(Page 2 of 2)
As the research findings came in, Mr. Stemm and his company grew
excited.
They talked with the British Defense Ministry and in March 1998
signed a cooperative agreement with the Royal Naval Museum. The hunt
was code-named the Cambridge project. That June, they searched the
bottom off Gibraltar with sonars and a tethered robot. Other
expeditions took place in 1999, 2000 and 2001.
The cannon site was discovered early but the company kept looking
wider to rule out other candidates, Mr. Stemm said.
Last year's search, 75 days long, featured naval officers from
Spain as well as Mr. Dobson.
"For me, as an archaeologist, it was quite a moment," he said in
an interview of his first glimpse of the sunken cannons. "To look
and fly over the site was amazing, because it had not been
disturbed. We were the first people to see it since the vessel went
down."
The team won permission from the British Defense Ministry to
recover a few artifacts in an attempt to identify the vessel. Up
came a three- pound stern cannon and cannonball — both covered in
concretions but typical of small British weapons.
The recovered gun, made of iron, is typical of what the British
Navy used in that day and is now undergoing conservation at Spain's
National Museum of Maritime Archaeology, in Cartagena.
In his report, which has not been made public, Mr. Dobson says
the circumstantial evidence is strong enough to fix the wreck's
identity. These are among his arguments:
¶A survey of more than 315 square miles located 418 objects
ranging from oil drums to ancient wrecks. But only one site held
cannon.
¶The site is within one mile of where the British fleet secretary
said the Sussex went down, and is consistent with how likely winds
and currents would have carried the body of Sir Francis Wheeler, the
fleet admiral, to where it was found, clad in a nightshirt, on
Gibraltar's shores.
¶The mound — 45 feet wide and 105 feet long — fits a decaying
shipwreck of the Sussex's dimensions.
¶The three sizes of visible cannon match the ship's complement. A
nine-foot one suggests the wreck is a large warship.
¶The lack of bronze cannon suggests the site is neither Spanish
nor French, and the lack of olive jars reinforces the ship's
non-Spanish origins.
An expedition is planned for this spring. Mr. Stemm said any
coins were most likely carried near the bottom of the ship and were
probably now as much as 15 feet beneath the top of the debris
pile.
"It is highly likely that this shipwreck will provide the
greatest collection of artifacts ever assembled from the reign of
England's William and Mary," says a draft Odyssey plan. The company
foresees books, a permanent museum and traveling exhibits.
In a private paper on cargo analysis, Odyssey lays out research
that suggests the Sussex carried coins whose numismatic value could
lie between several hundred million dollars to more than $4
billion.
"The reason for this wide range lies in the unknown details of
the actual cargo shipped — the types of coins, whether they were
gold or silver, and their condition," the paper says.
The Defense Ministry said it was discussing with Odyssey how any
recovered riches and artifacts might be split. Mr. Stemm said the
British government had the option to buy it all, cultural artifacts
and trade goods alike. Odyssey, he added, anticipates rights to
market much of the ship's cargo.
Mr. Stemm said Odyssey would keep the collection intact until the
project archaeologist approved its distribution. As for getting rich
himself, he said he had given it little thought.
"Every day we're doing things that have never been done before,"
Mr. Stemm said. "That's the important thing."
<<Previous
| 1
| 2