After the location of the shipwreck of HMS Sussex, public interest will undoubtedly lead to recognizing the anniversary of her loss. It was, after all, a momentous event that not only cost as many as 600 lives but also may have affected the outcome of a war and thus the course of history. While historical records indicate that the 308th anniversary of the loss should be Feb. 19, 2002, in fact the actual anniversary should be observed 10 days later.

When HMS Sussex set sail from England, religion was a matter of state that complicated even the simple act of keeping the ship's logs or scheduling a rendezvous with Continental allies. Because the Gregorian calendar in use by most European states was named for Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XIII, ferociously Protestant Britain refused to switch from the inaccurate old "Julian" calendar developed during the Roman Empire.

Sussex was on a mission that would take her to England's allies in a war against France. By the calendars of those allies, including the Catholic Kingdom of Spain and Duchy of Savoy, the British ship left port not on Dec. 27, 1693, as recorded in court files, but on January 6, 1694. When Sussex sank in a storm, the date of her loss in England was Feb. 19, 1694 - but March 1 for the allies.

The difference of 10 days between the two calendars resulted when the Pope, acting on a study of astronomy and time-keeping conducted by a Jesuit scholar, declared a new calendar to be used by the Roman Catholic Church. The old calendar first proclaimed by Julius Caesar, and shuffled a bit by his successor Augustus, resulted in an error which sliced a bit off the true solar "year" every year. Over the centuries the discrepancy resulted in a number of days slowly creeping into the year to throw the calendar out of alignment with the solar year. Eventually key seasonal dates such as the Spring Equinox began to fall behind the solar calendar.

Pope Gregory's reform presented a fix for this calendar glitch, and so was quickly adopted by many countries. This resulted in dropping 10 days from the calendar on October 4, 1582. Thus, the day after Oct. 4 was Oct. 15, 1582.

The reforms did help bring date-keeping closer to astronomical reckoning, but England saw no reason to change. As far as the British were concerned, the new calendar was devised more for religious purposes - so that Easter, for example, was reckoned by the vernal equinox and that would almost always fall on March 20.

The 10-day difference in dates was still accurate at the time the Sussex began her mission. However, when Britain finally joined the rest of Western Europe in the use of the Gregorian calendar 50 years later, the actual date adjustment had grown to 11 days. The Gregorian calendar was adopted in Britain (and in the British colonies) in 1752, with (Wednesday) September 2, 1752, being followed immediately by (Thursday) September 14, 1752.

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The Company believes the information set forth in this Press Release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and is subject to the safe harbor created by that section. Certain factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors," and "Business" in the Company's annual report on Form 10KSB for the year ended February 28, 2001, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PR02-35/153