Some were legendary ships that have fascinated people for generations, such as Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance, which sank in Antarctica in 1915. Some were ordinary workhorses that disappeared into the depths, like the Ironton, a barge carrying 1,000 tons of grain when it sank. It sank in Lake Huron in 1894.
Whatever their place in history, more shipwrecks are being found these days than ever before, according to those working in the rarefied world of deep-sea exploration.
“More is being found, and I also think more people are interested,” said James P. Delgado, an underwater archaeologist based in Washington, D.C. “We are in a transitional phase where the true era of the deep sea is emerging and ocean exploration in general is really beginning.”
Sign up for The Morning newsletter from The New York Times
So what’s behind the increase?
Experts point to a number of factors. They say technology has made it easier and cheaper to dredge the ocean floor, opening up fishing to amateurs and professionals alike. More and more people are exploring the oceans for research and commercial ventures. Shipwreck hunters are also looking for wrecks because of their historical value, not sunken treasure. Climate change has intensified storms and beach erosion, exposing shipwrecks in shallow waters.
Underwater robots and new imaging are helping.
Experts agree that new technology is revolutionizing deep-sea exploration.
Free-floating robots, known as autonomous underwater vehicles, are becoming much more common than they were 20 years ago and can scan large areas of the ocean floor without needing to be attached to a research vessel, according to Director J. Carl Hartsfield. and senior program manager of the Oceanographic Systems Laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Remote-controlled vehicles can travel 25 miles under the ice sheet in polar regions, he said. Satellite images can detect shipwrecks from the sediment clouds floating around them, visible from space.
“The technology is more capable, more portable, and more accessible to scientists’ budgets,” Hartsfield said, adding: “Per dollar you can sample larger and larger areas of the ocean.”
Jeremy Weirich, director of oceanic research for 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, is allowing more people to explore and explore shipwrecks in real time.
Marine scientist and shipwreck explorer David L. Means said digitizing archives makes it easier to find and reference historical documents.
Still, organizing a mission to find a famous wreck is easier than finding an unknown one, Hartsfield said.
“You can make investors find out what happened to Amelia Earhart, but you can’t make them find the cargo ships,” he said. “It’s all about the compelling story.”
Climate change is a factor.
Experts say climate change is playing a role by producing more frequent and powerful storms that erode coastlines and churn up sunken ships.
In late January, for example, a few 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, Florida’s St. A couple walking along a beach in the city of St. Augustine noticed wooden planks and bolts sticking out of the sand. Archaeologists said the pieces were likely the remains of the ship Caroline Eddy, which was built and sank in 1880 during the Civil War. Experts said they were likely exposed due to coastal erosion caused by tropical storm Eta and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. and Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Delgado said this type of coastal exploration could become more common. “As the ocean rises,” he said, “it digs up things that have been buried or hidden for over a century.”
Treasure hunting isn’t what it used to be.
Dedicated treasure hunters still search shipwrecks, hoping to find sunken gold, coins or jewelry. But their discoveries are often mired in legal battles and their claims are rarely realized, said Deborah N. Carlson, president of the Institute of Underwater Archeology, a nonprofit research organization.
He noted 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.”
Special claims for a sunken ship may be contested by countries or insurers. For example, Spain successfully defended its claim to retain ownership of a Spanish frigate sunk by the British in 1804 after an American company of treasure hunters found the shipwreck off the coast of Portugal in 2007 and took its treasure of gold and silver coins to another country. warehouse in Florida.
The UNESCO Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, adopted in 2001, aims to protect shipwrecks from looters and says countries should preserve these and other submarine remains “in the interest of humanity”.
If the goal is to “observe and not disturb” a shipwreck, the cost will drop because no one will need to lower an underwater vehicle onto a crane to collect items from the ocean floor, Hartsfield said. Scientists can only use a video camera to record the artifacts they find, he said.
“Now your gold coin is a 4K picture,” Hartsfield said, referring to a type of high-definition video. “If your sensors are better, you don’t necessarily have to recover an object to investigate it.”
More are joining and exploring the depths of the ocean.
While treasure hunters were still engaged in trade, they were joined by more commercial and research ventures that expanded the scope of deep-sea exploration.
Weirich said more shipwrecks have been found over the years, largely due to private companies prospecting for oil and gas leases, cables and pipelines.
More private research groups are scanning the ocean floor, helping scientists around the world get closer to the goal of mapping the entire seafloor by 2030, said Phil Hartmeyer, a marine archaeologist with NOAA Ocean Exploration.
For example, NOAA works with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit research group founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy Schmidt; Ocean Exploration Trust, a nonprofit organization founded by Robert Ballard, who led the expedition that found the Titanic in 1985; and OceanX, the ocean exploration company founded by billionaire investor Ray Dalio and his son Mark.
The field of underwater archeology has also “expanded significantly,” with more graduate programs training archaeologists interested in excavating sunken ships for their historical value, Carlson said.
“There are a lot more people in this discipline than there were 50 years ago, and a lot more people are looking for and finding shipwrecks,” Carlson said. said.
c.2024 New York Times Corporation