How storms are helping treasures search engines to find ships that wreck in the famous “Bermuda triangle”

Marine archaeologists rush to catalog and protect these discoveries, but more and more, common travelers are the first to get to the place.

The North Carolina coast, known for a long time as the “Cemetery of the Atlantic”, has remains of more than 1,000 known shipwrecks, from ships that broke the blockade during the secession war to German submarines.

Meanwhile, Bermuda sits on a coral platform that has gained more than 300 ships since the 16th century, turning the infamous “Bermuda Triangle” into one of the areas with the highest density of shipwrecks in the world.

“It is an island of shipwrecks” and has always been, says Philippe Rouja, custodian of shipwrecks designated by the Bermuda government.

Rouja explains that, since the islands lacked indigenous population and natural resources, every ship that arrived was like a small supermarket, since it brought everything necessary.

For centuries the inhabitants of the place rescued those shipwrecks loaded with invaluable materials. Now, Rouja is responsible for protecting more than 40 shipwrecks open to the public, in addition to mapping, cataloging and studying hundreds more.

During hurricanes and cyconic swells, waves and winds can shake entire shipwrecks, revealing the treasures they house.

“Any shipwreck you think you know, you must see it again after a hurricane,” he says. “It is a mixture of anticipation and a little concern.”

Rouja works with local divers to monitor sites and inform about new findings. This means that certified divers visit during the hurricane season (approximately from June to November) could be the first to glimpse artifacts not seen in centuries.

Any object, from an old shoe to an anchovy can, could help the rouja team identify a wreck.

Recently, he recalls: “We had an accountant who liked to dive in search of lobsters and ran into a wreck in an inner reef.” It turned out to be the Justice, a boat sunk in 1950.

In North Carolina, many recent discoveries have been buried under the beach dunes. The shipwrecked ships crashed there centuries ago and were buried by the Movediza sand or have been thrown to the coast by the storms.

“People can be walking their dog on the beach and run into the frame of a ship standing out of a dune after storms,” says Stephen Atkinson, expert in shipwrecks and archeology of the Department of Underwater Archeology of North Carolina.

That was the case of Corolla's shipwreck, discovered in the northern area of Outer Banks by a local who noticed exposed fragments of the helmet after a strong storm.

The gold coins found in the vicinity datan from the beginning of the 17th century, which suggests that it could be the oldest known shipwreck of North Carolina.

Before that, the record was held by the sadly famous Queen Anne's Revenge, captained by the English pirate Barbanegra. The ship was sunk in 1718 and discovered in 1996.

Treasury collectors are asked to document their findings and inform the North Carolina Natural and Cultural Resources Department. Their names are associated with the findings and can participate as much as they want in research and the subsequent historical process.

“We had a man named Scott Smith who reported a shipwreck,” says Atkinson. “So I wrote in my database: 'Scott Smith's shipwreck.”

Atkinson receives reports at least once a week from people who believe they have found something, and is always willing to receive more. “I love when they send me photos,” he says, and points out that the public's reports, even minors, help track the impact of shipwreck over time. “They are extremely beneficial to us.”

The shipwreck expert describes the search for treasures on the beach after storms as “one of the greatest tourist attractions” in areas such as the Outer Banks, and it is no accident.

The State has a program of “citizen archaeologists” to inform about any finding, and will soon join the National Archaeological Program of Label of Florida shipwrecks, in which bathers can scan a QR code in the wood and other pieces of shipwrecks to help track their movements after storms.

In South Carolina, treasures seekers also look forward to storms. The state loses an average of 1.8 to 2.4 meters from coast per year and storms accelerate this process, allowing occasional collectors to find unusual findings.

“Storms can remove sand and reveal hidden fossils for a long time,” says Katie Lyons, by Charleston Fossil Adventures, a South Carolina company that organizes fossil search excursions on the beach.

After a recent hurricane, Charleston Fossil Adventures team found a bone of the arm of a monk seal dating from the ice age. The piece is now in a local museum.

After strong storms, dozens of fossils are usually found in one day. The excitement of the search means that on the first day of the season, in mid -March, there are numerous reserves of anxious collectors.

“Many collectors crave to visit the most remote places to see what the storm has brought,” says Lyons, who recommends looking between lots of shells and rocks on the beach.

“As the ocean classifies the material by size, you will find more objects among the thickest gravel than in plain sand sections.”

Bermuda's most famous underwater treasure search engine is the late Teddy Tucker, who discovered in 1950 the so -called “Cruz Tucker”, with Emerald inlays, in the shipwreck of a Spanish ship of the 16th century. The cross was stolen around 1975, moments before being shown to Queen Elizabeth II, and has been lost since then.

That finding “led the search for treasures to a new generation,” says Rouja. As the divers learned that the origin increased the value of a finding, many became fond researchers and historians.

“It is more fun for people to be part of the public history of a finding than to simply return home and have an object stored on a shelf,” he adds.

Divers can maximize their possibilities by avoiding the most popular sites. Rouja suggests exploring a few hundred meters from the shipwreck instead immediately in its surroundings.

Most of Bermuda's shipwrecks are more than 24 meters deep, and Rouja estimates that there are many more to discover in the reefs, largely unexplored, of the rest of the islands.

As the storms intensify due to climate change, experts foresee that they will come to the surface more shipwrecked and there will be more opportunities for fans to help rewriter maritime history.

New technologies, such as drones and digital programs of underwater cartography, are facilitating access to shipwrecks.

And historical findings of great repercussion, like the five bottles of wine of the shipwreck of the Marie Celeste ship of 1864, continue to feed the fascination of the public for the search for underwater treasures.

Rouja's obsession is the 45 kilos bronze rooster in the top of the mast of the biggest shipwreck of Bermuda, that of the Christopher Columbus ship (a Spanish luxury transatlantic of 150 meters in length that wreck in 1936 when he was horn in a coral reef).

The bronze rooster was lost by Tucker in one of his first expeditions.

“Keep attentive,” says Rouja. “If someone found it, it would be fantastic.”

You can read here The original English note in BBC Travel.

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