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American Morning
Underwater Explorer Discusses Shipwreck Discovery in Black Sea
Aired January 16, 2003 - 07:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Bob Ballard is his name and underwater exploring is his game, and we know that all too well. Best known for the discovery of the Titanic, Ballard may have hit the sunken jackpot with his latest find. This is one of the oldest shipwrecks ever. The vessel went down in the Black Sea sometime between the 5th and 3rd century, B.C.
The remains were discovered last summer off of the coast of Bulgaria. They're going back very soon.
Bob Ballard, National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and president of the Institute for Exploration, here in New York to talk about it. Good to see you again.
BOB BALLARD, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER-IN-RESIDENCE: Good morning, good morning.
HEMMER: How do you -- do you just scan waters...
BALLARD: No, we search...
HEMMER: ... to find something, or did you have information that said, you know, we need to look here?
BALLARD: Absolutely. We have a great team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Rhode Island, and we were studying a trade route we knew the Greeks were using back in the 3rd, 4th, 5th century, B.C.
See, this was right after Alexander the Great conquered the civilized world, and they were actually in the Black Sea, believe it or not, for fish. And this ship was bringing back -- we found inside of this amphora, believe it or not, an 8-foot catfish...
HEMMER: Wow!
BALLARD: ... that had been filleted into fish steaks, salted, sort of the fish-and-chips...
HEMMER: Come on.
BALLARD: No, absolutely. Our team at the University of Pennsylvania actually could identify the specie of fish, and they could see the butcher marks on the bones.
And so, they were coming back probably from the Crimea, although they could have probably originated -- because we know these amphoras were made in Sinope in north central Turkey. There's a big area where they build -- and you can see the submarine. We used a submarine after we found it with sonar. We're working with the Bulgarian Oceanographic Institution there. And we dove down and brought up this -- it's a jar called an amphora. And in it were the fish steaks.
HEMMER: Is that right?
BALLARD: Yes. It's really wild.
HEMMER: Well, you mentioned the significance. How significant is it? What has it taught you about the earth at that point?
BALLARD: Well, I'll tell you, this is really right after the Greeks, the rise, the height of the Greek empire. They called it the Hellenic period. And they basically had moved colonies into the Black Sea, and they were bringing back fish from their colonies, much like...
HEMMER: There was a lot of trade going on.
BALLARD: ... the English empire.
HEMMER: As you look at this video, what was the condition of the ship?
BALLARD: Well, this is in an interesting area. You see wood. Normally, you do not see wood. Normally, in a normal, typical environment, some of the discoveries we've made in the past, wood does not survive, because there is wood (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Titanic's deck was eaten, the grand staircase was eaten. But here, you have this anoxic water that does not permit light to exist, and so you get very high states of preservation.
HEMMER: Is that exclusive to the Black Sea?
BALLARD: Yes.
HEMMER: It is.
BALLARD: It's very unique, and the Black Sea is like no other museum on the planet.
HEMMER: Yes, because...
BALLARD: Incredible history there.
HEMMER: ... if you remember what they found off the coast of northern Egypt a few years ago. This was going back years as well...
BALLARD: Alexandria.
HEMMER: That's exactly right.
BALLARD: Exactly. That's stone.
HEMMER: Is it similar or not? BALLARD: Yes, but that's stone, and stone can't be eaten.
HEMMER: Very true.
BALLARD: But these are wooden ships. And in fact, just deeper than that, we found one with its mast up and rigging. And we'll be going back in with National Geographic and Noah (ph) and the Navy. They're sponsoring a big expedition next summer to do the first excavation of a ship of antiquity in the deep sea to archeological standards.
HEMMER: So, what are we going to see from this in the future then?
BALLARD: We're going to see what's inside. A lot more is coming.
HEMMER: Anything to guess for us?
BALLARD: Well, no, I think we're going to find -- in some cases, we may find crewmembers. And we have a gorgeous exhibit at our Mystic (ph) aquarium, and you'll want to come and see it.
HEMMER: Yes.
BALLARD: Because we've put a lot of this on exhibit.
HEMMER: Always great to talk to you.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? And be safe out there...
BALLARD: Absolutely.
HEMMER: ... on your next find.
BALLARD: Well, thank you.
HEMMER: All right, good deal.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sea>
Aired January 16, 2003 - 07:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Bob Ballard is his name and underwater exploring is his game, and we know that all too well. Best known for the discovery of the Titanic, Ballard may have hit the sunken jackpot with his latest find. This is one of the oldest shipwrecks ever. The vessel went down in the Black Sea sometime between the 5th and 3rd century, B.C.
The remains were discovered last summer off of the coast of Bulgaria. They're going back very soon.
Bob Ballard, National Geographic explorer-in-residence, and president of the Institute for Exploration, here in New York to talk about it. Good to see you again.
BOB BALLARD, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER-IN-RESIDENCE: Good morning, good morning.
HEMMER: How do you -- do you just scan waters...
BALLARD: No, we search...
HEMMER: ... to find something, or did you have information that said, you know, we need to look here?
BALLARD: Absolutely. We have a great team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania in Rhode Island, and we were studying a trade route we knew the Greeks were using back in the 3rd, 4th, 5th century, B.C.
See, this was right after Alexander the Great conquered the civilized world, and they were actually in the Black Sea, believe it or not, for fish. And this ship was bringing back -- we found inside of this amphora, believe it or not, an 8-foot catfish...
HEMMER: Wow!
BALLARD: ... that had been filleted into fish steaks, salted, sort of the fish-and-chips...
HEMMER: Come on.
BALLARD: No, absolutely. Our team at the University of Pennsylvania actually could identify the specie of fish, and they could see the butcher marks on the bones.
And so, they were coming back probably from the Crimea, although they could have probably originated -- because we know these amphoras were made in Sinope in north central Turkey. There's a big area where they build -- and you can see the submarine. We used a submarine after we found it with sonar. We're working with the Bulgarian Oceanographic Institution there. And we dove down and brought up this -- it's a jar called an amphora. And in it were the fish steaks.
HEMMER: Is that right?
BALLARD: Yes. It's really wild.
HEMMER: Well, you mentioned the significance. How significant is it? What has it taught you about the earth at that point?
BALLARD: Well, I'll tell you, this is really right after the Greeks, the rise, the height of the Greek empire. They called it the Hellenic period. And they basically had moved colonies into the Black Sea, and they were bringing back fish from their colonies, much like...
HEMMER: There was a lot of trade going on.
BALLARD: ... the English empire.
HEMMER: As you look at this video, what was the condition of the ship?
BALLARD: Well, this is in an interesting area. You see wood. Normally, you do not see wood. Normally, in a normal, typical environment, some of the discoveries we've made in the past, wood does not survive, because there is wood (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Titanic's deck was eaten, the grand staircase was eaten. But here, you have this anoxic water that does not permit light to exist, and so you get very high states of preservation.
HEMMER: Is that exclusive to the Black Sea?
BALLARD: Yes.
HEMMER: It is.
BALLARD: It's very unique, and the Black Sea is like no other museum on the planet.
HEMMER: Yes, because...
BALLARD: Incredible history there.
HEMMER: ... if you remember what they found off the coast of northern Egypt a few years ago. This was going back years as well...
BALLARD: Alexandria.
HEMMER: That's exactly right.
BALLARD: Exactly. That's stone.
HEMMER: Is it similar or not? BALLARD: Yes, but that's stone, and stone can't be eaten.
HEMMER: Very true.
BALLARD: But these are wooden ships. And in fact, just deeper than that, we found one with its mast up and rigging. And we'll be going back in with National Geographic and Noah (ph) and the Navy. They're sponsoring a big expedition next summer to do the first excavation of a ship of antiquity in the deep sea to archeological standards.
HEMMER: So, what are we going to see from this in the future then?
BALLARD: We're going to see what's inside. A lot more is coming.
HEMMER: Anything to guess for us?
BALLARD: Well, no, I think we're going to find -- in some cases, we may find crewmembers. And we have a gorgeous exhibit at our Mystic (ph) aquarium, and you'll want to come and see it.
HEMMER: Yes.
BALLARD: Because we've put a lot of this on exhibit.
HEMMER: Always great to talk to you.
(CROSSTALK)
HEMMER: Good luck to you, all right? And be safe out there...
BALLARD: Absolutely.
HEMMER: ... on your next find.
BALLARD: Well, thank you.
HEMMER: All right, good deal.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Sea>
