MetaFilter posts tagged with salvage

found: keys to davy jones' locker

infini — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:39:36 -0800

Is salvaging sunken treasure a form of piracy or the preservation of history? Does commercial for-profit exploration of historical shipwrecks taint the historical legacy of these naval graveyards? Who owns the treasures lost for so many centuries? Marine archeology is testing its legal limits with one man's work. [previous]

The salvage of flight 1549.

docgonzo — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:47:46 -0800

The salvage of flight 1549.

Righting the FAIL boat.

pjern — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:00:57 -0800

The Cougar Ace [previously] became an instant Internet meme when she nearly capsized while shifting ballast near Adak, Alaska. Not enough told is the story of righting her, which required incredible bravery and, sadly, the loss of one human life.

"It's a ghost, and its spirit seems only to have grown."

amyms — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:40:37 -0800

Swamp Ghosts. Of all the wrecks on Papua New Guinea (PNG), none is as fabled as the "Swamp Ghost," a B-17E Flying Fortress that ran out of fuel on an ill-fated bombing mission in early 1942 and was ditched in the Agaiambo Swamp about eight miles inland on the northern coast. There the plane rested, intact and more or less unmolested, in soggy splendor for 64 years—that is, until May 2006, when an American salvager took it apart and removed it. This caused such a controversy that the plane was stopped from leaving the country. The story of the Swamp Ghost illustrates the international debate over ownership of salvaged wrecks and war surplus, told from a personal perspective by a journalist whose war-correspondent father died in PNG during WWII.

Dirty, dangerous, and detailed.

cenoxo — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 01:35:00 -0800

Pearl Harbor ship salvage began immediately after the attack and continued until 1944. It was dirty, dangerous, detailed, (and discouraging) work for U.S. Navy salvors and divers, but their impressive repairs eventually returned eighteen sunken and damaged ships to wartime service. Only one was left where she fell. [More in the book Resurrection: Salvaging the Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor.]

SALVAGING SWEDEN'S TIMBER

stbalbach — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 15:44:48 -0800

Last winter, Sweden was blasted by the first storm in recorded history to ever deliver hurricane force winds, devastating the country's forests. Logging crews came from all over the world. This massive collection of wood is now stored at a former air strip. via Inhabitat

Tricolor Salvage

Mo Nickels — Fri, 08 Aug 2003 05:23:04 -0800

The Tricolor, a 50,000-ton cargo vessel carrying 3000 automobiles worth more than $40 million, is being raised. Cost to raise the Tricolor: $40 million. It sunk, then was hit three times, once by the Nicola, then by the Vicky (an oil tanker which spilled some, and killed marine life), then by a salvage tug. Good summary of the collisions in Dutch and English, with photos (similarly in French). Official press briefings offer good outline of all stages since the beginning. The automobile manufacturers tried to prevent pictures being taken of the destroyed automobiles, but there they are and even more and better. The official Tricolor salvage site offers a PDF file on how the salvage is being done: in part, with a huge cutting wire.

Nike flotsam

YohonTheLarge — Wed, 26 Feb 2003 20:01:09 -0800

Need a pair of Nikes? Fifteen or so thousand pairs of Nikes were lost overboard December 12th while on their way to Tacoma and are making their way north. Some of those shoes started to show up on the Washington coast late last month. The bulk of these shoes will find their way to the Alaskan coast and the Aleutian shores. You may have a problem finding a good pair; the shoes were not bound to their mates. This isn't the first time Nike has lost a load of shoes (and here). In fact, in just a little poking around, it seems that there is all sorts of flotsam drifting along the ocean currents.

bunnytricks — Sun, 03 Nov 2002 01:06:56 -0800

In 1628, the Swedish man-o-war Vasa sank to the bottom of the Baltic Sea moments into her maiden voyage. 333 years later this remarkably well-preserved ship was resurrected from her ocean grave and brought to drydock.

groundhog — Mon, 27 May 2002 05:37:40 -0800

The Spiegel Grove was supposed to be sunk upright, creating the largest and most accessible artificial reef ever. Cool!

Unfortunately, the ship had other ideas and now appears to be impersonating a giant turtle. One of the nation's top marine salvage outfits has been called to the rescue. Looks like a potential Discovery Channel show in the making. (Check out the pictures on the Spiegel Grove site, they're pretty cool.)

tomcosgrave — Mon, 08 Oct 2001 03:50:32 -0800

Operation to raise Kursk sub under way. I remember when this was headline news...not anymore, I guess. Still it's interesting to see that life goes on despite the happenings of the past month.

Ezrael — Tue, 17 Jul 2001 02:20:26 -0800

Remember the Kursk? It was discussed in length here last year. Now the Russians are going to haul it up, because they don't want US salvage divers to see what their best technology looks like. But the people involved in the rescue attempt last year charge that the haste is risky, and could lead to serious consequences if those reactors were to rupture.