concertigrossi | Fic: Excerpted

Author's Notes: For mamazano's prompt on raise_the_dead, for the "One More Day" challenge. The prompt was "reef."

Excerpted: "New Discoveries in the Mediterranean Sea" By Sanjeev Doulton. BBC World News. BBC, London. 13 Aug. 2009.

The Mediterranean, off the coast of Africa – centuries of nautical history are cloaked by these gloriously blue waters. But now, a team of divers, funded by Italian millionaire Jack Spizella, has persuaded the Roman Lake to yield up a few more of her secrets. In the deep plains of the Ionian Basin, the team has discovered one of the best-preserved 18th century shipwrecks ever found.

“We couldn’t be more pleased.” says Dr. Shupman, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. “She’s in astoundingly good condition.”

‘She’ is the HMS Dauntless, a Royal Navy pirate-hunter who sank in these waters in 1750. She was originally thought to have foundered during a hurricane, but Dr. Shupman hopes that their exploration of the wreck will shed some new light on her harrowing final hours.

“There’s a lot more damage to her hull under the waterline than we would have expected…” says Dr. Shupman, indicating that the ship possibly struck a reef while in the throes of the storm. That she managed to stay afloat for some time after being hit is a testament to the skill of her captain and crew. “That’s the only way to explain how she got all the way out here before finally sinking.”

Using robotic cameras, complicated sonar arrays and all the technology that the 21st century has to offer, the team continues to search through the wreckage, hoping to unravel the mysteries of this relic from the Age of Sail.

For BBC News, I’m Sanjeev Doulton, Tripoli

Excerpted: Discovery Channel. Advertisement. The Discovery Channel. 5 March 2010.

NARRATIVE VOICE-OVER. CAMERA PANS OVER FOOTAGE OF THE WRECK.

BILL KURTIS:
Next time, on “Lost at Sea:” the HMS Dauntless. Over two hundred and fifty years ago, her captain and crew drove her on into a hurricane, chasing a pirate – a dreadful mistake that would cost them their ship, and, for most of them, their lives.

STUDIO, DAY.
SUBTITLE: Dr. Joan Hartwick, Author: Heart of Oak: A Biography of Sir James Norrington

HARTWICK:

Well, I think one of the things that has to be remembered about this is that this is the wreck that very nearly cost Sir James his career…

NARRATIVE VOICE-OVER. CUT TO FOOTAGE OF THE VICTORY.

BILL KURTIS:

Was the captain’s incompetence at fault?

STUDIO, DAY
SUBTITLE: Ambrose Beckett, Author: Modernity Denied: The East India Company in the West Indies

BECKETT:

I think we can safely say that James Norrington was one of the most overrated Commodores in the history of the Jamaica Squadron.

NARRATIVE VOICE-OVER. CUT TO HURRICANE STOCK FOOTAGE.

BILL KURTIS:

Or is a freak storm to be blamed?

STUDIO, DAY
SUBTITLE: Dr. Jason Maturin, Climatologist

MATURIN:

In 1750, the Little Ice Age was at its peak. The weather was notoriously unpredictable, and, with such upheaval, violent extremes are almost a guarantee…

NARRATIVE VOICE-OVER. CUT TO WRECKAGE FOOTAGE:

BILL KURTIS:

Join us next time as we explore this ship and the mystery behind her on “Lost At Sea!”