by Some were vessels that had fascinated people for generations, such as Endurance, Ernest Shackleton’s ship that sank in the Antarctic in 1915. Some were common workhorses that went into the deep, like the Ironton, a barge which was carrying 1,000 tons of grain when it was. sank in Lake Huron in 1894.
Regardless of their place in history, more shipwrecks are being discovered these days than ever before, according to those who work in the undersea world of deep-sea exploration.
“More is being discovered, and I think more people are also paying attention,” said James P. Delgado, an underwater archaeologist based in Washington, D.C. He said: “We’re in a transitional phase where a real the deep sea there. and ocean exploration in general is beginning.”
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So what is behind the increase?
Experts point to several factors. Technology, they say, has made it easier and cheaper to scan the ocean floor, opening up the hunt to both amateurs and professionals. More people are surveying the ocean for research and commercial ventures. Wreck hunters are also looking for wrecks for their historical value, rather than sunken treasure. And climate change has intensified storms and beach erosion, exposing shipwrecks in shallow water.
Underwater robots and new imaging are helping.
Experts agreed that the new technology has revitalized deep-sea exploration.
Free-swimming robots, known as autonomous underwater vehicles, are much more common than they were 20 years ago, and can scan large areas of the seabed without being tethered to a research vessel, according to J .Carl Hartsfield, the director. and senior program manager of the Oceanographic Systems Laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Remotely operated vehicles can travel 25 miles under the ice sheet in polar regions, he said. And satellite images can detect shipwrecks from sediment plumes moving around them and visible from space.
“The technology is more capable and portable and built into scientists’ budgets,” Hartsfield said, adding: “You can sample larger and larger areas of the ocean for a dollar.”
Jeremy Weirich, director of Ocean Exploration at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the expanded use of telepresence systems, which stream images of the ocean floor to anyone with an internet connection.
And the digitization of archives has made historical documents easier to find and consult, said David L. Means, a marine scientist and shipwreck explorer.
However, organizing a mission to find a famous wreck is still easier than an obscure one, Hartsfield said.
“You can ask investors to find out what happened to Amelia Earhart, but not find a cargo,” he said. “It’s about the great story.”
Climate change is a factor.
Climate change is playing a role, experts said, by producing more frequent and powerful storms that have eroded shorelines and sunk vessels.
In late January, for example, several months after Hurricane Fiona hit Canada, a 19th-century shipwreck washed ashore in the remote Cape Ray section of Newfoundland, causing a stir in the small community of about 250 people.
In 2020, a couple walking along a beach in St. Augustine, Florida, saw wood and wooden bolts sticking out of the sand. Archaeologists said the pieces were most likely the remains of the Caroline Eddy, a ship built during the Civil War that sank in 1880. They were likely exposed, experts said, due to coastal erosion caused by a tropical storm. named Eta and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. and Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Those types of coastal discoveries could become more common, Delgado said. “As the ocean rises,” he said, “it’s digging up things that have been hidden or hidden for over a hundred years.”
Treasure hunting is not what it used to be.
Private treasure hunters are still searching shipwrecks, hoping to find sunken gold, coins or treasures. But their discoveries are often met with legal battles, and their claims are rarely ever realized, said Deborah N. Carlson, president of the Institute of Maritime Archaeology, a nonprofit research organization.
She pointed out that underwater archaeologist Peter Throckmorton once called ocean treasure hunting “the worst investment in the world”, and found that “it only benefits promoters and lawyers”.
Private claims on a shipwreck may be contested by nations or insurers. Spain, for example, defended its claim to retain ownership of a Spanish frigate sunk by Britain in 1804 after an American treasure-hunting company found the wreck off Portugal in 2007 and brought its gold and silver coins to its warehouse. Florida.
The UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, adopted in 2001, sought to protect sunken ships from looters and said countries should preserve them and other undersea remains “for the benefit of mankind”.
Hartsfield said that if the goal is to “observe a shipwreck and not disturb it”, the cost goes down because no one needs to lower a submersible on a winch to remove items from the ocean floor. Scientists, he said, can use a video camera to record the artifacts they find.
“Now, it’s a 4K picture for gold coins,” Hartsfield said, referring to a type of high-definition video. “If your sensors are better, you don’t need to retrieve an object to investigate it.”
More are getting involved and exploring the depths of the ocean.
While treasure hunters still ply their trade, they have been joined by more commercial and research enterprises that have contributed to the field of deep sea exploration.
Weirich said more shipwrecks have been discovered over the years largely due to private companies surveying for oil and gas leases, cables and pipelines.
Phil Hartmeyer, a marine archaeologist at NOAA Ocean Exploration, said more private research groups are also scanning the ocean floor and helping scientists around the world move closer toward a goal of mapping the entire ocean floor by 2030. .
NOAA, for example, works with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a non-profit research group founded by Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO, and his wife, Wendy Schmidt; the Ocean Exploration Trust, a non-profit organization founded by Robert Ballard, who led the expedition that discovered the Titanic in 1985; and OceanX, an ocean exploration company founded by billionaire investor Ray Dalio and his son, Mark.
Carlson said the field of underwater archeology has also “expanded significantly,” with more graduate programs producing archaeologists interested in excavating shipwrecks for their historical value.
“There are a lot more people in this discipline than there were 50 years ago,” Carlson said, “and there are a lot more people looking for and finding shipwrecks.”
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