LAMP Field School Students Take the Plunge

Our friends at LAMP down in St. Augustine have posted a great blog on their current field school. You can view it here:

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/blog/lamposts/field_school_students_take_the.php

Divers hope to identify 1812 warship in Lake Ontario

Dave Howe  of IMH provided us with a link to an interesting article on plans for a survey of what may be HMS Wolfe.

From The Province:

“A team of divers is set to plunge into Lake Ontario near Kingston, Ont., next week in a bid to confirm the discovery of a legendary Canadian-built ship from the War of 1812, the HMS Wolfe.”

You can view the full article here:

http://www.theprovince.com/Life/Divers+hope+identify+1812+warship+Lake+Ontario/1683034/story.html

A Giant Awakes in Nantes

This is a little off topic but very cool.

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=214169335485&h=a-akt&u=nuMcG&ref=mf

Deep-sea explorers may lose vast treasure to Spain

This just in from the AP. Thanks to Dave Howe and Stephanie Meredith for passing this on to us.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090604/ap_on_re_us/us_shipwreck_treasure

A New Video on the Saipan Survey

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Historic Preservation Office has just released a video on the recent World War II Invasion Beaches Survey.  It gives a great overview of the project, it’s personnel, and the technology used to locate numerous targets in the waters off Saipan.  The surey located landing craft, planes, tanks, and naval vessels.  In fact over 1500 targets were recorded.  This project was featured in an MUA project journal last year.

You can view the video here:  http://marianaspacific.com/IBS/IBS.html

The project journal can be viewed here:

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/his/mua/project_journals/saipan/saipan_intro.shtml

NOAA Offers New Online Media Library Featuring Ocean-Related Photos and Videos

This just in from NOAA…

“The National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library is an online vault where a comprehensive collection of select video clips and high-resolution still images from America’s underwater treasures are securely stored and available for searchable access and download.”

https://marinelife.noaa.gov/media_lib/index.aspx

Update on the Chinese Junk Free China

The junk Free China

Since our first post on the plight of the historic vessel Free China the junk has been given a brief reprieve and for that we can all be thankful but the vessel is still in danger. Hopefully the attention that is now focused on the junk will result in finding a permanent home and funds to restore it.

Dione Chen has provided the MUA with an update. You can read the latest on this rare example of Chinese shipbuilding here:

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/his/mua/in_the_field/junk_update.html

A Chinese Junk at Risk

The Chinese Junk Free China (Photo courtesy of The Oakland Tribune).

In 1955 five Chinese fishermen and one American diplomat beat the odds and made a transpacific voyage in a Chinese junk from Taiwan to San Francisco. Dione Chen, daughter of one of the crew members, is now on a mission to save this historic vessel.  As one of the last surviving Chinese Junks, Free China is an important piece of maritime material culture but unfortunately it is now in imminent danger of being destroyed.  The group Chinese Junk Preservation has posted an article describing its history and the present situation.  Chen’s post includes historic photos including an interactive zoom view image of the vessel at sea.

We’re reaching out to you our colleagues to share this story and to ask for your advice on how we can save this important vessel.  You can view the post here:

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/his/mua/in_the_field/junk.html

NOAA Discovers Whaling Ship in the Pacific!

Here’s a link to a very cool story about a recent NOAA discovery.  Click here: http://starbulletin.com/2008/08/29/news/story03.html

Using Social Utilities to Reach a Wider Audience

As part of our mission to share ethical underwater archaeological research
with the general public we have created a group page on Facebook. We hope
to reach a new audience through this medium by reaching out to groups who
perhaps know little about what we do. Why are we telling you since you’re
already visiting the MUA?

Our Facebook group allows visitors to upload their own videos, photos,
links, discuss topics, and ask questions. So if you’d like to let people
know about you and your work without doing a formal web post this could be a
great option for you. An additional benefit is that through issuing
invitations to your Facebook “friends” you can help spread the word about
preserving submerged cultural resources.

To join our Facebook group you will need your own Facebook account. It’s
free and easy to join. Once you’ve done that just search groups for “Museum
of Underwater Archaeology (MUA)” and click join.

You’ll be surprised by just how many folks you know who have already joined.

http://www.facebook.com