Episode 502: Sunken Stories

The oceans are a graveyard of man’s seafaring adventures. Today, underwater archaeologists are scouring the seafloor for clues to our maritime past. Changing Seas joins members of the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, or NABS, as they learn how to map shipwrecks in Biscayne National Park. Teaming up with researchers from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, volunteers return to south Florida and apply their skills on a mysterious 19th Century slave ship. Later, we follow explorers from the Aurora Trust in Key Largo, Florida who use sonar and other remote sensing tools to create detailed maps of the ocean bottom.

Experts

Meet the experts featured in this episode.

Episode Photos

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Chris Olstad from the Marine Resources Development Foundation in Key Largo, Florida.

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Craig Mullen from the Aurora Trust and sonar analyst Rick Horgan deploys “the fish,” a device they’re using to scan the sea floor in Key Largo, Florida.

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Experts from the Aurora Trust use a side-scan sonar or “fish” to survey the seafloor.

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Experts from the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum recovered a fragment of blue and white porcelain from Key Largo, Florida that dates back to the early 1800s.

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This old glass bottle neck was retrieved from the suspected Guerrero and Nimble sites in the Florida Keys.

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This bell helped researchers identify the Henrietta Marine, a slave ship from the 1700s that sank near Key West, Florida.

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Shackles of various sizes were recovered from the wreck site of the Henrietta Marie, a 17th Century slave ship that sunk off the coast of Key West, Florida.

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Conservators at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum use an air-driven chisel to carefully remove the encrustation that builds on artifacts after longs periods in the sea.

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This hallow mold is all that’s left of an old nail or metal spike. Over time, calcium-carbonate collects and forms a hard crust on objects lying on the ocean floor.

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Videographer Allan Farrell films reenactment scenes aboard the Schooner Jolly II Rover in Key West, Florida.

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Captain Rio O'bryan performs a reenactment scene during filming aboard the Schooner Jolly II Rover.

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A painting by Dinizulu Gene Tinnie, a local artist whose creations are influenced by the “Middle Passage.”

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“Diving With a Purpose” Co-Founder Kenneth Stewart snaps a picture of volunteers during the 2012 DWP classroom training session.

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2012 “Diving With a Purpose” volunteers practice taking measurements of items on land before applying those skills on actual underwater wreck sites.

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In Key Largo, Florida, “Diving With a Purpose” volunteers load their scuba diving gear before heading off to the suspected Guerrero and Nimble wreck sites.

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Biscayne National Park archeologist, Chuck Lawson provides useful information to volunteers during the group’s annual “Diving With a Purpose” training session in the park.

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Corey Malcom (left), Director of Archaeology at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum chats with NABS Co-Founder A. Jose Jones, Ph.D. (right) during a survey trip in Key Largo, Florida.

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Videographer Jeremy Nicholson films "Diving With a Purpose" volunteers before they enter the water in Key Largo, Florida.

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“Diving With a Purpose” volunteers line up before getting into the water.

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A DWP diver waves to the boat before he descends to work on a shipwreck site in the Florida Keys.

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On wreck sites, items of interest are marked with a “pin flag.” Divers will record the object’s location and create a drawing of the artifact.

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To create maps of wreck sites, “Diving With a Purpose” volunteers use a variety of tools underwater, including measuring tape, pencils, and water resistant paper known as mylar.

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“Diving With a Purpose” volunteers use a buddy system to measure wreck sites.

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This “Diving With a Purpose” volunteer uses a wind-up measuring tape to help measure the location of objects on wreck sites.

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“Diving With a Purpose” volunteers use markers or “pinpoints” found along the baseline to accurately measure objects within a wreck site.

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Several items of interest at this site have been marked with a pin flags.

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A "Diving With a Purpose" volunteer works alongside a long piling at a wreck site in south Florida.

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Group photo of "Diving With a Purpose VIII," Series Producer Kandra Velez, park Archaeologist Chuck Lawson and Graduate Student Allen Wilson in Biscayne National Park.

Special Thanks:

Best Western
Key Ambassador Resort Inn
3755 S. Roosevelt Boulevard
Key West, Florida 33040
(305) 296-3500

Captain Slate’s
Atlantis Dive Center
51 Garden Cove Drive
Key Largo, FL 33037
(305) 451-3020

Pelican Inn
99340 Overseas Highway
Key Largo, FL 33037
(305) 451-3576

Schooner Jolly II Rover
Key West, Florida
(305) 304-2235

Way Down Video Inc.
Key West, FL 33040
(305) 766-0580
(305) 766-0462

Image Credits

Changing Seas would like to thank the following individuals and institutions who kindly allowed their footage, images and other media to be used in this production:

Dinizulu Gene Tinnie

Erik Denson
Jay Haigler
Kenneth Stewart
National Association of Black Scuba Divers and DWP

Corey Malcom
1700 Slave Ship Henrietta Marie, 1699/ Drawing by Peter Copeland, in David Moore, Site Report: Historical and Archaeological Investigation of the Shipwreck Henrietta Marie
Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society

Library of Congress - Prints and
Photographs Division

Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-41678
Illus. in AP2.H32 1860 Case Y [P&P]
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-53345
LC-DIG-ppmsca-15836 (digital file from original print) LC-USZ62-10295 (b&w film copy neg.)
LOT 4422-1 [item] [P&P]
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-15386
Color Print: The Atlantic Slave Trade & Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record. Compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite. Sponsored by: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities & University of Virginia Library.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-89701
PC/US - 1830.A000, no. 1

The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record

Sugar Plantation, San José de la Angosta, Cuba, 1857

Image Reference: Cantero1

Compiled by: Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite

Sponsored by: Virginia Foundation for the Humanities

University of Virginia Library.

Episode 502: Sunken Stories

Experts

Craig Mullen

Brenda Altmeier

Erik Denson

Rick Horgan

A. Jose Jones, Ph.D.

Ian Koblick

Charles Lawson

Corey Malcom

Chris Olstad

Gayle Patrick

Kenneth Stewart

Dinizulu Gene Tinnie

Special Thanks:

Image Credits

Web Extras

Soldier Key Wreck

Drama on the Schooner

Plastic Replicas

Diving With a Purpose

Encrusted Artifacts

Shipwreck Cannons

Funding for this episode of Changing Seas was provided by: