Most people think of the surface, when they think of the Gulf Oil disaster. They focus on how the oil is harming beaches, wetlands, and flora and fauna. Deep beneath the surface, however, there is damage being done to global history.
The Gulf of Mexico is lined with shipwrecks. They include old wooden vessels, including those of pirates and
others, but also include the casualties of World War II as well.
Ironically, some of this history has been found by the undersea robots of oil companies. In fact, within 20 miles of the Deepwater Horizon well, there are several significant shipwrecks. Now, however, oil is probably beginning to fall upon them.
Steven Anthony, president of the Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society commented on the shipwrecks. He said that "People think of them as being lost, but with the deepsea diving innovations we have today, these shipwrecks are easily accessible, If this oil congeals on the bottom, it will be dangerous for scuba divers to go down there and explore. The spill will stop investigations; it will put a chill, a halt on (underwater) operations."
Within the area threatened by the oil spill is the "Mica Wreck," a 200-year-old two-masted schooner that sank sometime before 1850. It was discovered earlier, lying under about 2,500 feet of water in the Mississippi Canyon during work to lay a pipeline.
Another, the "Mardi Gras Wreck," was discovered by oilfield workers about 4,000 feet down beneath the surface of the ocean, 35 miles off the Louisiana coast. It was dubbed the "Mardi Gras Wreck" because the Mardi Gras Gas Transmission System, a deepwater pipeline system, was the project responsible for its discovery. It's believed that the ship may have been a gun runner or British trader during the War of 1812.
There's even a U-boat in the area of the spill, the U-166. Ironically, crews surveying a pipeline project for none other than BP (along with Shell) came across U-166 in 2001. played a part in finding the U-166, a German U-boat sunk in World War II off the Louisiana coast. The U-166 was sunk on July 30, 1942, by a an escort vessel, PC-566. The U-166 didn't go easily: it first sank the the passenger-freighter Robert E. Lee before its own demise.
The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Oriskany lies off the coast of Pensacola, FL. Earlier this week, oil began washing ashore in the Florida Panhandle, near the Oriskany. The U.S. Navy sank the carrier in May 2006 to create an artificial reef.
Still, archaeologists fear the effort to clean the BP oil spill as quickly as possible is causing damage to historic sites. John Rawls, marine archaeologist with Earth Search Inc., a firm hired by BP to do archaeological surveys, said, "We learned from Exxon Valdez that there were incidents of looting by cleanup workers, equipment being brought in, destroying the ground."
Written by Michael Santo
HULIQ.com
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