What do you do while bureaucrats are debating the fate of underwater exploration in Paris? Go out and find the world’s deepest wooden shipwreck.

Archaeologist James Sinclair and attorney David Concannon, skipped the final round of the UNESCO Convention on the Preservation of Underwater Cultural Heritage to participate in an expedition that has discovered the world’s deepest wooden shipwreck. The wreck, a merchant ship almost two hundred years old, was discovered resting 4,818 meters, almost 16,000 feet, deep in the heart of the infamous Bermuda triangle. Curt Newport, widely known for locating and recovering Liberty Bell 7, the Gus Grissom Mercury spacecraft, announced this remarkable new find in Bermuda on July 10, 2001. Mike McDowell and Guy Zajonc organized the Atlantic Sands 2001 expedition.

The shipwreck was originally revealed by side-scan sonar in 1999. The wreck site was relocated and mapped on July 2nd, the opening day of the UNESCO Convention in Paris, by the P.P. Shirshov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences using the Mir 1 and Mir 2 deep submersibles launched from their mother ship, the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh.

Participating in the dive of discovery were Newport and marine archeologist Jim Sinclair in Mir 1 piloted by Dr. Anatoly Sagalevitch, and McDowell and Zajonc in Mir 2 piloted by Genya Chernaiev. Piloting on subsequent dives was Viktor Nischeta, accompanied by expedition members David Concannon, Richard Garriott, Kelly Miller and Taylor Zajonc. Dr. Don Walsh, who holds the record for the world’s deepest dive, also participated in the expedition and provided valuable advice of deep water geology and maritime history.

High definition video cameras supplied by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution captured beautiful images of the site. The Mir subs are best known for their many dives on Titanic and their recent exploration of the World War II German battleship Bismarck. Those missions were also Deep Ocean Expedition projects.

The expedition archeologist, Jim Sinclair, directed the collection, documentation and conservation of numerous artifacts. The items recovered include an intact hourglass, a sextant and an octant used for navigation, the ship's telescope, fabric samples, a man's boot, bottles and two flintlock pistols. Coins from various countries were found and place the date of the wreck around 1810. The main cargo of this unusual find was a hold full of coconuts.

Sinclair noted, "She was a well equipped merchant vessel operating in a unique time in history. Given the range of navigational tools aboard she could sail the open Atlantic suggesting transatlantic trade. Her ports would most likely include England, the east coast of a young United States, Bermuda, the islands of the Caribbean and ports in Mexico, Central and South America. She probably delivered finished goods to the southern ports and was making her way north with coconuts when taken by a storm. Our dive team located pieces of the mast, including sail, just to the north of the wreck. >From records in England, Bermuda and Charleston, South Carolina we may be able to identify the ship and her crew."

Attorney David Concannon participated in the expedition as a submersible diver and legal advisor. According to Concannon, “Because of the rapidly evolving legal issues surrounding underwater cultural heritage, it was important for the expedition’s members to understand the legal significance of their find as soon as it was discovered. All of the expedition’s recovery operations were conducted in accordance with the best practical methods of marine archaeology, given the depth of the wreck, safety concerns and legal implications. This expedition conducted 21st century marine archaeology in the field while bureaucrats in Paris, many without any experience in underwater exploration, were arguing about who will control underwater cultural heritage.”

Curt Newport added, "This expedition has proven a concept. We can taken state-of-the-art underwater technologies and explore historic losses in the deepest oceans of the world. And by visiting those cold, dark and mineral depleted environments we can voyage back in time to see these wonderfully preserved bits of history."

Also benefitting from the expedition are sixteen oceanographic scientists from the P.P. Shirshov Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Dives collected samples of plant and animal life growing on the coconuts and wood recovered from the wreck. While the dive crews were resting and submersible batteries were being recharged, additional experiments were conducted throughout the various ocean depths and core samples were taken from the site for geological studies.

But perhaps it is the dates of the various artifacts that do the best job of conveying the sense of the period in time in which this ship sailed. A small piece of newspaper printed in Jamaica in 1809 offers the sale of a plantation complete with slaves. There are coins dated before and after the American Revolution and one found on the 4th of July 2001, dated 1776. And then there are two French coins. One with the bust of Louis the XVI and another issued by the new French republic. All provide a fascinating glimpse into the past.