Edward Teach began as a pirate with the help of Capt. Benjamin Hornigold at an island in the Bahamas in 1716. He first commandeered a sloop he captured but became famous after he captured a French vessel he renamed Queen Anne’s Revenge. Later on, known as Blackbeard for his formidable appearance, he attached 40 cannons around it.
The flagship of the legendary Blackbeard has been discovered in 1996. The expedition was spearheaded by Intersal Inc., a private research company, and they spotted it just 28 feet below, close to Fort Macon State Park in North Carolina. Aside from more than two hundred thousand artifacts, more than 31 cannons have also been recovered and identified.
The Town of Saint Thomas
These items might not look like much at first glance. But with the added context, you’ll understand just how significant they are. These are some of the remains of Saint Thomas, a Mormon pioneer town that had been flooded back in the 1930s. This is the result of a dam built on the Colorado River to create Lake Mead.
This community was home to Mormon settlers who aimed to plant cotton and spread their word to the West Coast. Fishermen first spotted the underwater concrete foundations in 2003. And just a few years later, the settlement became even more visible in light of an unprecedented drought in the region. The discovery opened up this interesting corner of history to the locals.
Ancient Epidaurus
It might seem like some simple rock formations. But this was actually man-made. This photo taken back in 2016 shows some of the remains of a Roman building located close to the Epidaurus along the Saronic Gulf. It’s 40 meters in length and stretches 15 meters wide.
A topographic mapping project was conducted in this area by the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, a vital part of the Greek Ministry of Culture. Chinese agency Xinhua News also collaborated with the local authorities on the project. Some of the other highlights of Epidaurus include the Ancient Theatre, the Abaton, the Stadion, the Gymnasium, the Roman Baths, and many more.
A Sphinx Statue
A group of divers were scouring the deep seas, off the coast of the Bahamas, back in 2014, to examine a shipwreck. They carefully studied the ins and outs of their subject, and combed its surroundings to find more clues and artifacts, when they discovered something extremely out of place- a limestone sphinx.
Nobody knows how the statue got there, but they have theorized that it must have come from a region called Wadi Rahanu, in Egypt.
Mariana Trench
The Mariana Trench is known to have the deepest natural trench in the world. Discovered in 1875 during the Challenger Expedition, located near the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, its maximum depth is reportedly more than 36,000 feet.
The Mariana Trench is home to what must be millions of sea creatures. Among the scary ones we know are the angler fish and supergiant crustaceans. There is definitely more down in the deep that needs better technology than we have now to explore. The possibilities for new discoveries in the area are limitless.