Maritime Archaeology: The Monrovia At Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary

Monrovia: Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary from UNC-CSI on Vimeo.

For those of you maritime archaeology enthusiasts, you have to check out this video featuring the ocean freighter Monrovia, which sunk June 25, 1959, after being rammed by the freighter Royalton during a heavy fog just outside Thunder Bay.

The Monrovia sits upright in 140 feet of water and is mostly intact with the exception of the collision damage.

For more information, please visit thunderbay.noaa.gov

Evidence for Pharaonic Seagoing Ships in Egypt

I recently stumbled upon an article by The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology entitled Evidence for Pharaonic Seagoing Ships at Mersa/Wadi Gawasis, Egypt, written by Sheryl Ward and Chiara Zazzaro.

Sheryl Ward is from the Department of Anthropology at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida and Chiara Zazzaro is from the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK.

If you weren't aware of the archaeological data collected at the site, this article is a great resource.

University of Chicago Oriental Institute: The Sea Of Galilee Boat

From peg mortise-and-tenon-joinery, weather-cocking, and a full and fascinating explanation of ship construction, Shelley Wachsmann from Texas A&M University lectures on an ancient boat discovered in 1986.

In 1986, a 2,000-year-old boat was discovered in Israel on the banks of the Sea of Galilee. The vessel is representative of the large fishing boats common on the ancient lake, and the type of boat used in the Gospels by the disciples of Jesus. It is also the type of boat used by the Jews in the brutal nautical Battle of Migdal in AD 67 against a makeshift Roman fleet. The lecture describes the adventure of the boat's discovery and excavation, and delves into the revealing research about the vessel and its milieu.

Monday Ground Up: Diving the Titanic in Newfoundland

Source

She hit an iceberg and sank, in one of the most epic tragedies of all time. Nearly 100 years later tales of the RMS Titanic remains legendary. Perhaps the work of James Cameron and Leo Di Caprio can be credited for bringing the story of this ill-fated trip to mainstream popular culture. Or perhaps, even without a multi-billion dollar blockbuster our morbid human curiosities would still keep us entranced by this sunken piece of history.