Maritime history is well-provisioned with alluring mysteries of lost ships and unexplained shipwrecks. From the vanishing of Franklin’s 1845 Arctic expedition to the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Bay, these tangled loose ends compare with history’s greatest ghost ship mysteries and the deadliest shipwrecks in history. Here are 4 enduring maritime mysteries. 1. The explosion of the USS Maine In 1898, the United States Navy ship Maine exploded in Havana Bay, Cuba. A battleship commissioned only four years earlier, it was stationed in Havana Harbor to protect American interests during the Cuban War of Independence. This was done at the urging of the assistant secretary of the navy, the future President Theodore Roosevelt. Its mysterious explosion and sinking on 15 February killed 268 sailors. Was it an act of war by the Spanish, jealous of American ambitions in Cuba over which their own control was slipping? Or was the explosion instead the result of a spontaneous combustion in the ship’s coal bunkers? The next day, President McKinley wrote that the United States “can afford to withhold its judgement and not strike an avenging blow until the truth is known.” USS Maine entering Havana Harbor on 25 January 1898, three weeks before her destruction.Image Credit: Public Domain Roosevelt, however, pronounced the cause as “dirty treachery on the part of the Spaniards”. American newspapers also blamed the Spanish. The heightened atmosphere hastened the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April that year. This conflict saw the United States expand its territory in the former colonies of the Spanish empire, from Cuba to the Philippines. 2. The failed Franklin expedition The vanishing of Sir John Franklin’s final Arctic expedition has inspired over 170 years of searching. Last seen off the coast of Greenland in 1845 by whalers, the expedition’s ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were outfitted with iron plates and steam engines to withstand the extreme conditions. Their crews sought to discover the Northwest Passage, a route through which trade could take place along the northern coast of North America. It was 14 years until the first traces of Franklin, his ships and crew of 128 were recovered. The physical evidence and Inuit testimony collected by Dr John Rae and Sir Francis Leopold McClintock pointed to complete disaster, despite the expedition having been ably provisioned. Forensic research in the 1980s succeeded in identifying the frozen bodies of crew members on Beechey Island, and the importance of Inuit oral testimony was reasserted in the 1990s. The greatest discoveries took place in 2014 and 2017, however, when the Erebus and Terror themselves were located in the Arctic. The work to reconstruct the movements of Franklin’s men and ships is ongoing and the cause for the expedition’s calamitous end still compellingly uncertain. 3. The disappearance of the Sarah Joe Among the innumerable tales of vessels lost at sea is the case of the Sarah Joe, a five-metre-long motorboat equipped on Sunday morning, 11 February 1979, with supplies for a fishing excursion. It was the property of Robert Malaiakini, who named it after his parents. While Robert stayed onshore on Maui, the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands, his twin brother Ralph and four of his friends sailed south into calm, lake-like waters. That afternoon, a chaotic squall descended on the sea around Maui. Other sailors reported their vessels standing on their sterns in towering waves. After the Sarah Joe was reported missing at 5 o’clock, the coastguard was notified. But having searched for days alongside the local community, they found no trace of the boat. Malaiakini and his friends never returned from where they set off in Hawaii. But nine years later and 3,750 miles to the west, a Hawaii-registered boat was discovered in the Marshall Islands. While conducting marine research on Taongi Atoll, one of the initial searchers John Naughton identified the fibreglass hull as the Sarah Joe. Nearby, the remains of Malaiakini’s friend, Scott Moorman, were found buried in a grave with a cross made from driftwood. Short of delivering closure to the families of the missing, the discovery raised new questions, not least who buried Moorman and what happened to the other men. Artists impression of Waratah at sea.Image Credit: State Library of New South Wales, Public Domain 4. The vanishing of the SS Waratah In July 1909, the 142-metre-long British passenger ship Waratah was en route between the South African cities of Durban and Cape Town when it vanished with its 211 passengers and crew. Waratah was built one year earlier in Glasgow in order to operate between Europe and Australia, via the Colony of Natal in South Africa. Its disappearance and presumed sinking took place on its second voyage. To date, no trace of the ship has been found, though theories advanced to explain its disappearance include a giant wave, a cargo shift inside the Waratah’s hold and an exceptionally large whirlpool. Read more about maritime history, Ernest Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Follow the search for Shackleton’s lost ship at Endurance22.

The golden age of polar exploration in the early 20th century did not just require an almost superhuman level of courage, determination and physical exertion from the men on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions: it also made use of pioneering new technologies and innovations in order to make these journeys not only possible, but viable of achieving some degree of success. From food and clothing to maritime technology, here are 4 ways in which polar exploration benefited from and helped generate innovation and change. 1. Clothing At the start of the 20th century, British explorers primarily used wool clothing on their polar expeditions, often topped by what was known as a gabardine suit. This was cutting edge for the time: made from extremely tightly woven cotton treated with waterproof materials, it was somewhat breathable but could still let water in, soaking the wool below which could then take days to dry out – if it wasn’t drenched again before. The Norwegian expedition teams used animal skins and hides as waterproof outer layers, but these lacked breathability and were extremely hot and sweaty for those trapped inside them. Once wet, they also proved to be extremely heavy. Ultimately, none of these natural fibres were really up to the job. Down suits – which had been laughed at when they were first created – proved to be essential kit by the mid-20th century, and the quest for the best materials in which to perform acts of physical exertion in extreme temperatures also helped lead to the development of Goretex in the 1970s. Goretex was a manmade material which was both waterproof and breathable – features that would have made the earliest polar expeditions infinitely easier. Today, it is a must-have for mountaineers, hikers and those who explore more hostile terrains, including the Arctic and Antarctic. Robert Falcon Scott’s Pole party of his ill-fated expedition, from left to right at the Pole: Oates (standing), Bowers (sitting), Scott (standing in front of Union Jack flag on pole), Wilson (sitting), Evans (standing). Bowers took this photograph, using a piece of string to operate the camera shutter.Image Credit: Public Domain 2. Food Voyages to the polar regions needed to take huge quantities of food with them: firstly because expeditions could last years, but also because the extreme cold and intense physical exertion meant that the men on them needed to consume huge amounts of food to provide them with sufficient energy. Many believe 19th and 20th-century polar explorers seriously underestimated the number of calories needed in their diets. By the early 20th century, sailors were aware of the dangers of scurvy and were able to take steps to mitigate the disease, but finding calorie-dense food which also provided an appropriate level of nutrients was extremely difficult. On some of the earliest Antarctic expeditions, men ate a lot of fat (in the form of butter, cheese and chocolate), biscuits and pemmican (ground meat mixed with fat), along with occasional meat from penguins, seals or horses. After Scott’s disastrous expedition to the South Pole, where part of the issue was insufficient calories, dieticians began to think more seriously about calorie-rich foods. Chocolate, cheese and ‘Polar Pate’ (very similar to pemmican) are still all popular foods today, but the dawn of processed food and vitamin and mineral supplements proved to change the game for polar explorers. Edmund Hillary famously took Kendal Mint Cake (basically made from sugar, glucose, water and peppermint oil) to the summit of Mount Everest with him in 1953. 3. Ice-breaking ships The idea of ice-breaking ships was not a new one: many consider that the first icebreakers had been pioneered by Russians in the 11th century who lived on the north coast, which was frozen for large parts of the year. However, it was only in the 19th century that the idea became more widespread. The first real modern icebreaker was a Russian navy ship, the Yermak, which was built in England. The ship was able to run over and crush pack ice, making serious polar exploration viable in a way it had previously not been. Icebreakers could still be crushed in the ice of course, but they had a much higher chance of success than anything that had gone before. Icebreakers continue to be used today: although powered differently from the first icebreakers, they serve a similar function. Ultimately, ships going to the polar regions face similar chances of finding themselves stuck in ice as their predecessors. An early 20th-century photograph of the Russian icebreaker, the Yermak.Image Credit: Public Domain 4. Navigation At the start of the 20th century, Antarctica was barely mapped: it took until the 1980s for an accurate map of the continent to be produced. The Arctic, on the other hand, was relatively well understood and the first successful journey through the Northwest Passage further cemented existing knowledge. Those travelling across Antarctica, therefore, were using relatively rudimentary navigating techniques such as navigating using the sun and stars, as well as with compasses. In blizzards and on uncharted terrain, these could be difficult and provide inaccurate readings, particularly when the men were exhausted or ill. The more expeditions made to Antarctica, the better the mapping of the continent became and the easier navigation was: explorers were no longer pioneers, but were able to track their positions on maps. The advent of GPS (Global Positioning System) in the 1970s and 1980s also changed the game forever: exact locations could be pinpointed and precise routes followed, reducing some of the risk associated with glaciers and crevasses in the ice. Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

For as long as humans have been traversing the seas, ships have been lost to the depths. And although most vessels that sink beneath the waves are eventually forgotten, some remain prized treasures sought for generations. The 16th-century Portuguese vessel Flor de la Mar, for example, has been the centre of countless search expeditions eager to recover her priceless lost cargo of diamonds, gold and precious stones. Ships like Captain Cook’s Endeavour, on the other hand, remain sought after for their invaluable historical significance. From a Cornish wreck known as ‘El Dorado of the Seas’ to some of the most iconic vessels in seafaring history, here are 5 shipwrecks that are yet to be discovered. 1. Santa Maria (1492) The notorious explorer Christopher Columbus set sail for the New World in 1492 with three ships: Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. During the course of Columbus’ voyage, which took him to the Caribbean, Santa Maria sank. According to legend, Columbus left a cabin boy at the helm while we went off to sleep. Shortly after, the inexperienced boy ran the ship aground. Santa Maria was stripped of any valuables, and it sank the following day. The whereabouts of Santa Maria remain a mystery to this day. Some suspect it lies on the seabed near present-day Haiti. In 2014, the marine archaeologist Barry Clifford claimed he had found the famed wreckage, but UNESCO later dispelled his discovery as a different ship some two or three centuries younger than Santa Maria. Early 20th-century painting of Christopher Columbus’ caravelle, Santa Maria.Image Credit: Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo 2. Flor de la Mar (1511) Flor de la Mar, or Flor do Mar, is one of the most renowned undiscovered shipwrecks anywhere on Earth, thought to be filled with vast diamonds, gold and untold riches. Despite being notorious for springing leaks and running into trouble, Flor de la Mar was called to assist in Portugal’s conquest of Malacca (in present-day Malaysia) in 1511. Upon its return voyage to Portugal, laden with riches, Flor de la Mar sank in a storm on 20 November 1511. It’s thought Flor de la Mar was in or near the Strait of Malacca, which runs between modern Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, when she sank. The wreck, and its reputed $2 billion of treasure and precious stones, have yet to be found, though not for lack of trying: treasure hunter Robert Marx has spent around $20 million searching for the ship, which he has described as “the richest vessel ever lost at sea”. 3. The Merchant Royal (1641) The Merchant Royal is an English vessel that sank in 1641, off of Land’s End in Cornwall, England. A trade ship, The Merchant Royal was carrying a cargo of gold and silver believed to be worth tens, if not hundreds, of millions today. Nicknamed ‘El Dorado of the Seas’, The Merchant Royal has attracted a great deal of interest over the years, with amateur treasure hunters and marine archaeologists alike looking for it. A search operation by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 uncovered a wreckage, but coins from the site suggested they’d discovered Spanish frigate rather than the much-prized Merchant Royal. In 2019, the ship’s anchor was retrieved from the waters off of Cornwall, but the ship itself has yet to be located. 4. Le Griffon (1679) Digitised image of Le Griffon from page 44 of “Annals of Fort Mackinac”Image Credit: British Library via Flickr / Public Domain Le Griffon, also referred to as simply Griffin, was a French vessel operating in America’s Great Lakes in the 1670s. She set sail into Lake Michigan from Green Bay in September 1679. But the ship, along with its crew of six men and cargo of fur, never reached its destination of Mackinac Island. It’s unclear whether Le Griffon fell prey to a storm, navigational difficulties or even foul play. Now referred to as the ‘holy grail of Great Lakes shipwrecks’, Le Griffon has been the focus of many search expeditions in recent decades. In 2014, two treasure hunters thought they’d uncovered the famed wreckage, but their discovery turned out to be a far younger ship. A book, titled The Wreck of the Griffon, outlined in 2015 the theory that a Lake Huron wreckage discovered in 1898 is actually Le Griffon. 5. HMS Endeavour (1778) The English explorer ‘Captain’ James Cook is known for landing off Australia’s east coast aboard his ship, HMS Endeavour, in 1770. But the Endeavour had a long and illustrious career after Cook. Sold off after Cook’s voyage of discovery, Endeavour was renamed the Lord Sandwich. She was then employed by Britain’s Royal Navy to transport troops during the American War of Independence. In 1778, Lord Sandwich was sunk, intentionally, in or near Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, one of several sacrificed vessels used to form a blockade against approaching French ships. In February 2022, marine researchers declared they’d discovered the wreck, a claim which was corroborated by the Australian National Maritime Museum. But some experts said it was premature to suggest the wreck was the Endeavour. HMS Endeavour off the coast of New Holland after being repaired. Painted in 1794 by Samuel Atkins.Image Credit: National Library of Australia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Read more about maritime history, Ernest Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Follow the search for Shackleton’s lost ship at Endurance22.

Trump Finally Has a Counter-Sniper Team

The discovery of something this immense surprisingly early in the lifetime of the universe overturns what we thought we knew about black holes and could change models of galaxy formation.

The dugongs were once widespread along the east coast but now number fewer than 200.

These pioneering procedures have progressed a lot in recent years.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel invited actor George Clooney to his Tuesday show, where he gushed over his New York Times op-ed demanding President Joe Biden exit the presidential race. While Kimmel claimed he helped “change the world,” Clooney was desperate to keep up the allusion that Biden dropped out on his own, hailing it as “really extraordinary.”  Kimmel began, “I want to talk to you about the big thing and you know what that is. You, as everyone knows, in July, you wrote an op-ed in the New York Times.” Clooney tried to downplay the whole thing as he interrupted, “Oh gee, you’re going to get right into that.”     However, Kimmel insisted, “Really, it may well have, did, actually, change the world. I mean, it had an enormous impact on the presidential election. Right?” Clooney, again, tried to dance around the idea, “No, I don't know that that's true,” but Kimmel wouldn’t let him, “I do.” Kimmel apparently didn’t get the memo: liberals are supposed to portray Biden as George Washington because focusing on the pressure campaign waged by people like Clooney or former Speaker Nancy Pelosi undermines that claim and makes it look like a good old-fashioned political power struggle, as Clooney tried to explain, “the bottom line is that -- that it's very hard to let go of power and President Biden did something really extraordinary. Really extraordinary, and so honestly, I really do think that that's what should be focused on, really.” Still wanting to heap effusive amounts of praise on his guest, Kimmel wouldn’t let the matter go, “Yeah, yeah, and yet it was a risky move. Because had he not decided to step aside, it would probably have damaged him. I mean, having one of his great supporters—” Clooney interrupted to ask, “What are you getting at, Jimmy?” Kimmel explained, “I'm getting at, you took a big swing, and thank God you hit that ball out because—” Clooney finished the sentence, “It could have gone very badly,” a sentiment Kimmel then echoed, “It could have gone very, very badly.” Switching gears, Kimmel worried, “Well, listen, I don't know, seems to be going pretty well right now, but have you thought about, if Donald Trump wins, have you thought about the possibility he might use the power of the federal government against you personally? Clooney joked, “Yeah, I have. But I just, I'm confident in the fact that he's coming after you first… You know that theory about, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just have to be faster than the one kid.  You're that one kid, pal.” Here is a transcript for the September 17 show: ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live! 9/17/2024 11:56 PM ET JIMMY KIMMEL: All right, I want to talk to you about the big thing and you know what that is. You, as everyone knows— GEORGE CLOONEY: Yes. KIMMEL: -- in July, you wrote an op-ed in the New York Times -- CLOONEY: Oh gee, you’re going to get right into that. "We have time for one more question." KIMMEL: Really, it may well have, did, actually, change the world. I mean, it had an enormous impact on the presidential election. Right? CLOONEY: No, I don't know that that's true. KIMMEL: I do.  CLOONEY: There was an awful lot of people-- KIMMEL: Yeah, it was, you know-- CLOONEY:  Listen, the bottom line is, you know, as I've said. KIMMEL: Let's get right to the bottom line. CLOONEY: Okay, the bottom line is that -- that it's very hard to let go of power and President Biden did something really extraordinary. Really extraordinary, and so honestly, I really do think that that's what should be focused on, really. KIMMEL: Yeah, yeah, and yet it was a risky move. Because had he not decided to step aside, it would probably have damaged him. I mean, having one of his great supporters – CLOONEY: What are you getting at, Jimmy?  KIMMEL: I'm getting at, you took a big swing, and thank God you hit that ball out because—  CLOONEY: It could have gone very badly. KIMMEL: It could have gone very, very badly. CLOONEY: It can still go badly. KIMMEL: Well, listen, I don't know, seems to be going pretty well right now, but have you thought about, if Donald Trump wins, have you thought about the possibility he might use the power of the federal government against you personally? CLOONEY: Yeah, I have. But I just, I'm confident in the fact that he's coming after you first.   KIMMEL: That makes you feel better? CLOONEY: Yeah. You know that theory about, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just have to be faster than the one kid.  You're that one kid, pal. KIMMEL: I'm the kid. CLOONEY: Yeah. KIMMEL: I'm the slow boy.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) not surprisingly called Tuesday's jaw-dropping pager explosions across Lebanon — which targeted Hezbollah terrorists — "disgusting" on X: — (@) But observers didn't let the anti-Israel congresswoman — who actually has spoken positively about a rallying cry that calls for the Jewish nation's extermination — get away with it.'We’re very sorry that your loved ones in Hezbollah will not be able to reproduce,' another commenter quipped.It was, in fact, a mockery bonanza.What's the background?Hezbollah's pagers exploded "nearly simultaneously" in Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 12 and wounding around 2,800, the Associated Press said, adding that two children were among the dead. Hezbollah and the Lebanese government blamed Israel, the AP said.The Israeli operation involved hiding explosives in Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, the New York Times reported, citing American and other officials briefed on the operation. The Times, citing two of the officials, said the explosive material — as little as one to two ounces — was placed next to pager batteries. Switches also were embedded that could be remotely triggered to detonate the explosives, the paper said.The Times, citing two of the officials, said the pagers at 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership — but instead the messages activated the explosives.'Some beepers did some things'Scores of commenters responded to Tlaib's "disgusting" remark with brutal mockery — among them Jordan Schachtel who asked Tlaib, "Did you leave your pager at home today?"The following is just a smattering of the barbs thrown Tlaib's way:"You taking the side of Hezbollah members is the least surprising news maybe ever," one commenter wrote."Disgusting is [the] terrorist who launched rockets and killed 12 children in Israel," another commenter noted. "But you didn’t condemn that, right?""Some beepers did some things," another commenter replied mockingly in reference to Tlaib's fellow Squad member, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who infamously remarked "some people did something" when speaking about 9/11 terrorists."The most targeted strike against terrorists, and Rashida still has a problem because…. Jews," another commenter said."Disgusting is that the United States allows a jihadi to hold public office," another commenter declared. "Our highest offices are infiltrated, and these radicals continue to gain power. Make no mistake, this woman is a threat to our nation.""Thank you for confirming Lebanon is infested with terrorists, who happened to be in grocery stores, barber shops, etc.," another commenter observed."We’re very sorry that your loved ones in Hezbollah will not be able to reproduce," another commenter quipped. "We promise not to call them nutcases or have a ball celebrating their lack thereof.""Have you tried not firing rockets into Israel every day since Oct 7?" another commenter inquired.Anything else?Hezbollah vowed revenge for the pager explosions, the Washington Post said, noting that the terror group said the "criminal enemy must await" a "reckoning" for "its massacre on Tuesday." Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

“Very seldom do I recommend things to watch,” says Jase Robertson, who isn’t much of a media guy. However, last weekend, Jase’s wife happened to bring up Matt Walsh’s 2022 documentary “What Is a Woman?” Jase was shocked to discover that a film with such a title existed, and so, intrigued, he watched it. His conclusion is that “What Is a Woman?” “needs to be watched by society.” “All this guy did, to his credit, was simply ask a question,” he says, pointing to the “global controversy” that gender has become. “When [Walsh] asked that question,” says Jase, he discovered that “the belief has become popular among those who attack the gender God-defined roles that it's impossible for them to answer.” Jase shares his bewilderment that the socially acceptable answer when it comes to someone’s gender is basically “let the kid decide what they want to be.” “They'll say your gender is whatever you want to be, including any kind of animal. I mean you can be a cat, you know, you can be a wolf,” he says. “That’s nonsense,” is all Phil Robertson has to say about it. To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above. Want more from the Robertsons?To enjoy more on God, guns, ducks, and inspiring stories of faith and family, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.