Old Ships Lovers

06/05/2023

Diverse Mary Rose Crew

Over the years, historians populated Tudor England with white people. However, when the Mary Rose was discovered, the warship presented a strong case for a multicultural Tudor era. She was King Henry VIII’s flagship which sank in 1545 during the Battle of the Solent.The wreck was raised in 1982 along with 30,000 artifacts and bones. The Mary Rose Trust cleaned and cataloged them for years. They recently focused on eight skeletons enigmatic enough to suggest that the warship’s crew and, by extension, perhaps Tudor England were very diverse.DNA tests and artifacts proved that at least four were not white English.[3]One was a Spaniard employed as a ship’s carpenter. There was also an Italian with valuable possessions, including a figurine manufactured in a Venice workshop. Another had African ancestry (northern Sahara), but researchers are almost certain that he was born in England. The fourth man was a Moor with roots along the North African coast. He was no casual passenger. The Moor was a royal archer and likely belonged to the King’s Spears, Henry VIII’s private bodyguards.

03/05/2023

21/04/2023

The Eira Candidate

Benjamin Leigh Smith was a prolific Arctic explorer. The Englishman saw places that nobody had ever seen and had many named after him. In 1881, his ship, the Eira, sank near an archipelago that today is known as Franz Josef Land.After safely reaching solid ground, he named it for his famous relative Florence Nightingale. A few makeshift cabins at Cape Flora sheltered Smith and his crew for the next six months. They were rescued, and Smith continued with his career, earning prestigious awards and respect from the scientific world.Despite the honors he received and the achievements that marked his expeditions, Smith was largely forgotten a few decades after his death. To rectify this, researchers spent years hunting for his steam yacht.In 2017, a Russian crew surveyed the bottom of the sea at Cape Flora. Scanning equipment located an object the size of the Eira, and video footage gave positive feedback that the wreckage belonged to the yacht. If confirmed, the return of the Eira could help put Smith back on the map.

03/04/2023

The Jian Seng
Some ghost ships are so mysterious, they barely even have a backstory. In 2006, the Australian Coastwatch found a ship floating in the sea. It had a broken tow rope, so being lost while dragged around the water would explain why it was empty.

But that was about all investigators could go on. The name Jian Seng was printed on the side, but there was nothing else to identify the ship. Investigations found no records of distress signals, no identifying documents or belongings, and no reports of a missing boat. They couldn’t even figure out who it belonged to or where it came from. The most they can figure out is that it probably supplied food and fuel to fishing boats, but that didn’t answer why no one tried to save it when it broke off.

23/03/2023

Flying Dutchman:
The legend of the Flying Dutchman dates back to the 17th century. It is said to be a ghost ship that sails the seas, unable to make port. Those who see the ship are said to be cursed.

23/03/2023

SS Ourang Medan:
The SS Ourang Medan was found adrift in the Pacific Ocean in 1947. The entire crew was found dead, with looks of terror on their faces. The cause of their deaths remains a mystery.