Divers Uncover A Jar With Contents That Defy The Laws Of Nature
The warship Kronan was the crown jewel of Sweden’s naval fleet when it was completed in 1672. Tragically, it sank just four years later, killing nearly all 800 people on board and disappearing into the depths of the ocean for centuries.
In 1980, the wreck was finally rediscovered and for the next few years, diving expeditions explored the remains of the vessel. They were able to find countless incredible pieces of history, but the most recent dive turned up something completely unexpected…
A Seagoing Wonder
The Kronan took seven years to construct, and once it was finished, it took to the seas like a multi-masted beast. But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the magnificent ship.
Going Down
The ship's luck ran out in 1676. During a maritime battle, the Kronan hit rough waters and capsized while making a sharp turn. The gunpowder on board ignited and that was that.
Collecting Coral
For three hundred years, the Kronan sat peacefully at the bottom of the ocean and housed all sorts of aquatic life. Would anyone ever discover its whereabouts and gather the artifacts inside?
Franzen's Discovery
Amazingly, in 1980, an amateur researcher named Anders Franzen discovered the shipwreck's location. The Swedish government sponsored yearly archaeological dives to collect any lost artifacts. What was hidden in the ship for so many years?
Rusted Cannons
The divers who went on the expeditions were in awe. It was obvious the ship was used for war. Openings in the vessel's sides had old rusted cannons protruding out.
Amazingly Preserved
After a thorough search of the ship, it was easy to picture what the massive structure looked like sailing the high seas. There were dozens of small rooms for housing the men aboard, and each one was equipped with weaponry.
Scraping Away the Muck
The divers had special equipment used to help clear the sand and mud that accumulated on all the surface areas. Buried underneath was a trove of ancient treasures...
Back to the Surface
Whatever the divers recovered from the wreck was going straight into the Kalmar County Museum in Sweden. The museum had an entire Kronan exhibit ready for unveiling once they excavated the items.
Old Firearms
The dive teams found an abundance of old rifles and firearms. The weapons revealed fascinating information about seventeenth-century warfare. Information that experts may not have even known.
Taking Inventory
After the guns were excavated, researchers cleaned off the grime and rust so they looked new. They now sit on display at the Kalmar Museum. But, firearms weren't the only amazing things found...
Music to their Ears
They also found objects that spoke more to everyday life in the 1600s, like musical instruments, including violins and trumpets. The people on board the ship needed forms of entertainment, and playing tunes certainly helped pass the time at sea.
Priceless Jewelry
One of the expeditions came across this pristine gold ring. Can you believe after three hundred years at the bottom of the ocean the gem inside still has a sparkle to it? This looks like something straight out of a Tiffany's display case.
International Coinage
When the Kronan sank, it was carrying loads of gold and silver coins, and the divers found an abundance of them among the rubble. It was Sweden's largest coin discovery ever, with coins minted in Sweden, Egypt, Syria, and even Turkey!
Historical Record
One of the most important things they found was a wooden plaque with the name of the ship scrawled across it. It may not have been worth as much as the gold and silver, but this plaque was an intact part of history, and equally as important as everything else.
The Real Winner
The Kalmar County Museum was more than ecstatic to display all of Kronan's lost treasure. However, they had no idea that the most interesting item was yet to be found...
Strange Black Jar
Just when researchers thought they unearthed nearly everything of importance, one of them came across this black tin jar nestled in the mud — and it was heavy. More gold and silver coins, perhaps?
Strong Odor
When scientists finally pried open the can, they were overwhelmed by a pungent smell. They stared at the grayish lump of mush and suddenly it hit them. It was some kind of preserved cheese product!
Old, Old Cheese
They described the smell as a mix of yeast and Roquefort cheese. During the era when the Kronan was built, cheese was a real status symbol. It separated the rich from the poor. In this case, however, the cheese was well past its prime.
How Did It Last?
No one intended to add this Kronan cheese to a gourmet cheese plate anytime soon, but just the fact it was still in relatively good condition stunned everyone. Where's Andrew Zimmern when you need him? He'd probably give this a taste!
Collecting Relics
The Kronan cheese sits on display at the museum along with the rest of the findings. Since the ship was discovered in 1980, diving teams have collected over 30,000 artifacts, and they haven't even explored every nook and cranny. Maybe they'll come across a nice Merlot to pair with the cheese!
But while they investigated the Kronan, another strange relic from the past had turned up in a place that no one expected.
See, the coast of California is no stranger to significant storms, specifically El Niños—the unusually warm systems that move over the area in late December. But one 2016 storm in Coronado, California was especially devastating.
The residents of Coronado were quick to make their way back outside after the rains and winds passed. They were ready to clean up their town, but they certainly were not prepared for what they'd find there...
When people reached South Coronado Beach, they noticed something very unusual protruding from the sandy shore. It was a massive shape of some kind, and it clearly wasn't part of a reef. What the heck was it?
No one was quite sure what the strange formation was, but everyone was curious enough to want to get a closer look. Many residents had theories, but the truth would be even more wild...
It would take more work to find out what this powerful storm had unearthed. Luckily, as the tide continued to wash the surrounding sand away, the answer was revealed...
It was an enormous shipwreck! Everyone was in awe when they finally realized what the structure was. How amazing is it that a ship that enormous had been lying just beneath their feet all along?
This storm had to be really intense in order to uncover something the size of a city block. As the surface of the ocean increases in temperature—and the warm air meets much colder air in the sky—it causes intense wind and rain.
Any time an El Niño storm hits a populous area, it typically causes a hefty amount of damage. Usually, the best way to prepare is byboarding up windows and doors or simply evacuating the area altogether.
Obviously, the intensity of El Niño's winds and rain regularly tossed around small boats. The discovery on South Coronado Beach, however, was completely different. This was no small boat—this thing was seriously huge!
Now that the enormous vessel was uncovered, everyone wanted to know where exactly it had come from. On top of that, what was it used for when it was a fully-functioning ship sailing the high seas?
As it turned out, the history of the ship was fascinating. Named the SS Monte Carlo, the 300-foot vessel was built in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1921. It was one of the few concrete and iron ships built after World War I.
The ship was the property of the United States Quartermaster Corps until 1923, when it was sold to the Associated Oil Company of San Francisco. This company then sold it to two actual mobsters, Ed Turner and Martin Schouwiler, in the early 1930s.
The two men had hoped to turn their new property into a "sin ship" during Prohibition. It was to be anchored three miles off the coast of Coronado Beach in international waters, so gambling, prostitution, and alcohol were all technically legal onboard... or so they hoped.
Unsurprisingly, the ship became incredibly popular. Visitors from all around came to indulge in the illegal activities it offered. The ship was by no means the first "sin ship" in existence, but it was the largest. In its prime, it would host upwards of 15,000 gamblers a week!
It's estimated that the ship also raked in nearly $3 million a year, which by today's standards is nearly $52 million! However, on New Year's Day in 1937, a massive storm set the ship adrift, and it eventually ran aground on the shores of South Coronado Beach.
Over the next several years, the remains of the ship were slowly buried underneath the sand. That is, until the 2016 El Niño, which was strong enough to remove the sand and reveal the ancient piece of history once more.
With a little help of the incoming and outgoing tide, the sand slowly revealed more and more of this former "sin ship." It didn't take long before the residents of Coronado could make out the entire thing.
Once people could see the entire vessel, word of the discovery spread rapidly around the area. Everyone wanted to explore this real-life shipwreck for themselves! Can you blame them?
As fascinating as the discovery was, visitors needed to be extremely careful around the remains. Because the ship was built with concrete and iron, erosion had caused the frame to develop extremely sharp edges. Albeit dangerous, exploring it might be worth it...
Some rumors suggested that upwards of $150,000 worth of gold and silver coins were still on board. Even if it was just a rumor, the SS Monte Carlo remains a treasure in its own right! It's encouraged other adventurers too.
Beneath the calm waters of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, there is a massive secret, one that lay hidden for hundreds of years. But it didn't stay that way forever.
It is the wreck of the Whydah, a massive ship built to hold 150 men and several hundred tons of cargo. It went missing off the coast of New England in 1717, and many assumed it was lost forever.
However, explorer Barry Clifford discovered the wreck of the Whydah in 1984, and he has been digging up artifacts from the site ever since. His exploits make him one of the greatest treasure hunters of all time.
Barry has long been on the hunt for a treasure that will make him a legend. He once believed he found the remnants of the Santa Maria from Christopher Columbus' original 1492 voyage, but tests later determined it was a different vessel.
The Whydah, however, was a monumental find. It was the flagship of one of history's greatest pirates: Black Sam Bellamy. This captain was known as the 'Robin Hood of the Sea,' and for good reason.
For one thing, Bellamy only targeted wealthy merchants and tried to use as little violence as possible. His crew members received equal pay and respect, even those who were Native Americans or former slaves.
In fact, the Whydah was originally the property of slave traders until Bellamy seized it by force and freed the captives aboard.
Most famously, Bellamy pulled off the biggest heists in pirate history. Historians estimate that he plundered the modern equivalent of $120 million throughout his career.
These daring exploits made Bellamy one of the most talked-about pirates of his time. He rose above his criminal origins to become a bona fide folk hero.
Unfortunately, Bellamy didn't have much time to enjoy his success. A massive storm sank the Whydah, claiming untold amounts of treasure and most of the crew, including Bellamy himself.
Centuries later, Clifford and his colleagues have unearthed countless relics and treasures from the wreck, and they established the Whydah Pirate Museum to share Bellamy's story.
Even though Clifford's team has been studying this site for decades, he still felt like they were only scratching the surface. Then, one diving mission in late 2016 changed everything.
The explorers located a large chunk of debris from the Whydah that had many artifacts trapped inside of it. They hauled it up to dry land for a closer look.
It presented a virtual treasure trove, with genuine coins and seafaring equipment jutting through the rough surface. But this motherlode contained one thing the scientists didn't expect to find... human bones.
They came across a femur just a short distance away from what appeared to be Bellamy's pistol. Could it be the remains of the late great Captain himself?
Clifford knew they needed proof, so he recruited a team of forensic scientists. They extracted DNA from the bone and compared it to that of one of Bellamy's descendants in the United Kingdom. At last, the results came in...
But it was not a match. This bone likely belonged to an anonymous crew member, but certainly not to Captain Bellamy. The elusive Black Sam slipped away from authorities once again.
The bad news sunk Clifford's theory faster than the Whydah. Nevertheless, the bone gave researchers the chance to learn more about the typical sailor from that era.
Clifford can still take pride in his ongoing excavation of the Whydah. After all, no other famous pirate ship has been studied so closely. Nobody can question his accomplishments or contributions to history.
Besides, the mysteries of the Whydah are still out there in the briny deep, and Bellamy's final resting place may even surface someday. All it will take is the right person to find it.
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