THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 8, 1996 TAG: 9606070057
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROY A. BAHLS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 80 lines
JUST IMAGINE getting your hands on gold bars and doubloons, silver pieces of eight and an emerald ring, the treasure trove of a 17th century shipwreck.
The fantasy took shape for archaeologist Jenette Flow when the riches of a sunken Spanish flotilla arrived at Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology's Tampa, Fla., laboratory where she works.
She found the fantasy pretty unsettling.
``I can get spooked,'' Flow said. ``I have a huge lab here, and sometimes when the artifacts are all around you and you think about that ship in 1622. . that's bobbing around and there must have been shifting cargo and crashing and breaking olive jars. The roar of the storm, the creaking of the ship, and the kids were probably screaming and the pig was squealing and it was just this massive madhouse.
``Then it goes under the water. It had to have taken the ship an hour to get to the bottom. It settled onto the bottom in this dark, absolutely quiet after the storm, and lays there for almost 400 years.''
Nauticus visitors can get a taste of the adventure when a traveling exhibit opens there today. ``Deep Sea Treasures,'' an exhibit of shipwreck artifacts and displays about underwater archaeology, will be at Nauticus through Aug. 25.
The treasure Flow handled is from the remains of a small merchant vessel believed to have been traveling in a Spanish flotilla. The 28 ships, weighted down with plunder from the ``New World,'' were headed home by way of the Straits of Florida.
A hurricane ripped into the flotilla as it rounded the Florida Keys, sinking 11 ships, including the Atocha, a galleon from which treasure hunter Mel Fisher excavated extensive gold.
Along with the sparkling silver and gold, other artifacts in the exhibit include an olive jar, a ceramic bowl, pig's teeth, lead shot, a sounding weight, seeds and a mortar and pestle.
Interactive components of the exhibit include a study on sonar, bioluminescence and water pressure. Visitors can even pick up objects with a robotic arm.
The ship's bell was the first item brought to the surface.
``We brought up the bell and waited a year and were able to claim the wreckage,'' Flow said.
That was in 1989.
``We have a ship that goes out and anchors itself on the site,'' she said. ``Then we bring up everything with robots and bring it back to the lab.''
The robots are unmanned submersibles - the size of a Volkswagen bus - that were used to take pictures and retrieve objects.
Flow is not only attracted by the items that sparkle. She also sees the wealth of knowledge offered by the rosary beads, a fork used to serve Communion, carved tortoise shells, pearls and a hoof.
Human remains indicated that there was at least one child on board.
``We learned quite a bit about life aboard ship,'' Flow said. ``At 406 meters, you have no light. So you have a dark, cold, pressurized environment. The organic remains are just wonderfully preserved.
``We found indications of their diet and know they were very religious and very superstitious.''
Working with the treasure trove strengthened Flow's regard for the people who lived during that time.
``It shows me the amount of courage that was needed,'' she said, ``to do what these people did. That time of history, to me, is one of the most exciting things that's ever happened. The two worlds, the old and the new, were colliding. Nothing stayed the same, absolutely nothing was ever the same again.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by SEAHAWK DEEP OCEAN TECHNOLOGY
A ceramic plate recovered from a 17th century shipwreck is among the
items on exhibit at Nauticus.
SEAHAWK DEEP OCEAN TECHNOLOGY
Among the items recovered from the 17th century Spanish shipwreck
was this ceramic plate.
A silver fork is among the objects that offer a view of what life
was like on the ship.
KEYWORDS: SHIPWRECK NAUTICUS by CNB