Data from Hydrographic Offices is clipped to the
desired extents and some formatting - the Imray style - is automatically
applied.
The desired projection is also input so that further editing
is applied for the correct scale.
The data is tidied up.
This
involves editing features to ensure that the data is displaying
correctly, is easy to understand and looks good with no clashes of
detail.
Graphic styles may be changed to suit the scale of the chart and
any unnecessary information is removed.
Some other changes are made at
this stage to make it an Imray chart including adding additional
facilities, anchorages and small-craft information, drawing on data from
Imray cruising guides and expert contacts built up over many years.
15m
and 30m depth contours are removed as well as various other features
that are of little or no interest to yachtsmen.
Labels and soundings are carefully selected to suit the scale of the
chart. These are positioned to be clear and easy to read. The scale of
the chart and its purpose play a big part in this. It is important to
find the right balance between detail and clarity. Marginalia
and other "non data" elements of the chart are added after all other
chart detail. This is to help avoid obscuring the more important
detail. Adjoining chart outlines from the 2900 chart pack are added at
this stage to help with use of the product. The new edition of 2900 also
includes chart outlines for the popular Antares large scale anchorage charts for convenient use for more adventurous users. Useful contact
details are compiled and added from pilot guides as well as chart notes. The final product is compiled and is then ready to be sent for print, after rigorous checking! Thanks to Jon from the
charts team for providing the images and explanation of the processes he
goes through.
Similarly to an expression with multiple and independent variables, Aequatio explores the mathematics of the ocean and the exponential function of surfing as a form of art.
The man from Portugal has delivered another dose of longboard poetry with filmmaker Daniel Espírito Santo.
Set to the warm and angelic tones of K. Wolf and his guitar, Aequatio is five minutes of stylish surfing set at a dream-like pace and captured in ways that only compliment the individualistic nature of Eurico Romaguera.
Capable of working in the deepest, darkest, and coldest reaches of the ocean, AUVs return to the surface with data that provides a detailed sense of what sonar and other sensors have revealed.
Veteran battleship, which saw action in both World Wars and was used for atomic bomb testing, found in Pacific with state-of-the-art subsea technology
SEARCH, Inc. (SEARCH), the largest underwater and terrestrial archaeology firm in the United States, and Ocean Infinity, the marine robotics company, are pleased to announce the discovery of USS Nevada (BB-36), one of the U.S. Navy’s longest serving battleships, and viewed as the epitome of American resilience and perseverance.
USS Nevada was located 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor at a depth of over 15,400 feet.
The discovery is the result of a successful collaboration between SEARCH and Ocean Infinity and marks the combination of SEARCH’s leading maritime archaeological expertise and Ocean Infinity’s unrivalled robotic technology and deep-water search capability.
The mission was jointly co-ordinated between SEARCH’s operations centre and one of Ocean Infinity’s vessels, Pacific Constructor.
Pacific Constructor set sail for a range of commercial tasks in the Pacific in early 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of the global health crisis, the ship has remained at sea on a range of taskings.
The stern of the wreck has the remains of “36” and “140.”
Nevada’s designation was BB-36 and the 140 was painted on the structural “rib” at the ship’s stern for the atomic tests to facilitate post-blast damage reporting.
[Photo courtesy of Ocean Infinity/SEARCH, Inc.]
USS Nevada’s History
USS Nevada had an extraordinary service, spanning three and a half decades.
She was launched in 1914, and performed escort duties for valuable convoys headed to the British Isles.
At the end of WWI she escorted the ocean liner George Washington, carrying U.S. president Woodrow Wilson to attend The Paris Peace Conference.
In WWII, on 7 July 1941 in the attack on Pearl Harbor, USS Nevada was the only battleship to get underway but, having been struck by five bombs, finally sank in nearby shallow waters.
During this action 60 of her crew were killed and 109 wounded.
Following salvage operations she soon re-joined the war effort, sailing to the United Kingdom to take part in the D-Day landings, amongst other European operations.
She then sailed to the Pacific, arriving off Iwo Jima in February 1945 and played an important part in the invasion of Okinawa.
After WWII, USS Nevada was assigned to be a target ship in the first Bikini atomic experiments in 1946, which she survived.
Finally, in 1948 she was used as a gunnery practice target.
Unable to be sunk by the ships using her as a target, she finally went down having been hit by an aerial torpedo on 31 July 1948.
Dr. James Delgado, SEARCH’s Senior Vice President and lead maritime archaeologist on the mission, said:
“Nevada is an iconic ship that speaks to American resilience and stubbornness.
Rising from its watery grave after being sunk at Pearl Harbor, it survived torpedoes, bombs, shells and two atomic blasts.
The physical reality of the ship, resting in the darkness of the great museum of the sea, reminds us not only of past events, but of those who took up the challenge of defending the United States in two global wars.
This is why we do ocean exploration to seek out these powerful connections to the past.”
James Pochurek, SEARCH’s President, said:
“We are proud to have participated in this historic mission, which provides a tangible example of how technology can magnify the potential for discovery.
Working with Ocean Infinity, the possibilities are limitless.
The discovery of the USS Nevada is another reminder of the powerful human stories lying beneath the waves waiting to be re-told.”
Shawntel Johnson, Director of Search and Recovery at Ocean Infinity, said:
“It has been a pleasure to work with the SEARCH team on this historically significant project.
Our partnership has brought together a compliment of marine expertise through their extensive experience in marine archaeology and Ocean Infinity’s leading, technology driven, search capabilities.
We look forward to future collaborations between our companies.
We would also like to recognize and say thank you to our crews offshore who have remained dedicated and committed through these uncertain times.
We continue to value the work they do and the personal sacrifices they are making to keep us operational.
It is our hope that by sharing the USS Nevada’s story that it not only honors those who served in the Navy and fulfils an important educational role, but that in these challenging times it also serves as a symbol of perseverance and courage.”
Retired Rear Admiral Samuel Cox, Director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said:
“We are greatly appreciative to Ocean Infinity and Search Inc.
in relocating and providing information on an extremely historic vestige of our nation’s past.
Nevada is an unambiguous reminder of our Navy’s heritage of resilience.
Nevada has a proud place in Navy’s history — commissioned in 1916, she served in both World Wars, and was present at the Pearl Harbor attacks in 1941; the only battleship to get underway after the attack.
During the attack, the ship and crew sustained at least six, and possibly, as many as ten bomb hits and one torpedo hit, but remained in the fight.
With our Sailors quick thinking, the crew grounded the ship, preventing her from sinking.
The ship was repaired and immediately returned to the fight, proving the resiliency and toughness of our Sailors then, as are today.
She went on to participate in numerous campaigns, earning a total seven battle stars for her actions during WWII.
USS Nevada serves a reminder that our Sailors have a long, terrific tradition; her fighting spirit proved the U.S.
Navy remains tough in difficult times.
When the circumstances appear to be at their worst, our Navy remains at their best.”
USS Nevada, like other ships at Bikini, was a floating platform for military equipment and instruments designed to see what the atomic bomb would do to them.
One of four tanks placed on Nevada, this is either a Chaffee or Pershing tank that survived a 23-kiloton surface blast and a 20-kiloton underwater blast, and remained on Nevada until the ship was sunk off Hawai’i on July 31, 1948.
For the first time in the 108 years since the Titanic sank to the bottom of the ocean, causing the deaths of more than 1,500 people, explorers are set to cut into the ship and remove a piece.
Their target is the wireless Marconi telegraph, one of the first of its kind, which the doomed ocean liner used to contact a nearby ship for aid.
A federal judge in Virginia approved the expedition Monday, calling it “a unique opportunity to recover an artifact that will contribute to the legacy left by the indelible loss of the Titanic.”
Because of a backlog of personal messages, the wireless operators had ignored ice warnings from other ships.
Banal good wishes soon gave way to increasingly desperate calls for help.
Operator Jack Phillips died after refusing to leave his flooded post.
“He was a brave man,” his fellow wireless operator told the New York Times a few days later.
“I will never live to forget the work of Phillips for the last awful 15 minutes.”
The company R.M.S. Titanic (RMST) still must get a funding plan approved by the court, a prospect made more complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.
It plans to launch the expedition this summer, using underwater robots to carefully detach the Marconi and its components from the ship.
“If recovered, it is conceivable that it could be restored to operable condition,” RMST said in one filing.
“Titanic’s radio — Titanic’s voice — could once again be heard, now and forever.”
The recovery project has been vociferously opposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose representatives argued in court that the Titanic, sunk about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, should be respected as a grave rather than mined as a museum supply.
At its heart, the years-long legal dispute is an emotional one.
Who can claim the Titanic?
Should the public have the right to see as many of its treasures as possible, from the comfort of a Las Vegas casino or a Florida interactive museum?
Or should the remains of the victims be left in peace, their effects seen only by scientists underwater?
The Titanic leaves Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912.
(Associated Press)
“Titanic has always been a singular case of passionate, strongly held opinions,” said maritime archaeologist James Delgado, who helped map the ship on a 2010 expedition.
“For some it’s a memorial, for some it’s a historic site, for some it’s where a family member died.
For others it’s an ultimate tourist destination, and for others it’s a business opportunity.
How you balance all of that is very difficult.”
Because of the intricacies of maritime law, the federal court in Norfolk has been tasked with striking that balance.
But the Titanic is also a fulcrum for a broader battle over who controls the seas — companies and courts, or governments.
It’s a fight that has gotten heated, and personal.
RMST’s attorneys once compared a British archaeological group to the Taliban.
One marine archaeologist working for the company, John Broadwater, quit the project just days before the ruling.
Emails show former colleagues at NOAA refused to talk to him about the Titanic once he joined.
“I think it would make a wonderful exhibit, but it's definitely a complicated situation,” Broadwater said in an interview.
The government position is that the Titanic site should be protected and preserved where it is, while the Marconi is “standard off-the-shelf” equipment of the time that has little value outside the ship.
“Just like a lion is much better appreciated in the wilds of the African savannahs than it is stuffed in a museum, so too does the Marconi apparatus best tell its story and share its value where it is,” the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center chief wrote to the court.
The company responds that NOAA is hardly in a position to act as gatekeeper, having approved an expedition group last year that accidentally jostled the ship’s rail.
It pledges to use underwater robots to carefully extract the Marconi, only if deemed safe.
First Titanic expedition in 14 years captures ongoing disintegration
Footage released by Atlantic Productions in 2019 shows the level of the Titanic’s deterioration since the last expedition to the wreck 14 years ago.
“RMST is left to wonder why has NOAA gone to such great lengths to raise scores of questions about the competency, plans and equipment of a team that has actually led or participated in numerous successful expeditions to the Titanic, and the recovery of thousands of artifacts from the ship since 1987, when it does not ask the same questions of other rookie expeditioners with no such track record,” the company wrote in a recent filing.
Moreover, it argued that the Titanic is rapidly deteriorating without any intervention; the ceiling of the room that holds the Marconi may well collapse soon.
“There are places where you can stick your finger through that rooftop,” oceanographer and RMST consultant David Gallo testified at one hearing.
Senior Judge Rebecca Beach Smith agreed, calling photographs of the deterioration “poignant.”
In the past thousand years, the basic principles of maritime law have not changed, and one is that whoever retrieves a wreck gets a reward.
Where the wreckage is brought determines control.
It’s a rule meant to encourage clearing the sea of debris and restoring property to rightful owners.
Historic wrecks that are expected to languish underwater forever are an awkward fit.
But the same principles apply.
Within two years of the Titanic’s 1985 discovery by oceanographers, a Connecticut car salesman named George Tulloch had created RMST, made an expedition to the site and wrangled salvage rights by bringing a wine decanter into a Norfolk federal courtroom.
The Virginia court became the arbiter of future exploration and recovery.
A salvor who declines to donate their winnings to the poor no longer risks “the curse and malediction of our mother the holy church,” as the law was written in the 1100s.
But RMST is legally bound to act with public benefit in mind.
The company cannot break up its collection of Titanic artifacts, and it needs permission from the court to touch or take anything off the ship.
The only treasure the company can sell is coal (available online as an hourglass, snow globe or key ring).
The Titanic sank near Newfoundland.
(Atlantic Productions)
Personal effects recovered from the Titanic.
(Angie Wang/Associated Press)
RMST retrieved thousands of items from the field of debris around the ship — bronze whistles, leather luggage — and set up a touring exhibition.
It advertised cruises to the wreck with Burt Reynolds and Buzz Aldrin.
Outside critics called it crass hucksterism; some at the company thought it was being too respectful.
In a coup, when Tulloch was celebrating Thanksgiving in 1999, board members changed the locks on his office, according to news media reports at the time.
The new leaders declared plans to scour the ship for $300 million in missing diamonds.
“We know there’s an awful lot of money under the water,” one shareholder told the Baltimore Sun.
Alarmed, the court brought in NOAA as a “friend of the court,” one that has viewed the company skeptically ever since.
“It is difficult to envision that, once out in the North Atlantic, contrary voices advocating caution (if any are allowed to be present) will be heeded or heard,” NOAA officials wrote recently.
The company was bought in bankruptcy in 2018.
RMST lawyer David Concannon declined to comment Tuesday.
In a February interview, well before the judge’s decision, he called the former owners “dishonest hooligans” but said NOAA can’t recognize that the project is now in responsible hands.
He and several others who quit in the coup have since returned.
“They’re different,” he said.
“They’re taking a measured, considered approach to this.”
Harold Bride, a surviving wireless operator, is seen in May 1912.
(Library of Congress)
Gallo himself testified in court that he used to consider the company’s work “grave robbery” but has since changed his views.
“It wasn’t until I wandered into one of the exhibits with a friend of mine, we wandered in, and it just transformed my feeling about the whole episode, the whole Titanic issue,” he said.
“I was able to watch families, children, and approach these artifacts from the front door.
. . . It was an experience for them.”
An international treaty giving the government control over the Titanic was tucked into a 2018 spending bill but has never been ratified, leaving NOAA and RMST at odds over whether the company needs permission to visit the site and what power the agency has in the court case.
NOAA, RMST argues, wants to wrest control of shipwrecks away from courts and companies.
“NOAA seeks to jettison the law of the sea, developed over centuries,” the company’s lawyers wrote.
The judge sidestepped that question in her ruling.
“The Marconi device has significant historical, educational, scientific, and cultural value,” she wrote, and “face[s] significant threat of permanent loss.”
