South Carolina
STATE NEWS IN BRIEF
CHARLESTON
Shipwreck-discovery lawsuit goes to judge
A lawsuit stemming from the discovery of the steamer SS Republic and its trove of $75 million in gold coins claims Odyssey Marine Exploration found it using information an S.C. shipwreck hunter provided.
A state judge was to hear arguments Wednesday over what court should hear the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs, including a company operated by underwater archaeologist Lee Spence, claim breach of contract because neither the treasure nor the credit for finding the vessel in 2003 was shared.
But Odyssey Marine; its president, John Morris; and two other defendants counter the wreck was found about 90 miles southeast of Savannah, Ga. - nowhere near where Spence's information said it was.
The 210-foot sidewheel steamer, from which 51,000 gold coins were recovered, was taking the money and supplies from New York to New Orleans after the Civil War. It sank in a hurricane on Oct. 25, 1865.
Spence is also involved in a federal lawsuit over the discovery of the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley off South Carolina in 1995.
Clive Cussler's National Underwater & Marine Agency alleged its reputation was injured by Spence's claim he first found the Hunley, the first sub in history to sink an enemy warship. The S.C. Hunley Commission has credited Cussler.
Spence countersued and in court documents alleged he suffered $309 million in damages because he was not credited.
linkrelated news ...Solve the mystery, save its history
20 area scientists called on to study Confederate sub's unexplained sinking
By FRED BROWN, brownf@knews.com
April 25, 2006
Scientists from the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex have been enlisted to help uncover one of the nation's most alluring naval mysteries: What caused the CSS Hunley to sink 142 years ago?
About 20 scientists traveled to Charleston, S.C., on Sunday and began their intensive look into the mystery of the historic vessel. The experts in various scientific fields took a daylong tour Monday, examining close-up the famed submarine, the first involved in combat in the nation's history. It was lost during a naval battle in 1864 in Charleston harbor.
At Monday's meeting with the Hunley team in Charleston, headed by Texas A&M University archaeologist Maria Jacobsen, it was decided the East Tennessee scientists will work to enter into a long-term agreement to help investigate the Hunley's demise and to help preserve its history, according to Mike Sullivan, director of UT's Law Enforcement Innovation Center, which helped bring the scientists and the Hunley together.
Constructed by the Confederacy, the Hunley engaged the USS Housatonic in underwater combat Feb. 17, 1864. Shortly after blowing a hole in the bottom of the federal warship, the Hunley disappeared.
The crude submarine, powered by hand cranks, sank with an eight-man crew and was lost for more than a century. It was found in 1995 by Clive Cussler's National Underwater and Marine Agency. The sub was raised in 2000 and brought to the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, where it has rested in a protective tank of saltwater solution.
Sullivan was instrumental in getting crime novelist Patricia Cornwell, UT, ORNL and Y-12 together about a month ago in Oak Ridge after she became interested in the Hunley.
Recently, she donated $500,000 to help the scientists solve the Hunley mystery.
Cornwell, a New York Times best-selling author with 20 books to her credit who frequently visits UT's forensics laboratory and the so-called Body Farm, notes on the Hunley Web site, www.hunley.org, that she views the submarine as a "19th-century crime scene.
"We will need to push modern technology to the limit to extract the information that is needed to discover what happened to the Hunley," she said on the site.
The archaeological team was to discuss with the scientists "the next steps and priorities as far as metallurgy, imaging, forensic anthropology and infrared imaging," Sullivan said.
"The East Tennessee scientists can provide a staggering array of expertise, including chemists who will look at the chemistry of the boat's hull, metal experts who can study the boat's metal layers and even look through the layers to see components, strengths and weaknesses in the metal."
The scientists will return to Knoxville today, he said. They will write short papers about the Hunley team's needs and how they can help. Then Jacobsen will choose scientists from various fields to work on the Hunley.
"I see this relationship in terms of years instead of weeks or months," Sullivan said.
On Monday, the scientists were given a rare experience. Sullivan said project manager Jacobsen "drained the tank," allowing the investigators to walk around the famous submarine and even peer inside.
"We got up close and looked inside the Hunley," he said. "There are very, very few people to be this close to the Hunley," he said. "It's been an awesome experience because this is a national relic, this was the first. It is our nation's history."
Sullivan said the Hunley team can see the vessel's damage but doesn't know what caused it. Human remains are still inside it, he said.
"There are a lot of questions they hope our scientists can answer. Between UT, ORNL and Y-12, we have some of the world's most prestigious scientists."
link