Im sure the British Gov will just let them keep the Gold.

1000 sailors? On a sailing ship? They must have been packed in like sardines.

toddalmighty: 1000 sailors? On a sailing ship? They must have been packed in like sardines.

Nonsense, there's room for plenty of seamen on such a vessel.

Wight Power: toddalmighty: 1000 sailors? On a sailing ship? They must have been packed in like sardines.

Nonsense, there's room for plenty of seamen on such a vessel.

Sure, but that is a good way to end up with sails that are all crusty and stuff.... what? you get salty spray when you are on the ocean.

Yeah, a billion dollars at gold's current price. Only half a billion at its price next year.

the HMS Victory which sunk in 1744 killing 1000 men

Put him on trial! Hanging's too good for him!

I don't know why you would load down an infamous warship with a billion dollars worth of gold.

I wonder if the American gov't will allow me to go dig up the cemeteries of New York. I hear a lot of rich jews were buried with their jewelery. I want to see if it's true.

indarwinsshadow: I wonder if the American gov't will allow me to go dig up the cemeteries of New York. I hear a lot of rich jews were buried with their jewelery. I want to see if it's true.

Cemetary is the same as a shipwreck where the international law is Finders Keepers?

American company wants to raise the HMS Victory which sunk in 1744 killing 1000 men.

How will raising the ship kill 1000 men? And why would they want to?

They're looking in the wrong place.

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name: indarwinsshadow: I wonder if the American gov't will allow me to go dig up the cemeteries of New York. I hear a lot of rich jews were buried with their jewelery. I want to see if it's true.

Cemetary is the same as a shipwreck where the international law is Finders Keepers?

Warships remain property of their country, no matter who finds them. So the HMS Victory is the UK's to oversee permantly.

What are they going to do with the $10 million in gold?

Odyssey's claim to fame is the salvaging of the SS Republic which sank in 1865 off Cape Hatteras. They recovered over 50,000 gold & silver coins from the wreck and did some nifty archaeology in the process, all without destroying the site by dredging it up. It's likely Stemm & Co. would treat the Victory with the same reverence, all documented on video.



/has written for Odyssey but isn't an employee
//just sayin'

i thought it was in portsmouth. is that one just a model?

I think this wreck was one of the driving forces behind Harrison's longitudinal watches. Precise timekeeping allowed precise longitudinal location of ships anywhere on the globe.

toddalmighty: 1000 sailors? On a sailing ship? They must have been packed in like sardines.

Well, the HMS Victory was enormous.

First thing that came to mind.

An-Unnecessarily-Long-Name [TotalFark] Quote 2009-11-04 05:09:22 PM
indarwinsshadow: I wonder if the American gov't will allow me to go dig up the cemeteries of New York. I hear a lot of rich jews were buried with their jewelery. I want to see if it's true.

Cemetary is the same as a shipwreck where the international law is Finders Keepers?


Woo hoo. I'm heading to Canadian Tire and getting a pick and shovel. Easy money. Here I come.

toddalmighty: 1000 sailors? On a sailing ship? They must have been packed in like sardines.

They slept packed like sausages in 18 inch wide hammocks slung in the gun decks. And you thought your bed was uncomfortable.

1,550+ drowned- HMS Association, HMS Eagle, HMS Romney and HMS Firebrand (Admiral Cloudesley Shovell squadron shipwrecks), Isles of Scilly, (22 October 1707)

That was the one that got the ball rolling on the longitude prize, I believe.

The alternative is to leave the wreck as is where the gold is left unused and the artifacts become lost. Shipwreck salvage continues to be a controversial subject. Unless something has changed recently, Odyssey Marine Exploration is still embroiled with the Spanish govt. over another wreck.

As far as the respect of the grave aspect, well it's a matter of perspective or perhaps elapsed time. From my understanding, the British are pretty much on board with this effort. The holdup is the red tape and planning out what will be a very expensive excavation and preservation project. At least that is what I understood from Treasure Quest. Besides, the British have been behind other salvage operations before, such as the Mary Rose.

Approves

some_beer_drinker: i thought it was in portsmouth. is that one just a model?

This isn't the H.M.S. Victory that was at Trafalgar (Nelson's flagship), this is a completely different ship. The Trafalgar Victory is a museum ship now in Portsmouth. They're talking about this (new window) Victory, which sunk in 1744.