Atlantic Target Video

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In July 2001, a team of underwater explorers led by Deep Ocean Expeditions, Ltd. (DOE) discovered the world's deepest wooden shipwreck, a 200 year old merchant vessel, resting at a depth of 4,818 meters, almost 16,000 feet, in the Blake Basin of the Atlantic Ocean. The wreck site lies deep in the heart of the infamous Bermuda Triangle.

The shipwreck was originally revealed by side-scan sonar in 1999 during Curt Newport's search for the Gus Grissom Mercury spacecraft, Liberty Bell 7. The wreck site was relocated and mapped on July 2nd by the P.P. Shirshov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences using the Mir 1 and Mir 2 deep submersibles launched from their mother ship, the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh.

Newport, Mike McDowell and Guy Zajonc of DOE organized the expedition, known as Atlantic Sands 2001.

Participating in the dive of discovery were McDowell and Zajonc in Mir 2 piloted by Genya Chernaiev, and Newport and marine archeologist Jim Sinclair in Mir 1 piloted by Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch. Piloting on subsequent dives was Viktor Nischeta, accompanied by expedition members David Concannon, Richard Garriott, Kelly Miller and Taylor Zajonc. Dr. Don Walsh, who holds the record for the world's deepest dive, also participated in the expedition and provided valuable advice of deep water geology and maritime history.

High definition video cameras supplied by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution captured beautiful images of the site. The Mir subs are best known for their many dives on Titanic and their recent exploration of the World War II German battleship Bismarck. Those missions were also DOE projects.

Expedition archaeologist Jim Sinclair directed the collection, documentation and conservation of numerous artifacts. The items recovered include an intact hourglass, a sextant and an octant, the ship's wooden spyglass, fabric samples, a man's boot, bottles and two flintlock pistols. Coins from various countries were also found. The coins place the date of the wreck around 1810. The main cargo of this unusual find was a hold full of coconuts and liquor bottles, which earned the shipwreck the nickname "The Pina Collada Wreck."

Sinclair noted, "She was a well equipped merchant vessel operating in a unique time in history. Given the range of navigational tools aboard she could sail the open Atlantic suggesting transatlantic trade. Her ports would most likely include England, the east coast of a young United States, Bermuda, the islands of the Caribbean and ports in Mexico, Central and South America. She probably delivered finished goods to the southern ports and was making her way north with coconuts when taken by a storm. Our dive team located pieces of the mast, including sail, just to the north of the wreck. From records in England, Bermuda and Charleston, South Carolina we may be able to identify the ship and her crew."

According to Newport, "This expedition has proven a concept. We can taken state-of-the-art underwater technologies and explore historic losses in the deepest oceans of the world. And by visiting those cold, dark and mineral depleted environments we can voyage back in time to see these wonderfully preserved bits of history."

Also benefitting from the expedition were 13 oceanographic scientists from the P.P. Shirshov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dives collected samples of plant and animal life growing on the coconuts and wood recovered from the wreck. While the dive crews were resting and submersible batteries were being recharged, additional experiments were conducted throughout the various ocean depths and core samples were taken from the site for geological studies.

But perhaps it is the dates of the various artifacts that do the best job of conveying the sense of the period in time in which this ship sailed. A small piece of newspaper printed in Kingston, Jamaica in 1809 describes the sale of a plantation complete with slaves. There are coins dated before and after the American Revolution, and one found on the 4th of July was dated 1776. And then there are two French coins. One with the bust of Louis the and another issued by the new French republic. Some of the silver coins have their mint sheen, even though they have been submerged for nearly years. All provide a fascinating glimpse into the past.