In a historic mission, professional deep-sea divers have retrieved a collection of artefacts from the wreck of HMHS Britannic, which sank after striking a mine in 1916 off the Greek island of Kea. The items, recovered from a depth exceeding 120 metres, offer new physical insight into the life and service of the ship and its passengers. The operation marks the first time objects have been brought up directly from the wreck site.
M/F Ærøsund is a former ferry that served the islands in the South Funen archipelago. It was scuttled in 2014 in a sheltered bay just 550m off Funen’s southern coastline where it now rests at a depth of only 19m. It is easily visible from the surface.
Update 14 Oct:
The long-standing rent dispute that hindered a Florida county’s efforts to convert the historic ship into the world’s largest artificial reef has now been resolved. The agreement to settle this dispute was announced on Friday. On Saturday, conservancy and county officials gathered at the Philadelphia pier, where the ship is docked, for a brief title transfer ceremony.
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The Arcadian, built initially as the RMS Ortona in 1899 and later converted into a troopship during World War I, was en route from Salonika to Alexandria, transporting soldiers and medical personnel, when it was attacked on 15 April, 1917 and sunk by the German U-boat SM UC-74, resulting in the tragic loss of 279 lives.
The Arcadian had just completed a boat drill when a single torpedo hit it between the bridge and the foremast and sank within six minutes. 1,058 people were rescued
An ambitious digital imaging project has produced what researchers describe as a “digital twin” of the R.M.S. Titanic, showing the wreckage of the doomed ocean liner as if the water has been drained away.
The model was created with data using deep-sea mapping gathered by two submersibles—named Romeo and Juliet—during a six-week expedition to the North Atlantic wreck site in the summer of 2022, to map “every millimetre” of the wreckage as well as the entire three-mile debris field.
The British merchant steamship SS Mesaba sent a warning radio message to the Titanic on April 15, 1912 while crossing the Atlantic. The message was received by the Titanic – which was advertised as unsinkable – but did not reach the main control centre of the vessel.
Later that night, the supposedly unsinkable Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage, taking 1,500 lives and becoming the world’s most infamous shipwreck.
Legendary American explorer John Moyer has dived many wrecks along the North American eastern seaboard. But his name is synonymous with the Andrea Doria wreck, on which he made over 120 dives in the '80s and ‘90s, salvaging artifacts, and conducted in-depth research. In this interview by Andrea Murdock Alpini, we gain insight into his life and deep relationship with the Andrea Doria.
Stefano Carletti—adventurer, scuba diver, aviator and fisherman. He is a teller of sea tales and a searcher of hidden treasures on the seabed. He is a man who is a mirror of Europe, the “blue continent”—sometimes tempestuous, other times, crystal-clear and peaceful. Carletti’s life has been an extraordinary tailor-made adventure sewn by a life at sea, narrated by books and articles, which still fascinate audiences even today, as in the past.
After the Titanic, the RMS Lusitania is probably one of the wrecks in the world which most captures the imagination. It was therefore a great and challenging endeavor for me to be able to see this wreck with my own eyes.
HMHS Britannic was the largest ship to sink during World War I. (Weighting in at almost 50,000-tons she was also the largest ship in the world).
Many argue she is one of the most beautiful, intact, well-preserved passenger liners accessible to divers. It is little wonder that these factors, and the story behind her construction and sinking continue to capture divers imagination.
