European Warship Wreck Discovered Near Kalpeni Island

Divers exploring near Kalpeni Island in the Lakshadweep archipelago have uncovered the wreckage of a European warship, believed to date back to the 17th or 18th century.

 

Wrecks & Archaeology

The wreck, estimated to be 50 to 60 metres in length, was found on the western side of Kalpeni Island. Coral growth and corrosion suggest the ship has been submerged for several centuries. Artefacts such as a cannon and an anchor have been identified, indicating the vessel's military nature. Researchers suggest that the ship may have belonged to one of the European powers active in the region during that period—Britain, the Netherlands or Portugal.

Blue Whales Spotted off India’s Maharashtra Coast

Blue whales have been observed off India’s Maharashtra state for the first time in nearly a century. Indian researchers have spotted the pair, a mother and calf, about 3km offshore at a depth of 15m the Sindhudurg coast in Maharashtra.

Ecology & Science

The five-member research team is part of a Cetacean Population Study team under a United Nations Development Programme project on Mainstreaming Coastal and Marine Biodiversity. They had been surveying the waters over six months for humpback dolphins when the whales were observed.

“It is estimated that there are only 9,000 such whales in the oceans. They are the largest mammals in the world, even bigger than the Dinosaurs, but still they are least studied mammals,” said N Vasudevan, Maharashtra’s Chief Conservator of the Forest and Head of Mangroves Cell.

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Andaman Islands: The Spell of Kalapani

Extending 329 kilometers from north to south, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have 1,912km of coastline, about a quarter that of India. The continental shelf has a surface area estimated at 16,000km². The coral reef biodiversity here amounts to 5,440 species, 138 of which are endemic.

Words:
Pierre Constant
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Travel & Trips

Some call it Kalapani ("the black waters"}, from the Hindi Kala ("black") and pani ("water"), but to scholars, the word has a much somber meaning. It comes from kal ("the time of death") and therefore Kalapani should translate as "the waters of death". To those convicts who were doomed by the British Empire in the 18th century, it meant transportation to the penal settlement of Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. The first British colony had been established at Port Blair in 1789 by Captain Archibald Blair, but was closed in 1796.

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Bangaram Island

Dreaming of diving off an uninhabited tropical island? Doing this by liveaboard boat is one approach, but here, on Bangaram Island, one can live the island dream while staying on the island itself, which has enough infra-structure to make it comfortable.

Words:
Charles Stirling
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Travel & Trips

They are off-limits even for the original inhabitants who have been trying to return for many years.

The middle archipelago of islands is the Maldives—an island nation well known to divers. At the northern end are the Lakshadweep islands, formerly known as the Laccadives. All of the islands rising out of the sea from this plateau are low lying coral atolls with associated sandbanks and other coralline structures.

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