A rusted out pocket watch covered in barnacles was discovered inside a wreck from the seventeenth century. The pocket watch was of impeccable make and its internal workings were almost perfectly preserved.

Scientists of the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh utilized cutting edge technology including x-ray machines to take a gander at the cog wheels and Egyptian-style pillars and were even able to make out the inscription of the watch maker.

They then used these images they collected to build a 3D virtual model of the watch and its functions. Both the watch and the 3D image are now on display in the Treasured exhibition of the National Museum of Scotland. They are scheduled to remain on display there until sometime in 2011.

The wreck the pocket watch was discovered on is thought to have been the Swan – a low level war ship which met its demise off of Scotland’s west coast sometime during the English Civil War. A diver from the navy happened across the wreck back in the 1970s, and excavation began in the 1990s.

The remarkable CT technique used to get the images is accredited to Andrew Ramsey and cohorts at X-Tek Systems in Tring, Hertfordshire in the UK. It allowed them to get high resolution images, even through dense metal.

The watch is really amazing in craftsmanship, and just goes to show, they really don’t make them like they used to. Don’t believe me? Try dropping your Timex in the ocean and seeing how it looks after only 5 years.

A group of scientists have discovered four ancient shipwrecks off of Zannone, a tiny Italian island, which appear to have their cargoes of wine and oil intact.

The skeletons of these wrecks, which date back from the first century BC up until the fifth to seventh century AD, are at a depth of approximately 165 meters beneath the waves, which saved them from being disturbed by fishermen for centuries.
“The deeper you go, the more likely you are to find complete wrecks,” an official from the archaeological services section of the Italian culture ministry, Annalisa Zaratinni said.

The wooden hulks have all but disappeared, as tiny marine organisms used it as food. However the skeletons as well as the cargoes are still in the same positions as the ay they sank.

“The ships sank, they came to rest at the bottom of the sea, the wood disappeared and you find the whole ship, with the entire cargo. Nothing has been taken away,” Annalisa Zaratini explained.

These ancient wrecks were discovered by the the Aurora Trust, a US foundation which promotes the exploration of the Mediterranean seabed, and Italian authorities.

The wrecks, which were about 18 meters in length, had been carrying large jars of wine from Italy, and other cargo which included olive oil, fruit, and even a fish sauce.

Another wreck was discovered, and appears to have been carrying bricks for building. It is not clear as of yet, just what led these ships to their demise, and there have been no human remains found, making these apparent “ghost” ships.

Divers have recently uncovered what might just be the world’s oldest champagne (which hasn’t turned to vinegar) in a shipwreck off the Baltic Sea. They celebrated by popping open a bottle even before they made it back to dry land.

Christian Ekstrom, a diving instructor, has said that the champagne is thought to be from the 1780s and was likely on its way to Russia before it met its fate. The origin of the wreck has not yet been determined.

“We brought up the bottle to be able to establish how old the wreck was,” he said at a press conference, “We didn’t know it would be champagne. We thought it was wine or something.”

He went on to say that the diving team was ecstatic when they popped open a bottle after hauling the find up some 200 feet (60 meters) out of the water.

“It tasted fantastic. It was a very sweet champagne, with a tobacco taste and oak,” Ekstrom vividly explained.

The wreck was discovered near the Aland Islands, between Sweden and Finland last Tuesday. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 bottles of the prime bubbly are thought to be aboard the sunken derelict ship.

Ekstrom has said that the age and authenticity of the champagne is beyond refute, however samples have been sent off to private laboratories in (where else?) France for testing. “We’re 98 percent sure already because of the bottle (we found),” he explains.. But then, wouldn’t your judgment be a little off after drinking a bottle of bubbly with some friends?

Stay Tuned for the outcome!

Wonder what that would go for on Ebay?

A company named Ghost Pros is currently exploring the ship wrecks of Florida in search not of gold, silver or precious stones but of ghosts. The company is using the latest underwater ghost-detection technology, including submersible high powered sonar listening devices. Ghost Pro divers have also teamed up with Tampa’s Sea Viewers, the makers of high definition studio cameras which will be used to develop under water rovers.

“We’re listening to everything and anything we can down there,” says Ghost Pros’ Lee Ehrlich, explaining that you have to know what is not a ghost before you can find one. “[…] before you can tell you need to know what that ship sounds like alone,” he says.

Unlike Ghost Busters, Ghost Pros doesn’t get paid to hunt ghosts, but the search does generate a lot of attention from ghost aficionados and ghost critics, as well as from the general media. Hunting for the para-normal has proven to be an excellent way of creating some very normal buzz for Ehrlich and his companions, who – when not hunting down the ghosts of voyages past – are developing advanced submersibles for search and rescue operations.

As a diver, I would like to recommend any readers of this blog to leave the deep sea ghost hunting to professionals like Ehrlich and his crew. If you start seeing ghosts while scuba diving, make a safe ascendance and wait for the nitrogen poisoning to wear off.