History Hunters International

Mike,

The sea is just so full of secrets I don't think they will ever end. I've made a few small discoveries in the Caribbean, one of which I'll share. This is about the local octopus so it is almost on topic. While diving I found a straight line of five conch shells standing upright on their tops, most unusual. Inside each one was an egg mass and a small female octopus  within tending them. A straight line! How strange is that? Our local octopus never get very big and the females are tiney but doesn't this boggle the mind?

Cheers,
Doc

Barry,

Very nice post.

That much more grist for the mill!

Cheers,
Doc

Vince,

That is excellent!
This must be very exciting indeed. I remember all the strange details we observed from the satellite view.
So much seems to fit now. Anxiously awaiting the new developments.

WTG and Cheers,
Doc

Well Admin,

That certainly puts things in a different but credible light.

This all seems to make perfect sense.

Mystery solved it would appear.

Cheers,
Doc

Vince,

What are the latest reports?

Have you made any more discoveries or recoveries?

Congratualtions on everything done to date.

Regards,
Doc

Admin,

I am amazed at this break through in technology.

I can't even begin to imagine the documents that will be read in the future.

Thanks for the post.

Doc

Well now Admin,

Thanks very much for the most informative post but in view of other moves presently be made by Russia and China it does appear to raise a red flag of warning, wouldn't you say?

We must not forget the efforts of Japan for Space. My small contribution.

By Teruaki Ueno

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan launched its first lunar probe on Friday, nicknamed Kaguya after a fairy-tale princess, in the latest move in a new race with China, India and the United States to explore the moon.

The rocket carrying the three-metric ton orbiter took off into blue skies, leaving a huge trail of vapor over the tiny island of Tanegashima, about 1,000 km (620 miles) south of Tokyo, at 10:31 a.m. (9:31 p.m. EDT) as it headed out over the Pacific Ocean.

The long-delayed lunar explorer separated from the rocket in skies near Chile about 45 minutes after lift off. It is to orbit the Earth twice and then travel 380,000 km (237,500 miles) to the moon.

"Kaguya separated from the rocket smoothly," the space agency's launch commentator said in a live broadcast of the launch on the Japanese space agency's Web site (www.jaxa.jp).

"Now the satellites are flying on their own. This is the first step and I am really impressed," said Tatsuaki Okada, a scientist involved in the project.

Japanese scientists say the 55 billion yen ($479 million) Selenological and Engineering Explorer, or SELENE, is the world's most technically complex mission to the moon since the U.S. Apollo program decades ago.

"If we succeed in this program, we will be able to prove that Japan has the technology," Okada said.

The mission consists of a main orbiter and two baby satellites equipped with 14 observation instruments designed to examine surface terrain, gravity and other features for clues on the origin and evolution of the moon.

The rocket itself was built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has said it hopes to send astronauts to the moon by 2025, although Japan has not yet attempted manned space flight.

SELENE also carries a high-definition television camera to shoot the Earth "rising" from the Moon's horizon, footage of which will be sent back to Earth. SELENE will orbit the moon for about a year until it runs out of fuel.

The launch is about four years behind schedule due to rocket failures and technical glitches.

China plans to launch a lunar orbiter called Chang'e One in the second half of this year to take 3D images, and it aims to land an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2010.

India is planning its first unmanned mission to orbit the moon in 2008, powered by a locally built rocket. It is also discussing sending a person to the moon by 2020.

The United States plans to launch a lunar orbiter next year.

Japan's space program was in tatters in the late 1990s after two unsuccessful launches of a previous rocket, the H-2.

Disaster followed in 2003 when Japan had to destroy an H-2A rocket carrying two spy satellites minutes after launch as it veered off course.

($1=114.78 yen)


Doc

Wow!

Those finds are great!

Bet that sells a lot of metal detectors.

Cheers,
Doc

Hey there Jim,

Thanks so much for giving us all that excellent primary intel.

Cheers,
Doc

Cool Picture of the entrance Jose,

Do I detect visible evidence of man?

Could you point some obvious stuff out?

Cheers,
Doc

Excellent Post Bart.

I thoroughly enjoyed that and learned something as well.

Cheers,
Doc

Members,

As I stated before at the time this picture first became available, they appear to be milled coins which means, if coming from the New World, minted 1731 or later. Of course as I remarked then, this eliminated the Land's End Wreck 1641, and the HMS Sussex 1696 from the race. As we have developed this investigation we have noted the close involvement of principals directly involved in a previous "Mercedes" recovery project with OMR. The rest should prove interesting as Spain seems very determined to punish OMR for the HMS Sussex project as well as recovering a sovereign treasure illegally removed and exported.

Cheers,
Doc

"Odyssey recently provided a

109-page legal affidavit

to authorities in the Spanish Federal government, the Junta de Andalucia, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar, and the United States detailing Odyssey's activities leading up to, and after, the announcement of the "Black Swan" discovery.

This document (which covered nine years of communications and meetings...........................................................

between Odyssey, the Junta of Andalucia and the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain) was provided in order to address questions posed by the Spanish regarding Odyssey's activities and to reassure all concerned governments and officials that Odyssey has always acted legally and with full transparency in relation to the "Black Swan" project and in all other shipwreck exploration activities."

Sounds like lots of empty pages of paper.

Doc

Bart,

This statement from the 19th of May has only to do with Clues. Does it say anywhere that he has examined these coins from the Land's End Wreck? No. Just guesses and a smoke screen to throw off the Public from the treasure recovery, most probably the Mercedes, as we are finding out now. One more attempt to confuse the issue.

Doc

Spain seizes ship in treasure row
Spanish civil guard officers talk to Odyssey official
Odyssey says the ship was seized in international waters
The Spanish Civil Guard has intercepted a boat operated by a US company amid a row over treasure from a shipwreck.

The guard had been ordered by a Spanish judge to seize the vessel as soon as it left the British colony of Gibraltar.

Gibraltar officials and Odyssey Marine Exploration, which owns the ship, said Spain had boarded the ship illegally as it was in international waters.

In May, Odyssey said it had found $500m (�253m) in coins from a 17th Century wreck somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Madrid suspects the sunken galleon may either have been Spanish or have gone down in Spanish waters.

The salvaged booty, which included half a million silver coins and hundreds of gold objects, has already been flown back to the US.

'Threat of force'

After leaving Gibraltar, the Ocean Alert was picked up at about 0700 GMT on Thursday off Europa Point and sent to the Spanish port of Algeciras to be searched, the Civil Guard said.

   
At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities
Odyssey Marine Exploration

The guard was investigating a possible "offense against Spanish historic heritage", it said in a statement.

Odyssey said the boarding was illegal and said the Civil Guard threatened to use force if Ocean Alert's captain did not follow orders. It said Spain had earlier promised the ship would be searched at sea.

"At this point, Odyssey is assuming that the action on the part of the Guardia Civil is a miscommunication between Spanish authorities," the Florida-based company said in a statement.

A spokesman for the governor of Gibraltar said the ship was in international waters at the time it was seized.

The Ocean Alert
Spain's Civil Guard is searching the Panama-registered ship
A lawyer for Odyssey, Allen von Spiegelfeld, told Reuters news agency that Spain had not sought permission to board Ocean Alert from officials in Panama, where it is registered.

"The owners of the vessel have contacted the Panamanian maritime authorities protesting the seizure on international waters," Mr von Spiegelfeld said.

{Now who is this new player?}

Spain has launched legal action over the treasure and the wreck.

Some experts believe the wreck to be the Merchant Royal, an English ship carrying stolen Spanish treasure which sank in 1641.

US coin expert Dr Lane Brunner has said there is evidence the shipwreck was found off England's Cornish coast.

{And we all would like to know who this really is, wouldn't we?}

Odyssey has kept the location of its find secret, citing security and legal reasons.