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Mortar_Maggot t1_j6bgan0 wrote

Not much. Wooden ships at the bottom that long aren't really together in a way you can raise anymore.

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ZeenTex t1_j6bijhn wrote

No, but it's possible to raise it in pieces and later reassemble it ashore.

That said, unlikely.

Edit: @ below, no it wouldnt disintegrate into dust. It's waterlogged and you cannot let it it just sit there, but need to keep it wet while treating it, but it wont just crumble into dus once you've raised it.

Many wrecks have been preserved this way.

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pm_me_ur_demotape t1_j6bkb6x wrote

Nah, they're like a powder that is still in it's original shape. Trying to do anything with it would just disintegrate it

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AlexBurke1 t1_j6blkyg wrote

I’d like to dive that wreck with a metal detector though if I was younger and healthier though! It’s crazy to me something like half the gold ever mined is at the bottom of the ocean. I bet at Cape Horn there’s probably billions in gold that sank trying to get through that area in bad weather, but it’s probably tough diving conditions and still a pretty big area to search.

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ZeenTex t1_j6bp5hy wrote

Interesting fact; ships that sailed to the colonies often had gold or silver as cargo to pay the local armies, employees or to pay for trade goods as opposed to ships sailing back, which carried trade goods only.

The "Batavia"is a good example.

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Flimsy-Dog4961 t1_j6e77h1 wrote

another interesting thing that colonial trade ships used a ballast was porcelain because it was heavy and wouldn’t tarnish due to sea water

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FFF_in_WY t1_j6dup9h wrote

The Cape is bucket list for lots of divers, but most of us wanna play with the wildlife 🦈

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why_did_you_make_me t1_j6d7b5u wrote

The Vasa is an excellent example of raising and preserving this kind of ship. She sunk in 1628 and is accepting visitors today.

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Im_Chad_AMA t1_j6dgjgj wrote

I went to that museum and it was awesome. IIRC there were some special circumstances that allowed the ship to be preserved extremely well (something about the salt concentration, water temperature, maybe the kind of wood used as well).

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OneBigRed t1_j6eosxd wrote

There is no shipworm in Baltic Sea, that was the main reason for the hull being in a condition that made it possible to raise the wreckage. Shipworm consumes the wood of sunken ships, basically disintegrating them.

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qtx t1_j6f0kpz wrote

The Vasa went down in the Baltic Sea.

> The Baltic Sea preserves underwater cultural heritage extremely well primarily due to the low light, low salinity and cold temperature that prevent the proliferation of the Naval Shipworm (Teredo navalis), which devours submerged wood

The Vasa is the exception rather that the rule. Most shipwrecks can't be raised, just like the one we're talking about in this post.

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why_did_you_make_me t1_j6fqoqx wrote

I'll admit to not knowing if the condition of this particular wreck is such that it could be raised - it would be pure speculation on my (and I'd imagine your) part.

My point (poorly made) was that saying there's nothing left but dust is untrue. The Mary Rose was raised (and not from the Baltic), though she's in nowhere near the condition of the Vasa, and the article states that much of the hull here is intact as well.

Can and should this vessel be brought back up - I have no idea. Is it within the realm of possibility given what I know and what the article states? Yes.

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I_AM_AN_ASSHOLE_AMA t1_j6h0b33 wrote

Saw it last year. The size of it is astonishing. I knew it was big before going there, but was still surprised at how large it was, especially for the time period it’s from.

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Spyglass186 t1_j6c5s6y wrote

Not necessarily, just look up the Mary Rose Ship in England

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TheArtBellStalker t1_j6cropv wrote

Don't forget, it has cost over £50 million to preserve The Mary Rose so far. And it will continue to cost a lot to keep the preservation up. And remember £1 million in 1981 money is almost £3.5 million now.

Saying "we can just preserve it" is a lot easier than actually preserving it.

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Tana1234 t1_j6f731g wrote

Absolute money sink, and something I don't think was worth it, sure preserve the items from the wreck but just insane money spent to get it to a stable condition

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60svintage t1_j6c35ls wrote

Depends on the state of the wreck and the interest/cost of raising and preserving it.

The Mary Rose and The Vasa are examples of ships that have been raised.

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MrDoPhi314 t1_j6c1m87 wrote

Depends on the water though?

Near Scandinavia there is a place where wooden ships are extremly well preserved while under water.

https://www.marineinsight.com/videos/watch-400-years-old-dutch-merchant-ship-found-in-the-gulf-of-finland/

Cant really find it in the article but there are no bacteria/animals that destroy the wood.

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DdPillar t1_j6c72d1 wrote

In the Baltic sea, due to low salt, there are no ship worms.

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Derpherpaflerp t1_j6ckzed wrote

The seas probably lack oxygen there which means no bacteria/animals could live there. Quick Google, Wikipedia tells me the Baltic sea is indeed quite a dead sea.

Interestingly enough this is also the cause of coal/gas/oil in our ground. Without an anoxic environment carbon waste decays and does not transform into our carbon deposits which we use for energy nowadays. Thus big carbon deposits in the ground point to anoxic environments in the past.

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KruppeTheWise t1_j6dzsho wrote

I thought the vast majority of coal was formed from trees that fell before there was anything that could break down the lignin in their cells?

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Derpherpaflerp t1_j6e9jma wrote

True, I thought that was the case as well but that hypothesis is being challenged recently. Both ideas are also not mutually exclusive. In swamps around the world you can still see the preservation of carbon life forms.

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SgtMittens35 t1_j6cusgj wrote

Its the Vasa, a Swedish warship from 1626. The ship sunk after sailing 1300 meter.

vasa

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