ANCHORAGE, Alaska (29 July 2004) -- Underwater archaeologists and local volunteers this month verified the identity of the oldest shipwreck ever found in Alaska waters -- the legendary Russian-American Co. ice freighter Kad'yak. Tradition says it sank north of Kodiak Island in 1860 with a cargo of 350 tons of ice in what appeared to be a divine rebuke to its captain. But the ship's location, and fate, was lost for 144 years. After a wreck thought to be the Kad'yak was located in 2003 off Spruce Island's Icon Bay, an expedition led by a team of nautical archaeologists from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., returned this month to map its debris in the dim, translucent green water 80 feet down. In an extraordinary turn of luck, principal investigator Frank Cantelas flipped over an object on the sandy sea bottom four days into the project and discovered what was believed to be the brass hub of the ship's wheel. It was clearly inscribed with the ship's name in Russian Cyrillic letters: "K-O-D-Ya-K." "It's a treasure, a real treasure," said Evguenia Anichtchenko, a Russian graduate student at East Carolina who researched the wreck and dived at the site. The German-built vessel -- which sailed around the world and delivered ice to San Francisco -- "has cultural traces from around the world -- everybody wants to know about this shipwreck," she said. "It ties together not only many people but many nations and many time periods." The "extremely significant" discovery has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, said state historic preservation officer Judy Bitner. "It's the only shipwreck that we know of so far from the Russian America Co., and it's the oldest shipwreck that has been discovered in Alaska so far," said state archaeologist David McMahan, who spent five days diving at the site with the team. "And it's the first time that substantial underwater archaeology has been done in Alaska." Only 31 of the shipwrecks date from Russian America days, said Mike Burwell, who keeps a database of 4,000 known shipwrecks, groundings and accidents in Alaska waters. The confirmation and mapping of the Kad'yak wreck climaxed years of effort by volunteer historians, Kodiak scientists and residents, and local archaeologists -- as well as Anichtchenko and her linguist husband, Jason Rogers, both master's degree students in East Carolina's program in underwater archaeology. A class paper written by Anichtchenko two years ago ultimately connected her with federal biologist Brad Stevens of Kodiak, who had been searching for the Kad'yak for years with data from Alaska archaeologist Mike Yarborough and Russian Alaska scholar Lydia Black, McMahan said. Anichtchenko and Rogers said they and their professors applied for a federal grant to search for the wreck but were turned down. Then Stevens returned to the site last August with new data and volunteer divers. Using a magnetic sensor that detects metal objects on the seafloor, the group found a promising hit. Dives showed that it was a corroded iron cannon. With the confirmation of a historical wreck, the students, their professors and their Alaska collaborators received a $50,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean Exploration and a $54,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, according to a release by East Carolina University. They chartered the 92-foot research vessel Big Valley for the trip. The project also got help from the Kodiak Historical Society, Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak Maritime Museum and Ouzinkie Native Corp. Over two weeks, eight scuba divers spent half-hour stints on the bottom mapping the location of three anchors, several cannons, brass hardware, copper sheathing and timbers from the hull, all spread over about 500 feet in a low spot between 40-foot deep reefs. With visibility only about 20 feet, important finds were connected by lines, Rogers said. Swells could be felt moving the water even that deep. Curious flounders and even big sea stars would sometimes nose into plots and have to be brushed aside, Anichtchenko and Rogers said. The team now will complete a technical report on the discovery, followed by professional publications and oral presentations, Anichtchenko and Rogers said. The couple, who both will complete their degrees this year, say they hope to return to Alaska for more nautical archaeology and further research into the wreck. Ultimately, artifacts will be preserved and put on display in Alaska. The site probably will eventually be open to divers to view but remains closed while the scientific investigation continues, McMahan said. | | Brad Stevens, left, and Jason Rogers document the hull structural remains of the Kad'yak. The ship went down in 1860 while hauling a load of ice. (Photo by TANE CASSERLEY - NOAA) But the question remains: Did the Russian captain really offend a Russian Orthodox saint enough to lose his boat? The 132-foot, three-masted bark had loaded up its ice for San Francisco delivery and departed Kodiak in March 1860 when it struck an uncharted rock. The crew escaped in lifeboats and tried to tow the ship to safety as it drifted about six miles toward Spruce Island, buoyed by its cargo. But they gave up. Traditional stories say Capt. Illarion Archimandritof had reneged on a promise to begin his voyage by paying homage to St. Herman, Alaska's first saint and one of the most prominent Russian Orthodox missionaries of the early 1800s. The captain's last glimpse of his vessel was a cross formed by the main mast and a yardarm, still visible before it sank off Spruce Island near St. Herman's chapel. Anichtchenko, raised in St. Petersburg in the Orthodox Church, said she was skeptical that anyone would think an Orthodox saint would issue divine retribution. But then she found a letter from Archimandritof in the archives at the Library of Congress that described an icon he was donating to the St. Herman chapel. Dated eight or nine years later, the icon was of the patron saint for sailors. A guilty conscience? "Maybe he did feel that way, that," she said. During a meeting with Ouzinkie residents, Anichtchenko asked if anyone remembered the icon. Though it was gone from the chapel, several elders said they did remember seeing the captain's gift many years ago. "That's exactly what you want to happen," she said. "You want your story that comes from written sources to match up with what the people remember." Partners in crime: Grave robbers Leigh Bishop and Brad Sheard. Following the lead of dive industry-endorsed shipwreck looters Bishop and Sheard, scuba diving thieves around the world are destroying wrecks for bragging rights, coffee table displays and internet auction profits that amount to a fraction of the revenue shipwrecks can generate as fully protected underwater museums.FROM THE EDITORS OF CDNN Scuba looters around the world aggressively compete for bragging rights, product endorsements and profits from the sales of stolen artifacts that are now on a par with those from smuggling humans and drugs. "The vast majority of the global scuba diving community opposes shipwreck looting and underwater grave robbing," said CDS President Evan T. Allard. "For scuba divers, every shipwreck is an underwater museum to be fully protected for our children, our grandchildren and all future generations of divers who will dive deeper and longer thanks to ongoing improvements in diving technology ," Allard added. "It is absolutely imperative that the global scuba diving community, archaeologists, coast guards, police and tax authorities act now to prevent Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, David Morton (of the Boston Sea Rovers) and other shipwreck looters from exploiting and destroying sunken ships for their personal coffee table displays, internet self-promotion schemes, commercial 'museum' profits and tax-evasion scams." CYBER DIVER ALERT | If you have information pertaining to the theft and/or sale of wreck artifacts, or desecration of underwater grave sites by Leigh Bishop, Brad Sheard, organized crime gangs or anyone else, please contact CDNN immediately and your information will be passed along to appropriate authorities. REPORT SCUBA LOOTER |
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