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Cursed Warship Revealed With Treasure Onboard
National Geographic ^ | July 7, 2014 | Jane J. Lee

Posted on 07/10/2014 10:31:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

It was the largest and fiercest warship in the world, named the Mars for the Roman god of war, but it went up in a ball of flames in a brutal naval battle in 1564, consigning 800 to 900 Swedish and German sailors and a fortune in gold and silver coins to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Now, a few years after the ship's discovery, researchers have concluded that the one-of-a-kind ship is also the best preserved ship of its kind, representing the first generation of Europe's big, three-masted warships.

Naval historians know a lot about 17th-century ships, but very little about warships from the 16th century, said Johan Rönnby, a professor of maritime archaeology at Södertörn University in Sweden, who is studying the 197-foot-long (60 meter) wreck...

Researchers have found cargo from early warships called galleons—slightly later iterations of the type of vessel the Mars exemplifies. And they've recovered pieces of actual ships, including the English flagship Mary Rose, which sank during a battle in 1545. But never have they found something as well preserved as the Mars.

Rönnby and his team want to leave the Mars on the seafloor and instead use three-dimensional scans and photographs to share the wreck with the world...

Bringing a ship out of the ocean is expensive, and it can cause significant harm to artifacts. The laser scans Lundgren and colleagues have taken are accurate to within 0.08 inches (2 millimeters)—more than enough to satisfy most researchers...

In fact, when Lundgren and colleagues brought a piece of the ship's hull to the surface, they noticed a charred scent wafting from the burnt wood...

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; sweden
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The Mars lies at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, where it sank during a naval battle in 1564. A diver at upper right provides scale. COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH BY TOMASZ STACHURA, OCEAN DISCOVERY

The Mars lies at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, where it sank during a naval battle in 1564. A diver at upper right provides scale. COMPOSITE PHOTOGRAPH BY TOMASZ STACHURA, OCEAN DISCOVERY

1 posted on 07/10/2014 10:31:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
The level of preservation is startling.

2 posted on 07/10/2014 10:32:43 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv

There is no treasure there except the stuff I misplaced and need to have returned.


3 posted on 07/10/2014 10:35:10 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: SunkenCiv


"including eight different kinds of beer"... what a loss.
4 posted on 07/10/2014 10:54:40 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder (The only thing the Left has learned from the failures of socialism is not to call it that)
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To: SunkenCiv

Did they get a lot of gold out of the ship?


5 posted on 07/10/2014 11:01:02 PM PDT by Star Traveler (Remember to keep the Messiah of Israel in the One-World Government that we look forward to coming)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thank you again for making Free Republic an even more interesting site by your steadfast attention to posting such articles as this.

God bless you and yours!

6 posted on 07/10/2014 11:12:13 PM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Society: Rack 'em Danno!)
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To: SunkenCiv

What excellent preservation. Quite a video.


7 posted on 07/10/2014 11:52:33 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: BlackElk
Yes, thank you FR for these very interesting articles...I always look forward to them. I try to read Archeology Magazine when I get the opportunity...use to get copies from the local library. I do recall reading about the latest archeological digs, finds on a British website...was it through a museum, name unknown, or? Does anyone else know of the source I'm referring to?
8 posted on 07/11/2014 12:21:03 AM PDT by itssme
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To: BlackElk
Just FYI - the clipper ship Great Republic

was the largest wooden clipper ever built.

Great Republic - Free Republic - both noteworthy items.

9 posted on 07/11/2014 2:56:31 AM PDT by FroggyTheGremlim ("It is not the color of his skin, ... it is the blackness that fills his soul")
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To: SunkenCiv

That is gorgeous!

Thanks, Sunken Civ! :-)


10 posted on 07/11/2014 5:16:32 AM PDT by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Simply amazing! Thanks...


11 posted on 07/11/2014 6:48:19 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: SunkenCiv

No way.


12 posted on 07/11/2014 7:22:10 AM PDT by BenLurkin (This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
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To: SunkenCiv
"...the one-of-a-kind ship is also the best preserved ship of its kind."

How could it be any other way?

13 posted on 07/11/2014 7:39:52 AM PDT by Cruising Speed
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To: itssme; SunkenCiv

Thank SunkenCiv who works so hard finding these articles of archaeological and historical interest. I am an aging coot who does not even know how to start duch threads or import the articles. God bless you and yours!


14 posted on 07/11/2014 12:40:09 PM PDT by BlackElk (Dean of Discipline, Tomas de Torquemada Gentlemen's Society: Rack 'em Danno!)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thank you,SunkenCiv,for providing us with these wonderful archaeological and historical articles. Archeology and history are two of my favorite interests...can't get enough of the stuff.
15 posted on 07/11/2014 1:05:26 PM PDT by itssme
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To: BlackElk
Will do, BlackElk. It's really fun to share one’s interests with like-minded people on FR. Can't get enough of anything pertaining to archeology and history...bring it on! And may God bless you and yours...can't never get enough of God's blessings.
16 posted on 07/11/2014 1:09:24 PM PDT by itssme
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To: SunkenCiv

Told ya people were dying for some more GGG posts.

I’m sorry that a website isn’t available exclusively for such great information on historical and archeological posts and conversation.


17 posted on 07/11/2014 1:58:48 PM PDT by wildbill
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To: SunkenCiv
the Mars didn't sink because of a design flaw or poor seamanship.

Where and how they stored the gunpowder might have been a design flaw.

18 posted on 07/11/2014 2:07:27 PM PDT by MUDDOG
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To: SunkenCiv
Beautiful find. Thanks.


19 posted on 07/11/2014 2:28:50 PM PDT by colorado tanker
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To: itssme

Biblical Archaeology Review (and its short-lived and sorely missed spinoff Archaeology Odyssey) at least used to list dig opportunities. At the very least there’s probably a page on the website.

For a while now it has been in vogue to market to tourists — pay for a vacation and spend it sleeping in tents and digging in the ground at a dig site. It helps get a lot more done during the digging season (or the period of the permit) and fill gaps between possible and would be nice in their grants.


20 posted on 07/12/2014 7:07:47 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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