SALVAGE COMPANYS FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEANS DEPTHS

[wreckdiver1715]

SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Greg Wright
Deputy Business Editor
THEY set sail full of hope, carrying supplies to war-ravaged Britain.
Sadly, many never reached their destination, taking their cargo into the depths, where many believed they would lie forever.
A Yorkshire salvage expert plans to find wrecked ships from the First and Second World Wars, and recover and sell the commodity-grade metals trapped inside them.
Graham Jessop, from Keighley in West Yorkshire, is chief executive of marine salvage company Deep6, which today announced its intention to float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) later this month.
The company specialises in recovering non-ferrous metals from deepwater wrecks that can't be found by normal commercial divers.
Deep6 has bought one of the largest archives of 20th century shipping losses, including records of 234 shipwrecks and their cargoes.
Mr Jessop said he hoped to trace and excavate a large number of these wrecks. He stressed that he was no treasure hunter; all the wrecks would be searched with sensitivity.
The company's ship ? Deepworker ? is moored in Hull, where it is being converted into a specialised salvage vessel.
The AIM flotation is expected to raise enough cash to buy a second and larger recovery ship.
Mr Jessop is from a diving dynasty. With his father Keith, he salvaged gold bullion from the wreck of the sunken cruiser HMS Edinburgh in the Barents Sea off Norway in 1981.
Mr Jessop said Deep6 has an "unrivalled database" of shipwrecks, and its equipment can reach 97 per cent of the world's oceans. It's also poised to benefit from rising metals prices.
"There is a keen interest in deep water recovery," he said. "We are going ever deeper and deeper. We have got a period of high metal prices making it very viable to recover metals from First and Second World War vessels. We are hoping to recycle these metals and put them back in the metal market."
The group's three-year programme will focus on the salvaging of seven shipwrecks. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, Mr Jessop won't name any of the wrecks. However, he confirmed that they contain high-value metal cargoes, such as copper and tin. The group intends to mount its first recovery operation during the third quarter of 2006.
Deep6 has studied video recordings from the seven wrecks, and taken cargo samples.
Cross checks have been made with historical sources. Based on this research, the directors calculate that these wrecks contain more than 18,000 tonnes of metal cargo.
The company's archive is based on the EXMAR Database, which was developed by bosses at Risdon Beasley Marine, the dominant company in the marine salvage industry after the Second World War, which closed down in the 1980s. The records have recently been updated by Blue Water Recoveries.
Deep6 has signed an arrangement with Blue Water Recoveries which allows it to use the services of David Mearns, an expert in shipwreck location, who will be contracted to research and find the wrecks.
Deep6 will extract metals from wrecks at depths down to 6,000 metres. Mr Jessop and his team plan to use a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to get inside the wrecks and bring cargo to the surface.
The ROV will be fitted with thrusters as well as low-light cameras, high-definition sonar equipment and powerful lights to enable the pilot to navigate the vehicle around the wreck, and ensure that no unwanted material is collected.
Mr Jessop added: "Serious competition in this sector is minimal, and continued advancements in deep water technology have dramatically increased the number of available wrecks and their valuable cargoes. This, combined with resilient commodity prices, provides Deep6 with a compelling opportunity both now and into the future."
Seymour Pierce is acting as nominated adviser and broker to Deep6.
[email protected].u k
02 May 2006

http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1299&ArticleID=1476393

 

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[jeff k]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Keep in mind that Graham Jessop was part of Ocean Resources (OCRI) that went out of business last year, and left all the stockholders holding the bag. He was previously involved in the Turks & Caicos, with the same result.

 

[cryptodave]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Keep in mind that Graham Jessop was part of Ocean Resources (OCRI) that went out of business last year, and left all the stockholders holding the bag. He was previously involved in the Turks & Caicos, with the same result.

That is true, but deep sea recovery is a hit or miss gig. there is no guaranteed pay check at the end of the day for anyone involved.

I'm intrigued by this story. I had no idea that the common metal market was climbing so much that it is profitable to recover almost 100 year old (ww1) wrecks metal cargos.

Thanks for the good read!

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

I think it's a safe bet that you could say the same about just about all the salvage groups looking for treasure wrecks. Shipwreck hunting and salvage is an expensive and risky operation. Often you can go for years searching for a specific wreck. i.e., Mel Fisher spent some 16 years searching for the Atocha. There are no guarantees that you will ever get a return on your investment in this business. The key is making sure that you don?t run into a con, where they take your money and never really look for the wreck. Unfortunately these types of unscrupulous people are out there, all be it relatively few in number and we have heard of a few of them on this site. However, we must ensure that we don?t ever confuse an honest but unsuccessful venture with a con, and trust me there are plenty of unsuccessful stories out there.
A year or so ago we had a well known treasure hunter viscously attacked on this forum because someone had apparently lost his investment. As it turned out the owner of the company was also conned by a small group of stock brokers who took the company public, and used it to bleed other investors dry, and I think that the con-men are in a cold Canadian jail at this time, at least I hope so. Not only did this treasure hunter take a major beating with his reputation, he lost lots of his own money as well. I should also state that the best opportunity to search and recover wrecks along the Cuba coast was lost to the world, at least for the foreseeable future.

 

[mariner]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

WD1715,

As I recall, Visa, to whom you refer in your last paragraph, were only one of fur companies that had been given contracts from the Cuban government to search for shipwrecks around the island, the coast having been divided into four sections. As this was an initiative on the part of the Cuban government, I have no doubt that if one of the companies dropped out, they would have been replaced, or the sections of coast redivided between the other three. I know of at least two wrecks that have been found as a result, but no doubt they have come across many more. Whether information about the finds will be made public is another matter.

I agree with you that the leading figure in Visa (was it Ed Burt?) was treated very badly, and did not deserve any of the abuse and accusations that were subsequently levelled at himin this forum.

Mariner

 

[99*]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Yes, Ed was dicked about, no one ended up in Jail,. there are people on this forum pulling the same scam, and tried to pull Ed in with them, he is a good guy, the South African crew working in Cuba were influenced by Bob Marx, if I am correct, a couple of spearfisherman and someother chaps,,,they did not find anything. I did meet up with some other people from Canada that had moved out in the night had a bad dealing with a lady married to a Cuban named Paulina, it looks like a gold mine for anyone who could get in, good luck. 99*

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Mariner, do you know the names associated with the other three groups involved in Cuba?

 

[Cablava]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Actually the young Jessop is not the brightest tool in the shed ( its been a long time maybe he better now than in 1982). He was just a boy when the Edinburgh job was done. And the job was done by Wharton Williams. His dads a character though.

 

[99*]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Wreckdiver, a guy who owns an ROV lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Western Subea is the company his name is....Michael., if I recall he was heasd of one of the groups, hung up an rov on a shelf and split.99*

 

[mariner]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

WD 1715,

One of them is Advanced Digital Communications, nominally based in Victoria, British Columbia. Their President is Paulina Zelitsky, and in addition to some older wrecks, they have found the wreck of the USS Maine, and what appears to be the remains of an old Mayan city (or set of structures) lying on the seabed between Cuba and the Yucatan peninsula, at a depth of some 2000 feet. I know that Sylvia Earle of the National Geographic Society has been working with ADC on examining this structure, and you can get some information on it by Googling Paulina Zelitsky.

I remember reading that there were two other companies involved (in addition to Visa and ADC) but did not pursue any more details at the time because it was outside of my particular focus of interest.

Mariner

 

[FISHEYE]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Im in the scrap metal biz,nows the time to cash in on all non ferrous metals and steel,prices are higher then they were 10 yrs ago,how long will it last? who knows im cashing in on it while it lasts.

 

[mariner]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

WD1715,

I checked again, and find that ADC are no longer looking for Cuban wrecks, because the Cuban government gave the Chinese government licenses to search for oil in the area west of Cuba in which they had been working. Apparently no other offshore activities are now allowed in that area, so ADC left. I have not yet checked whether any other companies are still looking for shipwrecks.

Mariner

 

[Peg Leg]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Does anyone have any information concerning wrecks off West Africa?
From what I understand the Spanish would travel down the African coast to about The Gambia or Sierra Leone and then turn west toward the New World.
This is where all the storms start-in the Guinea Current and there are plenty of Reefs. There are still ships going down in this area. On Banana Island which is due west of Freetown there is a old light house built by the British along with the remains of a British Fort. No one have even spent much time MDing this location.
There is another location further south called Sherbro Island and a little south of here is the Moa River-full of diamonds AND other precious gem stones-there is also GOLD.
BEEN THERE AND KNOW THIS FOR A FACT.
Just wondering.
Peg Leg

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Thanks, good info

 

[mariner]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Doc,

News to meif a recent survey was carried out. The Maine was lifted in 1912 to clear the harbor and to enable the ship's damage to be examined, and then she was scuttled in deep water norh of Havana. I suppose there must be records of where she was scuttled, but I can tell you that when I mentioned the finding of the Maine to a senior person in the U.S. Department of State a couple of years ago, he was very interested in knowing how he could get more details of the find.

Mariner

 

[mariner]

Re: SALVAGE COMPANY'S FLOTATION FOR A DIVE INTO OCEAN'S DEPTHS

Doc,

Looks like you are right again. In my original note about this, I simply said that ADC had found the wreck of the USS Maine, amongst other things. I had got the impression from them that this was an important find, but I guess it was not the case. I wonder why the guy from the Department of State got a little excited.

Thanks for the clarification and the detailed background.

Mariner