Ep. 117 Shipwrecks Part 1: How Time Capsules of the Sea Have Provided Important Discoveries and Posed Difficult Questions
- Author
- Shea LaFountaine
- Published
- Sun 08 Jun 2025
- Episode Link
- None
This week, we'll uncover the stories of four different shipwrecks. I'll start with an ancient Roman ship found near the Greek island of Antikythera which sank around 60 to 70 BC with mind blowing treasures on board. Next, I'll talk about the sinking of King Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, in 1545 and it's rediscovery twice in the 400 years since. Then we'll move on to my personal favorite, the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was intentionally run aground by the infamous pirate Blackbeard in 1718 and rediscovered in 1996. Finally, the HMS Victory which sank in the English Channel in 1744, one of the largest and most mysterious naval tragedies in British history. We'll take a closer look at the artifacts that came off of these wrecks and what they can teach us about the people once onboard. And, we'll dive into some difficult ethical questions. What is a shipwreck really? A museum? A treasure chest? A graveyard? And should that affect how we handle these discoveries?
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Sources:
- Scientific American "An Ancient Greek Astronomical Calculation Machine Reveals New Secrets"
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution "Antikythera Shipwreck"
- Royal Museums Greenwich "Mary Rose"
- maryrose.org "The Mary Rose in History"
- Museum Crush "11 Tudor Treasures Recovered from the Wreck of the Mary Rose"
- Queen Anne's Revenge Project "Discovery of the Shipwreck"
- Wikipedia "Queen Anne's Revenge"
- BBC "HMS Victory: The English Channel's 'Abandoned Shipwreck'"
- The Guardian "Wreckage of HMS Victory's Predecessor Discovered in Channel After 265 Years"
- Time Magazine "The HMS Victory, Famed Shipwreck, Is Found"
