More Hopes Of Finding the "Lost Colony"

Follow-up to this post of mine from 2012.

"Researchers hopeful N.C. site is that of Lost Colony."

To summarize, archaeologists have done some digging and they're hopeful that the site shown in an ancient map is the site of Sir Walter Raleigh's Lost Colony (pic of map follows, with star-shaped area the current site of interest)

Another "Lost Colony" In Georgia?

Melilot.

A long-forgotten letter, discovered in early November of 2014 by regional planner and historian, Michael Jacobs, has provided very significant collaborating evidence that an English colony thrived in what is now northeast Metro Atlanta throughout the 17th century. Jacobs is Senior Regional Planner at the South Georgia Regional Commission in Waycross, GA.

The seven page letter was written on January 6, 1660 in perfect Renaissance French by Edward Graves (Graeves) a member of the board of directors of the colony, to the Rev. Charles de Rochefort, a French Protestant minister living in exile in Rotterdam, Holland. De Rochefort’s commentary on the letter said that Graves held a Doctor of Law and lived in Melilot within the Apalache Kingdom. The ruins of Melilot are probably located at Little Mulberry River Park in Gwinnett County, GA.

Apparently some survivors of Sir Walter Raleigh's Roanoke Colony made their way to Melilot. Also interesting is that the dominant Indian tribes of the region during that time period - - the Apalache - - were related to the Maya of Central America.

Read the whole thing for a lesson in forgotten history. H/T Free North Carolina.

Viking Ship Unearthed In Memphis*

Story.

Ship dates from between 990 and 1050 A.D. To put this in perspective, William the Conqueror didn't invade England until 1066, and Columbus didn't "discover" America until 1492, nearly 500 years after this Viking ship came to rest on the shores of the Mississippi River.

What this means is that the ship probably hugged the coast of what is now the US, rounded Florida, and followed the coast to the Mississippi, where it headed north. The article suggests that the crew fought the local indian tribes.

This latest discovery might give authenticity to the Kensington Runestone and other purported Viking artifacts found in the US.

*Update: The story is a hoax. I apologize to my readers for the error.

Treasure Blog: Edward VI Shilling, Vancouver Island, Canada

Not so much valuable intrinsically as symbolically; its finding on Vancouver Island would establish that the island was discovered by English sailors, rather than the Spanish, which is the official history to this point.

Pic:

Oh, That's Why No School Today

It's National White Guilt Over Exposing American Aborigines To Death and Slavery Day, formerly known as Columbus Day.

Shipwreck Blog: La Belle, Matagorda, Texas

The ship of 17th-century French explorer/coloniser Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle.

Marine archaeologists are using a freeze-dry process to preserve the ship.

Apparently the colony that La Salle founded wasn't much of a sucess:

His team established a colony near Matagorda Bay, but it was ravaged by disease, rattlesnakes and Indians. Three years later, La Salle led a handful of survivors inland in search of the Mississippi. The explorer didn't make it out of Texas; he was murdered by his own men.

The Indians were probably Karankawa, who were native to the area and had a reputation for cannibalism, although this is disputed.

Raleigh's Lost Colony Shown On Map?

Maybe. Drawn in invisible ink:

Under normal light:



And under ultraviolet light, illuminated from underneath:



They'll be doing archaeological work to verify if the map's marking correspond to buried relics of the colony.

Regarding Dog-Eating...

...Lewis & Clark on their exploration of the Louisiana Territory ate dogs occasionally, but it wasn't a favorite, and Clark usually abstained from eating dog. Lewis was less fastidious.

Re-Creating South Pole Scotch Whisky

I first mentioned this subject back in 2009 when the whisky was first discovered in the 1907 hut built by Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic expedition; a couple of cases of the whisky had been left behind when the expedition failed to achieve its goal, and the whisky remained there for most of a century.

Now it has been re-created using the latest technology, and is available for sale (a quick search indicates that the stuff is priced in the $125-150 range).

h/t Irons In the Fire.

"Circumnavigator." I Like the Sound of That

We have a famous one visiting in Hampstead, NC, while his boat, a replica of Joshua Slocum's famous Spray, is repaired.

Guy Bernardin and Spray Of St. Briac

Is a Little Tiny Fingerbone...

...all that remains of aviator Amelia Earhart?

Researchers from The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) found the bone at the site of a castaway's encampment on the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro, a former British colony that is today part of the republic of Kiribati.

The bone, which may be a phalanx from a human finger, was located along with several other tantalising clues about the fate of Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, during TIGHAR's tenth expedition to the island this summer.

The search turned up the remains of a 1930s woman's compact - complete with residue of the makeup - a small bottle made in New Jersey in 1933 with the remnants of what appears to be hand lotion, a zip made in Pennsylvania in the mid-1930s and of a design that was never exported, and a broken pocket knife of the same brand that was listed in an inventory of Earhart's aircraft.

Sounds like this is a case of "mostly proven" at this point.

Shackleton's Whisky

Left behind in 1907 during Shackleton's failed attempt to reach the South Pole, it was found under the floorboards of the hut built by the expedition.

After all these decades, it's unlikely to be drinkable, especially if the corks have deteriorated. According to the article it's considered an artifact and not supposed to be taken from Antarctica, but where there's a will there's a way, as the saying goes.



h/t Ace of Spades HQ.

Treasure Blog: 17th Century Sea Captain's Journal

The journal of Sir John Narbrough, an early explorer.

The Daily Mail didn't provide much in the way of photography for this article, so I won't reproduce any here, but the find is priceless, at least in historical terms.

Shackleton Descendants Reach South Pole

The followed the same route as Shackleton, but with modern technology succeeded where that great man failed. And, of course, they didn't have to make the return journey, but flew out.

Still, it's a remarkable achievement.

Pic: