Follow along as participants in the cruise provide updates and reflections on their experiences, the science, the technology, and other elements of the expedition.
August 18, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
I have spent the last 12 days at sea on board the Roper, on both Cruise 2 and Cruise 3. While it has been a joy to work on this project, and with such a great team, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t ready to take a break after living and working in such cramped conditions.
Read moreAugust 17, 2014 | By Brendan Burke
Rising to a hot August sunrise, life aboard Roper had settled into a routine. Today was the boat’s third week of offshore operations and all of the hard edges had been beaten over, the rattles shaken out, and anything loose jammed into place.
Read moreAugust 16, 2014 | By Olivia McDaniel
It is Saturday afternoon aboard the R/V Roper, and we find ourselves waiting out yet another storm. The visiting vessel, Sea Spirit, departed around 14:30 (2:30 pm) and we are currently swinging on our bow anchor near Target 1.
Read moreAugust 16, 2014 | By Shannon O’Neil
Very few things in life are worthy of a 5:00 a.m. wake-up call on an otherwise peaceful Saturday morning. Among the adventures on that short list, however, is the opportunity to share all of the hard work our archaeology team is doing on the Lost French Fleet Expedition.
Read moreAugust 15, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
Today we are expecting visitors! When we had originally scheduled our cruises, we had set aside two days at the end of the project to have additional boats available to come out to join us.
Read moreAugust 14, 2014 | By Olivia McDaniel
Yesterday’s concretion has inspired a certain excitement aboard the Roper this morning as we prepare for the day’s diving operations.
Read moreAugust 13, 2014 | By Starr Cox
Of the three individual cruises scheduled for this project, only this final cruise has the advantage of “women archaeologists.”
Read moreAugust 12, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
We woke today with the sunrise. Our first order of business was to retrieve the stern anchor, which helped us stay over Target 1, Drop 2, during the previous day’s work. We are pulling the anchor because we are done with Target 1, Drop 2, and will be moving on to a new target, Target E3T.
Read moreAugust 11, 2014 | By Brian McNamara
Nothing was found with our 10-foot probe yesterday on the eastern side, so today’s goal was to see if anything on west side, at Drop 2, will have results.
Read moreAugust 10, 2014 | By Brian McNamara
As I work on the seafloor, I reflect on the present tranquility of the Canaveral area. It gives no indication of the horrors that the French sailors and soldiers encountered on these beaches.
Read moreAugust 9, 2014 | By Sam Turner
The morning of August 9 began bright and beautiful. A nearly full moon hung just above the western horizon over a remote stretch of coast. It swiftly set, disappearing from view in less than 10 minutes.
Read moreAugust 8, 2014 | By Sam Turner
Following Cruise 1, the team returned to LAMP headquarters in St. Augustine to conduct post processing. Generally, we are very interested in anomalies that are detected over a good distance and anomalies that occur on adjacent track lines andrepresent the same ferrous mass.
Read moreAugust 7, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
For the last 17 days, we have been crunching data gathered during the first cruise. Brendan has looked at the sonar data, while Sam has been focused primarily on the magnetometer data.
Read moreJuly 20, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
Today is the last day of our survey cruise. We only have two lanes left to finish before heading home, so we are confident that we will complete our planned survey and get home safely.
Read moreJuly 19, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
We woke up this morning just before 6:00 am. We had spent the night at the New Smyrna Beach City Marina, since the weather forecast had been dire.
Read moreJuly 18, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
Today we woke up to some problems. Actually we went to bed with the problems, and of course they were there facing us when we crawled out of our bunks and cots at 5:45 am.
Read moreJuly 17, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
On any research project, the way to keep your crew happy and hard-working is through their stomachs.
Read moreJuly 16, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
Eager to get out to sea as early as possible, we are awake at an ungodly hour so that we are underway by 4:10 am.
Read moreJuly 15, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
After the disappointment of last night, turning around to come back into Canaveral Inlet rather than take our chances rounding the unfamiliar Cape at night, we are eager to get underway and begin collecting data.
Read moreJuly 14, 2014 | By Chuck Meide
Today is Bastille Day, a fitting coincidence for the day we launch our search for the lost French fleet of 1565.
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