In ten papers Odyssey Marine Exploration presents the technology, methodology and archaeological results from four deep-sea shipwrecks and one major survey conducted between 2003 and 2008. The sites lie beyond territorial waters in depths of up to 820 metres off southeastern America and in the Straits of Gibraltar and the English Channel. Exclusively recorded using robotic technology in the form of a Remotely-Operated Vehicle, the wrecks range from the major Royal Navy warships HMS Sussex (1694) and the unique, 100-gun, first-rate HMS Victory (1744)to the steamship SS Republic (1865) and a mid-19th century merchant vessel with a cargo of British porcelain. Their study reveals that the future of deep-sea wreck research has arrived, but also that many sites are at severe risk from destruction from the offshore fishing industry.
Introduction (Sean Kingsley)
1. The Shipwreck of the SS Republic (1865). Experimental Deep-Sea
Archaeology. Part 1: Fieldwork & Site History (Neil Cunningham Dobson, Ellen Gerth and J. Lange Winckler)
2. The Shipwreck of the SS Republic (1865). Experimental Deep-Sea
Archaeology. Part 2: Cargo (Neil Cunningham Dobson and Ellen Gerth)
3. The SS Republic Shipwreck Excavation Project: The Coin Collection (Q. David Bowers)
4. Microbiological & Chemical Analysis of Bottles from the SS Republic (David L. Balkwill and April C. Smith)
5. Faith of Our Fathers: Religious Artifacts from the SS Republic
(1865) (Hawk Tolson and Ellen Gerth)
6. The Jacksonville ‘Blue China’ Shipwreck & the Myth of Deep-Sea Preservation
(Hawk Tolson)
7. The HMS Sussex Shipwreck Project (Site E-82): Preliminary Report (Neil Cunningham Dobson, Hawk Tolson, Anthony Martin, Brian Lavery, Richard Bates, Fernando Tempera and Jacqui Pearce)
8. Deep-Sea Fishing Impacts on the Shipwrecks of the English Channel & Western Approaches (Sean A. Kingsley)
9. HMS Victory, a First-Rate Navy Warship Lost in the English Channel, 1744. Preliminary Survey & Identification (Neil Cunningham Dobson and Sean A. Kingsley)
10. A Note on Human Remains from the Shipwreck of HMS Victory, 1744 (Neil Cunningham Dobson and Hawk Tolson)