Sub Sea Research Team Plans for Excavation of Ancient Shipwreck Sites Discovered Off Haiti's Coastline
The Sub Sea Research team recently discovered eight ancient shipwrecks off the coast of Haiti and has received approval from the Haitian government to recover and conserve the finds. Most of the artifacts will go to the Shipwreck Institute of Maine. Fifty percent of the monetary value of the shipwreck treasure will go to the government of Haiti.
Portland, ME (PRWEB via PR Web
Direct) June 13, 2005 -- Greg Brooks and John Hardy of the Sub Sea Research
(www.subsearesearch.com) team have recently made eight ancient
shipwreck discoveries off the coast of Haiti and have recently received approval
from the Haitian government to recover and conserve the finds. The team is
excited to begin excavation and have the opportunity to provide historical
artifacts and shipwreck
treasure as well as revenue to Haiti.
The sites had been initially
assessed for further identification and dating, and the Haitian government has
recently approved Brooks' outline for recovery and conservation of their finds.
Representatives of the government of Haiti will be transporting some of the
already recovered artifacts to Boston for further identification.
Brooks
says excavation of the eight shipwreck sites will start at the end of June. Once
the shipwrecks have been recovered, much of the artifacts and treasure will be
brought to Maine for conservation and restoration. Most of the artifacts will go
to a Portland museum, the Shipwreck Institute of Maine (also known as the
"Musearium").
Fifty percent of the monetary value of the shipwreck
treasure found at the sites will go to the government of Haiti, and the other
half will go to Sub Sea Research. The company reinvests much of the money earned
from these excavations into future shipwreck
projects. They also donate some of the money to numerous charities in Haiti
and the United States.
Brooks says that being able to work with the
government of Haiti to conduct this research and excavation is an accomplishment
in itself. “We have learned from experience that locating and discovering an
interesting site and actually getting the right to recover it are two very
separate issues,” Brooks notes.
But the relationship that Sub Sea
Research has established and maintained with the Haitian government (despite
Haiti's recent political turmoil) has proved to be beneficial to both the
company and the people of Haiti. “Everyone recognized the long-term benefit that
this project could bring,” Brooks says. “Many times I wondered if after all this
we would be allowed to continue. But in the end, our genuine interest and the
truth won out, so we succeeded in reaffirming with the new leaders that our
goals were for the benefit of the people of Haiti, and that the rest of the
world needed to see something historically rewarding recovered from
Haiti.”
The company has two arrests pending and is awaiting permission to
excavate in some areas of U.S. waters. Brooks says he has several deeper water
sites that remain "under review" along Florida's coast, including an alleged
French merchant ship. Physical inspections and identification operations are
underway and have been approved by U.S. federal agencies.
While the
Florida site remains pending, Sub Sea Research will get ready to sail back to
Haiti at the end of June to excavate and recover the findings at the several
discovered shipwreck
sites. Once the sites have been excavated and recovered, Sub Sea Research
will begin preserving the artifacts and documenting the maritime history of the
country.
About Sub Sea Research LLC
Sub Sea Research LLC is a
privately held limited liability corporation based in Portland, Maine. Founded
in 1984 by Greg and Kathy Brooks and joined by Lois and John Hardy as principal
partners in 1993, the company has achieved a continued steady success rate in
locating and recovering researched historic shipwrecks worldwide and continues
to develop the Shipwreck Institute of Maine Project, as well as a planned
maritime museum in Haiti. For more information, visit www.subsearesearch.com.
Contact:
Greg Brooks
Sub Sea Research
440 Commercial
St.
Portland, ME 04101
Phone/Fax: 207-879-1758
E-mail: e-mail protected
from spam bots
Web: http://subsearesearch.com
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb249505.htm