Tag: shipwreck
Costa Concordia Wreck Floats For First Time

Costa Concordia Wreck Floats For First Time

Giglio Island (Italy) (AFP) – Italy’s ill-fated Costa Concordia cruise ship floated for the first time Monday since it crashed in 2012, its rust-colored hull emerging from the waves off the Tuscan island of Giglio as an unprecedented salvage operation began.

“The ship is floating and is well balanced. We’re extremely pleased so far,” Franco Porcellacchia, the chief engineer of the project, told reporters as the wrecked vessel — the length of three football fields — inched upwards.

The 114,500-tonne vessel rose around two meters (over six feet) off the artificial platform on which it has rested since it was righted in September. It was then towed slightly away from the coastline for the re-floating to continue.

Children in swimming costumes eating ice-cream pointed from the shore as water cascaded spectacularly out of the tanks attached to the ship like giant armbands to float the wreck.

Divers who had worked to prepare the operation through the night could be seen returning to port on a dinghy, cheering.

Media crews from around the world crowded on to the port to watch the resurrection of the luxury liner, which sank after hitting rocks on January 13, 2012 in a tragedy which left 32 people dead.

South African salvage master Nick Sloane, dressed in his trademark blue jeans, had boarded the ship at dawn, telling journalists he was “nervous” about this delicate stage of the operation which could see the battered ship break up.

“Today we’ll see whether our calculations were correct,” the sandy-haired mariner said, before heading to oversee the operation from a control room on board the Costa Concordia itself.

The liner — twice as big as the Titanic — will be refloated over a six-to-seven day period and then be towed away for scrapping to a port in Genoa in northern Italy, where it is expected to arrive later this month.

Michael Thamm, chief executive of ship owner Costa Crociere, told journalists the project had cost over 1.0 billion euros ($1.36 billion) so far, which did not cover the refloating process, towing the liner to Genoa or the price of scrapping the ship.

“I believe we will end up in the region of 1.5 billion euros when all’s done,” he said.

Air slowly pumped into 30 tanks or “sponsons” attached to both sides of the 290-metre Concordia expelled the water inside to raise the ship.

Once it has been towed about 30 meters from the shore the shore it will be moored using anchors and cables.

Thirty-six steel cables and 56 chains will hold the sponsons in place.

“The risks are that the ship could bend as it is raised, or the chains underneath it could snap,” Sloane told AFP before the operation.

“There will be 42 people on board during the first maneuver. If disaster strikes we will evacuate through emergency escapes on the bow and stern,” he said.

If all goes well, all the sponsons would be lowered into position on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“That will be the point of no-return,” senior engineer Franco Porcellacchia told reporters on the island on the eve of the operation.

The main refloating operation is set to take place between Thursday and Saturday, when air will be pumped into the tanks to raise the ship and the emerging decks will be cleared of any debris and checked for structural damage.

Final checks will then be carried out before the Concordia it dragged off on its final Mediterranean journey.

The area is in one of Europe’s largest marine sanctuaries — a haven for dolphins and whales — and environmentalists have warned about the dangers of toxic waste or fuel leaking into the sea as the ship is raised and towed.

“It’s an unprecedented operation and, as with anything being done for the first time, there are risks. But we are confident,” Porcellacchia said.

The Concordia crashed off Giglio on the night of January 13, 2012, forcing many of its 4,229 passengers and crew from 70 countries to jump into the sea as lifeboat pulleys failed.

The ship’s captain Francesco Schettino is on trial for manslaughter, causing a shipwreck, and abandoning the vessel before all passengers had evacuated.

The body of Indian waiter Russel Rebello is still missing and a search for his remains along the sea-bed is expected to be carried out once the ship is clear of the area.

AFP Photo/Giuseppe Cacace

Shipwreck Off Haiti Could Be Columbus’ Santa Maria

Shipwreck Off Haiti Could Be Columbus’ Santa Maria

By Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald

MIAMI — A top underwater explorer says he is certain that he has found the Holy Grail of shipwrecks — Christopher Columbus’ long-lost Santa Maria flagship used in his initial voyage to the New World.

Barry Clifford said he discovered the ship’s remains near the coast of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, where the Spanish explorer reported in his journal that it had run aground on Christmas morning in 1492. Years earlier, Clifford photographed what he now believes to have been a 15th century wrought-iron lombard or cannon that has since disappeared.

“There are only seven lombards that have been found in the Western world,” Clifford told the Miami Herald on Tuesday. “We found the eighth, exactly the distance where Columbus said he lost the Santa Maria.”

The Santa Maria ship drifted into a reef and had to be abandoned. Columbus ordered sailors to build a fort nearby in Haiti before sailing the remaining two ships — La Nina and La Pinta — back to Spain to report his findings.

The claim, which still needs to be verified, has its share of skeptics, including another underwater explorer who also believed he had discovered the remains of the Santa Maria while snorkeling in 1987 off Haiti’s northern coast.

“There is a lot of water, a lot of history around Haiti, and there have been many, many shipwrecks along the coast of Haiti,” said Daniel Koski-Karell, whose 1991 mission to confirm his hunch was thwarted by political turmoil.

But should the scientific evidence of the wreckage pan out this time, the discovery would solve a more than 500-year-old riddle that has plagued historians and marine archaeologists, and been the subject of many failed explorations. It would also help in the rebranding of a country struggling to rebuild four years after a devastating earthquake, and desperately trying to reshape its image in the world.

“It would be a tremendous discovery for Haiti,” Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told the Herald.

Lamothe, like others in the government, aren’t breaking out the champagne just yet.

But a confident Clifford, who says he’s been in touch with Haitian President Michel Martelly, is already envisioning a traveling exhibit of the wreckage that would be “a positive statement from Haiti around the world.”

“This ship that changed the course of human history needs to be protected and preserved for the Haitian people; that is much more valuable than gold,” he said. “This is an irreplaceable resource for the Haitian people.”

Clifford won’t provide the precise coordinates of the wreckage, only that it’s on a reef in less than 20 feet of water in an area not larger than two football fields.

He is concerned, he said, that what’s left will be looted and said he has asked Martelly to help preserve the site until a scientific diving expedition and underwater archaeological excavation can be conducted to determine whether the materials are consistent with the late 15th century ship.

If research findings indicate that the shipwreck is likely the Santa Maria, a full excavation will be undertaken, under the auspices and full ownership of the Haitian government, Indiana University’s Office of Underwater Science said Tuesday. The university plans to conduct a full investigation, possibly as early as this summer, to determine whether the finding is the Santa Maria.

“The evidence looks very compelling,” said Charles Beeker, a leading maritime archaeologist and director of the university’s underwater science program, who recently joined Clifford on a reconnaissance expedition to the site.

Clifford said he has since discovered that the cannons had been looted, presumably “taken to the Dominican Republic and sold to treasure hunters.”

The cannons were first photographed in 2003 during an expedition of the site, but were misdiagnosed by the team, Clifford said. It was only on further investigation of the photographs, he said, that he realized the shape was consistent with the Columbus-era vessel.

Furthering his belief, he said, was the discovery of Columbus’ La Navidad fort in 2003, two miles from where previous archaeologists had looked. The wreckage is 4.7 miles from the fort.

“It was precisely where Christopher Columbus said it would be,” he said of the Santa Maria. “It isn’t nuclear science.”

Columbus had written about the ship’s misfortune in his journal, which has become a treasure map for many a explorer. In it, Columbus told how his crew, with help from the native Indian population, had salvaged much of the ship and used the material to build a fort, La Navidad.

It is precisely these details that Koski-Karell, the archaeologist and underwater explorer, said make him skeptical of Clifford’s claim.

“Why would he leave cannons on the Santa Maria if he salvaged so extensively? There is a saying, in general, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Koski-Karell said.

Koski-Karrel also questions how Clifford, whom he considers to be “a competent individual,” could misidentify a cannon of that period given its uniqueness. He said since his first visit to Haiti in 1977, he has returned many times.

“To my knowledge, there has never been any conclusive proof fort Navidad has been found,” said Koski-Karell, who wrote his dissertation on the archeology of northern Haiti and conducted excavations with teams from the University of Florida. “To me, it’s a skeptical claim. I could possibly change my mind if I were allowed to review the evidence of it.”

Clifford said more could be revealed after he revisits the site in June.

Photo: jacquemart via Flickr

Shipwreck Off Haiti Could Be Columbus’ Santa Maria

Shipwreck Off Haiti Could Be Columbus’ Santa Maria

By Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald

MIAMI — A top underwater explorer says he is certain that he has found the Holy Grail of shipwrecks — Christopher Columbus’ long-lost Santa Maria flagship used in his initial voyage to the New World.

Barry Clifford said he discovered the ship’s remains near the coast of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti, where the Spanish explorer reported in his journal that it had run aground on Christmas morning in 1492. Years earlier, Clifford photographed what he now believes to have been a 15th century wrought-iron lombard or cannon that has since disappeared.

“There are only seven lombards that have been found in the Western world,” Clifford told the Miami Herald on Tuesday. “We found the eighth, exactly the distance where Columbus said he lost the Santa Maria.”

The Santa Maria ship drifted into a reef and had to be abandoned. Columbus ordered sailors to build a fort nearby in Haiti before sailing the remaining two ships — La Nina and La Pinta — back to Spain to report his findings.

The claim, which still needs to be verified, has its share of skeptics, including another underwater explorer who also believed he had discovered the remains of the Santa Maria while snorkeling in 1987 off Haiti’s northern coast.

“There is a lot of water, a lot of history around Haiti, and there have been many, many shipwrecks along the coast of Haiti,” said Daniel Koski-Karell, whose 1991 mission to confirm his hunch was thwarted by political turmoil.

But should the scientific evidence of the wreckage pan out this time, the discovery would solve a more than 500-year-old riddle that has plagued historians and marine archaeologists, and been the subject of many failed explorations. It would also help in the rebranding of a country struggling to rebuild four years after a devastating earthquake, and desperately trying to reshape its image in the world.

“It would be a tremendous discovery for Haiti,” Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told the Herald.

Lamothe, like others in the government, aren’t breaking out the champagne just yet.

But a confident Clifford, who says he’s been in touch with Haitian President Michel Martelly, is already envisioning a traveling exhibit of the wreckage that would be “a positive statement from Haiti around the world.”

“This ship that changed the course of human history needs to be protected and preserved for the Haitian people; that is much more valuable than gold,” he said. “This is an irreplaceable resource for the Haitian people.”

Clifford won’t provide the precise coordinates of the wreckage, only that it’s on a reef in less than 20 feet of water in an area not larger than two football fields.

He is concerned, he said, that what’s left will be looted and said he has asked Martelly to help preserve the site until a scientific diving expedition and underwater archaeological excavation can be conducted to determine whether the materials are consistent with the late 15th century ship.

If research findings indicate that the shipwreck is likely the Santa Maria, a full excavation will be undertaken, under the auspices and full ownership of the Haitian government, Indiana University’s Office of Underwater Science said Tuesday. The university plans to conduct a full investigation, possibly as early as this summer, to determine whether the finding is the Santa Maria.

“The evidence looks very compelling,” said Charles Beeker, a leading maritime archaeologist and director of the university’s underwater science program, who recently joined Clifford on a reconnaissance expedition to the site.

Clifford said he has since discovered that the cannons had been looted, presumably “taken to the Dominican Republic and sold to treasure hunters.”

The cannons were first photographed in 2003 during an expedition of the site, but were misdiagnosed by the team, Clifford said. It was only on further investigation of the photographs, he said, that he realized the shape was consistent with the Columbus-era vessel.

Furthering his belief, he said, was the discovery of Columbus’ La Navidad fort in 2003, two miles from where previous archaeologists had looked. The wreckage is 4.7 miles from the fort.

“It was precisely where Christopher Columbus said it would be,” he said of the Santa Maria. “It isn’t nuclear science.”

Columbus had written about the ship’s misfortune in his journal, which has become a treasure map for many a explorer. In it, Columbus told how his crew, with help from the native Indian population, had salvaged much of the ship and used the material to build a fort, La Navidad.

It is precisely these details that Koski-Karell, the archaeologist and underwater explorer, said make him skeptical of Clifford’s claim.

“Why would he leave cannons on the Santa Maria if he salvaged so extensively? There is a saying, in general, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Koski-Karell said.

Koski-Karrel also questions how Clifford, whom he considers to be “a competent individual,” could misidentify a cannon of that period given its uniqueness. He said since his first visit to Haiti in 1977, he has returned many times.

“To my knowledge, there has never been any conclusive proof fort Navidad has been found,” said Koski-Karell, who wrote his dissertation on the archeology of northern Haiti and conducted excavations with teams from the University of Florida. “To me, it’s a skeptical claim. I could possibly change my mind if I were allowed to review the evidence of it.”

Clifford said more could be revealed after he revisits the site in June.

Photo: saranhiox via Flickr

Nine Dead, Hundreds Feared Trapped In South Korea Ferry Sinking

Nine Dead, Hundreds Feared Trapped In South Korea Ferry Sinking

McClatchy Tribune News Service

SEOUL, South Korea — The confirmed death toll reached nine in the South Korean ferry sinking Thursday, as fears grew for hundreds still missing.

The latest three bodies were found when military divers and other rescuers resumed their search shortly after noon, the coast guard was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

Top priority was checking inside the ship for 287 people still missing, officials were quoted as saying by Yonhap, amid strong currents and murky waters as cold as 12 degrees.

So far 179 people have been rescued, 50 with injuries, Yonhap reported.

A total of 325 of the passengers were students from a suburban Seoul high school on a trip to the resort island of Jeju, about 50 miles south of the mainland.

The crew sent a distress signal at 8:58 a.m. Tuesday. The coast guard said the ship listed to one side and began taking on water. It sank in two hours.

More than 100 ships and planes from the military and coast guard scoured the area, Yonhap reported Wednesday. Fishing boats joined the operations, and more than 550 divers were deployed.

The United States said Wednesday its 7th Fleet stood “ready to assist with the search and rescue efforts,” and the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard has moved to the area.

Yao Qilin/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT