Bahamian salvage vessel

[ScubaFinder]

Thanks for that Ocean Science!

I think a shipwreck bar and grille / mini-museum with pirate waiters and wench bartenders (much like Seahunter is doing here in Florida) would bring dollars, and could drive visits to the big museum and dive sites as well. You just need an investor to build it!

I also think bringing in television could definitely work. Put 5 teams in a competition to see who can find the most, like they do on Deadliest Catch. All we need is some shark videos, some captains fighting with crew, and some treasure. Those things should be easy to come by. We'd have to be careful and show best practices so as to not embarrass ourselves or the Bahamians, nor would we want to give Ivory Tower Archaeologists more ammunition.

I have some TV contacts here that have filmed some pilots for us before, but there wasn't enough action on the 1715 wreck sites to make it fly. I bet it would work in the Bahamas!! I have already contacted my people...we will see what they say.

Jason

 

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[Oceanscience]

Excellent, Jason,

The Bahamas have about 6,000,000 visitors per year.
How many would visit the "Wreckers Theme Park"? It only depends on how interesting the theme park is. The theme park needs a good "magnet" to attract the visitors. Mel Fisher's treasure exhibit proved to be a good "magnet" that attracted many visitors to Key West. Is it possible to make something of the kind in Nassau?

Once the visitors are in the theme park, we need to keep them there as long as possible.

You notice that I call it a theme park, not a museum. A theme park is more like an environment. An environment where everything is inter-connected with a theme. In this case we use as theme the historic past of the Bahamas.
You mentioned a shipwreck bar and grill. Excellent, it is part of the theme. A wreckers sandwich would fit in too. There are really countless subjects that fit in, after all, the Bahamas have a very colorful past, pirates, wreckers, rum runners and more.
One subject that merits special mention, could be the blockade runners of the American civil war. These shipwrecks present a special attraction to US divers. An exhibit and maybe a whole corner of the theme park could be dedicated to them.
I think you get what I am leading to.

But we need to leave the theme park for a while to go fishing for treasure. We need all sorts of treasure, artifacts from the shipwrecks, pictures of the shipwrecks, pictures and YouTube's of the archaeological excavations on the wreck sites.
We even need to videotape and photograph the fish and lobsters and conch and all other creatures and their interaction with the excavation crew. There is no other place where the water is so clear to do that. Have you ever seen a grunt "bite the bullet"? It happens all the time, but only in the crystal clear water of the Bahamas you can film it in great detail. do you know why the fish does that? Naa, I wont tell that here, I want to show it in a YouTube, part of an advertising campaign.

There are hundreds of such things happening during a dig.

There are hundreds of other stories that we can tell or show the visitors, to enhance the pleasure of their stay.

Do you think we would find divers who would want to take part of the digs? To dive and participate on an excavation of a blockade runner? To uncover the history that lies hidden beneath the sand, to hold in their hands a relic from a ship that played an important part in the civil war?

 

[SADS 669]

Peter Throckmorton was working on a project for a Theme Park, in Nassau, Bahamas, exhibiting the maritime history of the Bahamas.

The "Wrecking Industry" played a very important part in the Bahamas history. With thousands of shipwrecks in shallow, crystal clear, warm water, this part of the history has left a valuable resource for the Tourism Industry that is today's most important revenue of the country.

Peter Trockmorton's plan was to develop the infrastructure and economical viability of an organization that would provide conservation for the artifacts, archaeological training and field schools, archaeological guides etc. for the development of a branch of the tourism industry directed at making use of this unique resource of easily accessible shipwrecks.

Something of that kind may be in the plans of the Bahamian Government today, we will have to wait and see what the rules and infrastructure for the sector are going to be.

For myself, I can not think of a better situation for field schools for Maritime Archaeology than the Bahamas. There are so many shipwrecks and the water is so clear that one can see the lobsters, crawling among the wreckage, 40 feet deep.

Diving on archaeological shipwreck sites could be a branch of tourism that would bring many millions of dollars income to the Bahamas.

The "Wrecking Theme Park" where the story of these shipwrecks would be told, could become an important source of revenue and of course jobs, too.

Ocean,

This happened with the " Pirates of Nassau"theme park museum near the British Colonial Hotel I wish it would be possible to actually do this right but in my opinion after 21 yrs in the Bahamas is that the boutique way of doing it with a little museum on EVERY island is the way to go.

Nassau is not the place that needs the most help, some of the out islands are dying with older people passing away and the kids leaving too. It could of course be directed from the knowledgeable people in Nassau with advice and guidance but the wrecks are in the extremities and so should the projects be.

Yes the Bahamas owns the wrecks but a sub division of this should be that for example the People in Abaco should benefit from a wreck near them and not send even more of their kids to Nassau to complete this project, enough go anyway as it is.


Getting them in the water looking for wrecks to pass on to the archeologists would be a great idea. It would only cost a "keen investor" money for a weekly wage and some gas for their boat, bonus's could be paid with regard to untouched wrecks found.

 

[SADS 669]

The historical museum at Green Turtle cay, Abaco has just painted the basement, and cleared a land area to incorporate a shipwreck museum and a conservation area. A large stainless steel tank has been obtained to submerge artifacts until they can be properly preserved.

They are hoping to get a permit from the Government to recover shipwreck artifacts for the museum. I am suggesting locations where artifacts might be found, and hopefully they can also get exclusive permission to recover and document artifacts from the Bark, "Elijah Swift" shipwrecked at Great Issac, in 1848. I will provide them the exact location.

I have donated this Rudder Post, a rare one of a kind find from off S. Bimini, as well as a few small shipwreck artifacts from other areas of the Bahamas to help them get started.

I have 40 years of land & sea Treasure search & recovery experience in four countries. 10 years of underwater shipwreck experience was in the Bahamas. I am interested in helping the Bahamas, succeed in this new venture any way I can. Dell

There is a word for people like you and it's........Thanks

 

[ropesfish]

Has there been any movement of the Bahamian government towards any sort of economic development along these lines since the thread was started last year?

It's Easter..I'm resurrecting a couple of threads.

 

[ivan salis]

be one with US or be drummed out of the BUSSINESS , BECAUSE IF YOU WORK WITH "FOR PROFIET" PEOPLE YOUR WORK CAN NOT BE ANY GOOD --WHAT A POMPUS BUNCH OF CRAP YOU SPEW.--