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7 January 2011:  Divers: 1811 wreck of Perry ship discovered off RI

By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A team of divers say they've discovered the remains of the USS Revenge, a ship commanded by U.S. Navy hero Oliver Hazard Perry and wrecked off Rhode Island in 1811. Perry is known for defeating the British in the 1813 Battle of Lake Erie off the shores of Ohio, Michigan and Ontario in the War of 1812 and for the line "I have met the enemy and they are ours." His battle flag bore the phrase "Don't give up the ship," and to this day is a symbol of the Navy.

The divers, Charles Buffum, a brewery owner from Stonington, Conn., and Craig Harger, a carbon dioxide salesman from Colchester, Conn., say the wreck changed the course of history because Perry likely would not have been sent to Lake Erie otherwise. Sunday is the 200th anniversary of the wreck.

Buffum said he's been interested in finding the remains of the Revenge ever since his mother several years ago gave him the book "Shipwrecks on the Shores of Westerly." The book includes Perry's account of the wreck, which happened when it hit a reef in a storm in heavy fog off Watch Hill in Westerly as Perry was bringing the ship from Newport to New London, Conn.

"I always thought to myself we ought to go out and have a look and just see if there's anything left," Buffum said.

The two, along with a third man, Mike Fournier, set out to find it with the aid of a metal detector. After several dives, they came across a cannon, then another.

"It was just thrilling," Harger said.

They made their first discovery in August 2005, and kept it secret as they continued to explore the area and make additional discoveries. Since then, they have found four more 42-inch-long cannons, an anchor, canister shot, and other metal objects that they say they're 99 percent sure were from the Revenge.

Buffum and Harger say the items fit into the time period that the Revenge sank, the anchor appears to be the main one that is known to have been cut loose from the ship, and that no other military ships with cannons have been recorded as sinking in the area.

They have not discovered a ship's bell or anything else that identifies it as the Revenge, and all the wood has disappeared, which is not unusual for a wreck that old, they said.

The Navy has a right to salvage its shipwrecks, and the two say they've contacted the Naval History & Heritage Command, which oversees such operations, in hopes the Navy will salvage the remains. A spokesman for the command did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

If the Navy does not, they said they hope to raise the money for a salvage operation so the artifacts can be displayed at a historical society.

They say they are concerned now that they are going public that other divers might try to remove objects from the site, which is a violation of the law. Many of the objects they found are in only 15 feet of water, although the area is difficult to dive because of currents, they said.

As for whether the wreck of the Revenge changed the course of history, David Skaggs, a professor emeritus of history at Bowling Green State University, said Perry might not put it that way. Skaggs has written two books on Perry, "A Signal Victory," about the Lake Erie campaign, which he co-authored, and a biography, "Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.S Navy."

While Harger and Buffum say Perry was effectively demoted by being sent to the Great Lakes rather than getting another high seas command, Skaggs said the Great Lakes commission still gave Perry great prestige. Perry, a Rhode Island native, became known as the "Hero of Lake Erie" after he defeated a British squadron, becoming the first U.S. commander to do so.

"Whether or not there is another officer that could have done as well as Perry did is one of those 'might-have-beens' that historians are not prone to ask," Skaggs said.

Still, Skaggs said he was intrigued by the discovery.

"It is certainly an interesting new find on the eve of the bicentennial of the War of 1812," he said.

July 28, 2010   SHIP LOST FOR MORE THAN 150 YEARS IS RECOVERED

 TORONTO (AP) -- Canadian archeologists have found a ship abandoned more than 150 years ago in the quest for the fabled Northwest Passage and which was lost in the search for the doomed expedition of Sir John Franklin, the head of the team said Wednesday.

Marc-Andre Bernier, Parks Canada's head of underwater archaeology, said the HMS Investigator, abandoned in the ice in 1853, was found in shallow water in Mercy Bay along the northern coast of Banks Island in Canada's western Arctic.

"The ship is standing upright in very good condition. It's standing in about 11 meters (36 feet) of water," he said. "This is definitely of the utmost importance. This is the ship that sailed the last leg of the Northwest Passage."

The Investigator was one of many American and British ships sent out to search for the HMS Erebus and the Terror, vessels commanded by Franklin in his ill-fated search for the Northwest Passage in 1845.

Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the British government has been notified that one of their naval shipwrecks has been discovered, as well as the bodies of three sailors.

Captained by Robert McClure, the Investigator sailed in 1850. That year, McClure sailed the Investigator into the strait that now bears his name and realized that he was in the final leg of the Northwest Passage, the sea route across North America.

But before he could sail into the Beaufort Sea, the ship was blocked by pack ice and forced to winter-over in Prince of Wales Strait along the east coast of Banks Island.The following summer, McClure tried again to sail to the end of the Passage, but was again blocked by ice. He steered the ship and crew into a large bay on the island's north coast he called the Bay of Mercy.

There they were to remain until 1853, when they were rescued by the crew of the HMS Resolute. The Investigator was abandoned.

"This is actually a human history," said Bernier. "Not only a history of the Passage, but the history of a crew of 60 men who had to overwinter three times in the Arctic not knowing if they were going to survive."

The Parks Canada team arrived at Mercy Bay on July 22. Three days later, the ice on the bay cleared enough that researchers were able to deploy side-scanning sonar from a small inflatable boat over the site where they believed the wooden ship had eventually sunk. Within 15 minutes, the Investigator was found.

"The ship had not moved too much from where it was abandoned," said Bernier.

The masts and rigging have long been sheared off by ice and weather. But the icy waters of the McClure Strait has preserved the vessel in remarkably good condition.

"It's incredible," said Prentice from Mercy Bay. "You're actually able to peer down into the water and see not only the outline of the ship but actually the individual timbers.

Archaeologists have also uncovered artifacts on land left behind by the stranded sailors, who unloaded everything before abandoning the Investigator.

The graves of three sailors thought to have died of scurvy have been marked off and will be left undisturbed, said Bernier.

Bernier said the next step will be to send down a remote controlled video camera to get actual pictures of the wreck. There are no plans to bring it to the surface and all legal steps will be taken to ensure the site remains protected.

Bernier also said the team will use similar technology to find the Erebus and Terror.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved


Norfolk Judge Grants Titanic Salvage Award

 

 

Norfolk judge grants salvage award for Titanic artifacts

By Tim McGlone  The Virginian-Pilot  ©   August 13, 2010

NORFOLK- A federal judge has granted a salvage award to the company that maintains thousands of Titanic artifacts, but it remains unclear how the company will collect the estimated $110 million value of the pieces.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith late Thursday issued an opinion granting RMS Titanic Inc. an award equal to 100 percent of the fair market value of the artifacts.

But she said she will take up to another year to decide “the manner in which to pay the award,” according to a court filing.

RMS Titanic Inc. -- and its parent, Premier Exhibitions Inc. -- has been battling in court for years to get title to about 5,500 Titanic artifacts that had been lifted from the North Atlantic during company-run salvage operations over the past 20 years.

The federal court here, in the 1990s, awarded the company salvor-in-possession status, meaning the company had exclusive rights to salvage Titanic artifacts. But the court has maintained a tight control over what the company could do with the artifacts, including strictly prohibiting selling them.

The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic in 1912 on its maiden voyage. The company plans an expedition to the wreck site next week. Company-hired scientists will assess the deteriorating condition of the shipwreck.

The fate of the Titanic artifacts has been the subject of a federal court case here for more than 15 years. Smith heard six days of testimony last fall to help her determine the value of the artifacts.

Premier officials expected the ruling to come in two parts. The judge could have awarded the company, in the extreme, nothing, or a percentage of what appraisers pegged the artifacts’ value.

Smith has always expressed concern over the future of the artifacts. She had been critical of current and prior company owners and managers who at one time or another wanted to sell the collection.

That still might happen. In order to pay the $110 million salvage award, Smith said she will decide within a year whether to hold a judicial sale of the artifacts or to issue the company sole title to the pieces with covenants and conditions governing their maintenance and future use.

To make money, Premier has been holding exhibitions around the world of the artifacts.

Company officials said they were happy with the ruling and held a conference call this morning with investors.

“We are very pleased with the decision of the court and believe it reflects the extensive efforts of the company to embrace its role of salvor-in-possession of Titanic,” stated Christopher Davino, Premier’s president and chief executive officer.

Mark Sellers, who runs the hedge fund Sellers Capital, took control of Atlanta-based Premier about two years ago, ousting long-time president Arnie Geller.

Premier’s stock was trading in the last hour at $1.70 a share, up about 50 percent from yesterday’s close. The company has been in better financial shape in recent years. About 10 years ago, RMS Titanic Inc. stock was selling for just pennies.

RMS Titanic and its predecessors have conducted seven expeditions to the North Atlantic wreck site, retrieving nearly 8,000 artifacts. The company obtained ownership through the French government of roughly 1,800 of those artifacts, which the company has said it intends to preserve and not sell.