FloridaFuture
July 2nd, 2007, 03:42 PM
Plunder MOSI 'Shipwreck!' For All Sorts Of Treasures
By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 1, 2007
TAMPA - Cameron Schmid watched the gold coin his father was attempting to pick up off the ground with the giant robotic arm.
'You almost got one, Dad!' shouted Cameron, 5.
Richard Schmid of Lutz, who came Saturday with his wife and four sons to the 'Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure' exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry, was replicating the experience of the Odyssey Marine Exploration crew members who picked gold and silver coins off the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in similar fashion.
Schmid worked the two hand controls for another minute and finally snagged one. 'Oh!' shouted Cameron. 'He got it!'
The Schmids and others visiting the exhibit, which opened June 22 and runs through Feb. 10, commented on how much they enjoyed its interactive features. You also can experience the 78 mph hurricane tube and ultimate hair dryer, raise and lower pirate flags, learn to tie ship knots, pilot a mini-Zeuss underwater explorer and twirl a ship's wheel. Or you can shake wooden boxes of treasure and guess their contents at 'Shake Your Booty.'
'It interests kids more this way,' said Sheryl Rogers, 29, of Wesley Chapel.
It's a hands-on history experience.
The exhibit details the tales behind storied shipwrecks and displays their treasures. The focus of the exhibit is the more than 51,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts recovered in 2003 from the SS Republic by Odyssey, which is based in Tampa.
'The Republic was traveling from New York to New Orleans in 1865 and ran into a hurricane and went down somewhere off the coast of Georgia,' said David Conley, MOSI vice president of exhibits. 'But where it went down was a mystery until Odyssey found it.'
Conley hopes to add coins and artifacts from Odyssey's recent finds on its Black Swan project at a secret sunken wreckage site in the Atlantic Ocean. Odyssey says it discovered tons of gold and silver coins in international waters.
'But there are some legal concerns and issues now,' Conley said. 'The Spanish government feels it was in Spanish waters.'
A seabed concretion of gold and silver coins from the Republic rests near shiny $20 gold pieces, some in near mint condition, and silver half dollars. Most are from the 1850s.
'I especially liked the coins and how they got there,' said Foster Loy, 13, of Clearwater. 'I learned about all the trouble they went through to get to the bottom of the sea with underwater cameras and claws.'
The Republic was discovered 1,700 feet down and 100 miles from Georgia's coast. Most of the more than 6,000 bottles recovered were found unbroken despite the deep plunge and 138 years of drifting on the seabed. Whiskey, liniment and jelly bottles are among the dozens displayed.
The iron cannon from a western Mediterranean Sea shipwreck also is displayed, soaking in a 3-percent sodium carbonate solution to prevent further corrosion.
You can learn much about pirates and buccaneers here.
Buccaneers were French hunters attracted to herds of wild cattle and hogs on what is now Haiti. Their name came from 'boucans,' the open stoves they used for smoking meat.
Blackbeard's actual name was Edward Teach, and he braided the beard. His severed head was suspended from the bow of a Royal Navy ship after he was killed in a battle at Ocracoke Inlet, N.C., in 1718.
'This is a great time,' Schmid said. 'Our boys enjoy anything to do with pirates and ships, and the artifacts were something we really enjoyed.'
SHIPWRECK! PIRATES & TREASURE
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Feb. 10
WHERE: Museum of Science & Industry, 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa
HOW MUCH: $25.95 adults, $22.95 for age 60 and older, $20.95 for ages 2 to 12, free for younger than 2; (813) 987-6100
Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jul/01/me-plunder-mosi-shipwreck-for-all-sorts-of-treasur/?news-metro
By STEVE KORNACKI, The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 1, 2007
TAMPA - Cameron Schmid watched the gold coin his father was attempting to pick up off the ground with the giant robotic arm.
'You almost got one, Dad!' shouted Cameron, 5.
Richard Schmid of Lutz, who came Saturday with his wife and four sons to the 'Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure' exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry, was replicating the experience of the Odyssey Marine Exploration crew members who picked gold and silver coins off the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in similar fashion.
Schmid worked the two hand controls for another minute and finally snagged one. 'Oh!' shouted Cameron. 'He got it!'
The Schmids and others visiting the exhibit, which opened June 22 and runs through Feb. 10, commented on how much they enjoyed its interactive features. You also can experience the 78 mph hurricane tube and ultimate hair dryer, raise and lower pirate flags, learn to tie ship knots, pilot a mini-Zeuss underwater explorer and twirl a ship's wheel. Or you can shake wooden boxes of treasure and guess their contents at 'Shake Your Booty.'
'It interests kids more this way,' said Sheryl Rogers, 29, of Wesley Chapel.
It's a hands-on history experience.
The exhibit details the tales behind storied shipwrecks and displays their treasures. The focus of the exhibit is the more than 51,000 coins and 14,000 artifacts recovered in 2003 from the SS Republic by Odyssey, which is based in Tampa.
'The Republic was traveling from New York to New Orleans in 1865 and ran into a hurricane and went down somewhere off the coast of Georgia,' said David Conley, MOSI vice president of exhibits. 'But where it went down was a mystery until Odyssey found it.'
Conley hopes to add coins and artifacts from Odyssey's recent finds on its Black Swan project at a secret sunken wreckage site in the Atlantic Ocean. Odyssey says it discovered tons of gold and silver coins in international waters.
'But there are some legal concerns and issues now,' Conley said. 'The Spanish government feels it was in Spanish waters.'
A seabed concretion of gold and silver coins from the Republic rests near shiny $20 gold pieces, some in near mint condition, and silver half dollars. Most are from the 1850s.
'I especially liked the coins and how they got there,' said Foster Loy, 13, of Clearwater. 'I learned about all the trouble they went through to get to the bottom of the sea with underwater cameras and claws.'
The Republic was discovered 1,700 feet down and 100 miles from Georgia's coast. Most of the more than 6,000 bottles recovered were found unbroken despite the deep plunge and 138 years of drifting on the seabed. Whiskey, liniment and jelly bottles are among the dozens displayed.
The iron cannon from a western Mediterranean Sea shipwreck also is displayed, soaking in a 3-percent sodium carbonate solution to prevent further corrosion.
You can learn much about pirates and buccaneers here.
Buccaneers were French hunters attracted to herds of wild cattle and hogs on what is now Haiti. Their name came from 'boucans,' the open stoves they used for smoking meat.
Blackbeard's actual name was Edward Teach, and he braided the beard. His severed head was suspended from the bow of a Royal Navy ship after he was killed in a battle at Ocracoke Inlet, N.C., in 1718.
'This is a great time,' Schmid said. 'Our boys enjoy anything to do with pirates and ships, and the artifacts were something we really enjoyed.'
SHIPWRECK! PIRATES & TREASURE
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Feb. 10
WHERE: Museum of Science & Industry, 4801 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa
HOW MUCH: $25.95 adults, $22.95 for age 60 and older, $20.95 for ages 2 to 12, free for younger than 2; (813) 987-6100
Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/jul/01/me-plunder-mosi-shipwreck-for-all-sorts-of-treasur/?news-metro