Another Ocean Mystery For Monday...!

What would we do without our endless supply of mysteries from the oceans of the world? This one is from the Gulf Of Mexico, which is in my neighborhood (sort of...).

Gulf Of Mexico Shipwreck

In 2001, ExxonMobil got a lot more than they bargained for when they laid an oil pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico. While busy with the construction of the pipe, they struck a 200-year-old shipwreck lying forgotten about 800 meters (2,600 ft) under the surface. Immediately, marine archaeologists took the opportunity to explore the wreck by using the latest technology available at the time.

Brett A. Phaneuf, a scientist from Texas who put the expedition together, had expected to finish the investigation by 2002, but what came to be known as “the curse of the wreck” seemed to throw more than just a spanner into the works. Twice, he and his team of experts tried to extract artifacts from the ship without any luck.

On his third attempt to bring up something from the ship using a robotic submarine, things once again went wrong. Not even 30 minutes into the water, the sub’s hydraulic system gave in, as did the electronics monitoring the sub. After these problems were sorted out over the next two hours, the submarine safely reached the wreck, and Phaneuf immediately noticed a piece of wood stuck awkwardly at the bottom.

But before he and his crew could investigate, the sonar failed, as did the camera’s ability to zoom in on objects. Not wanting to give up, the operators of the sub tried to use the robotic arm to pull a sheet of copper off the ship’s hull, as this might have indicated whether the ship was indeed built in the early 1800s, when the British Navy started nailing copper plates to their warships to protect them from insects. Phaneuf thought that the signature mark or name of the coppersmith who provided the copper might be visible on it. The submarine arm had the sheet firmly in its grip as it backed away, but then the sheet tore, leaving only a small piece stuck in the claw.

The next efforts to obtain a piece of the ship or its artifacts saw a new robot submarine getting lost in the water after veering out of control. Then, the robotic arm of the next one was too short to reach anything from the ship. Another time, a robot sub managed to grab the stern post of the ship when its hydraulics failed, and the stern post was lost.

Many more mishaps continued to occur, leading some to believe that the wreck was indeed cursed, and the ghosts of those who may have perished aboard the ship did not want to be disturbed. The shipwreck and its “treasures” therefore remain a mystery.

It's stories like this from Listverse that leads me to think just maybe there is something to this curse of the wreak talk. Definitely something strange going on, don't you think ?

Coffee out on the patio again this morning. No rain in sight.