy1877
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Re: Shipwrecks My thoughts
Greetings,
Yeah, great posts. I agree on Lights's comments. Thanks for listening. TTYL, Laters.
From,
Robert
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"A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."
-- William Shedd
"Live the journey, for every destination is but a doorway to another." From Masters of the Universe
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Feb/27/2007, 11:43 pm
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