Teddy Tucker, best known as a salvage diver and shipwreck hunter was first and foremost a fisherman. On a fishing trip in 1994 he was asked for his thoughts on changes he had witnessed over his time fishing off Bermuda. One of the starkest examples of change on the Bermuda Reef is the disappearance the once ubiquitous shark. Other fishermen, lobster divers and spearfish hunters share their observations of further change they have experienced over the past 30 years. Together with Teddy they stand as witnesses to the decline in Bermuda’s marine environment gleaned over years of consistent free diving and scuba diving on the island’s reef.
AFTER AN INTENSE STORM PUMMELED Bermuda in February 2011, the island’s custodian of historic wrecks Philippe Max Rouja went to do a coastal survey and spotted a partially exposed bow of a boat. The bow belonged to the Civil War blockade runner Mary Celestia, which was en route to North Carolina’s Confederate forces when it sank in 1864.
Dr. Philippe Max Rouja, Custodian of Historic Wrecks from the Government of Bermuda, clearing the non-historic layers of sand during the rescue archaeology investigation of the bow of the shipwrecked Mary Celestia, South Shore Bermuda. CHRIS BURVILLE FOR LOOKBERMUDA.COM
The Mary Celestia is far from alone: Bermuda’s treacherous underwater reefs sank many a ship. In fact, over 300 vessels are buried around the island, each with its own history and artifacts. But this isn’t the story of the wreck itself—this is a story about a whiff of lost perfume history hiding within.
After a week of examining the wreck, a team of divers and archaeologists found a number of artifacts, including shoes, wine, and two small bottles of perfume. The items were packed together, leading the team to think they may have been gifts. Save for some mineral deposits that had formed on them, the bottles appeared to be intact. One still contained a small air bubble inside, which otherwise would have been forced out by seawater. Etched on the glass were the names “Piesse and Lubin London.”
Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone. COURTESY LILI BERMUDA
Rouja brought the bottles to Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, the owner of a local boutique perfume store called Lili Bermuda. Ramsay-Brackstone immediately knew they were a rare find. “In the 1800s, London was a …
Infamous disappearances of ships and aircrafts, stories of lives lost — they’re all part of the legend of the 500,000-square-mile expanse of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle. In this one-hour special, National Geographic Channel explores the area’s ominous reputation by draining the water from it to see what exactly lies below the surface of the mythical triangle. With the aid of data from sophisticated sonar surveys, see what the ocean floor looks like below the Bermuda Triangle. Witness what strange geological features will be revealed and whether they will shed light on the mysterious occurrences that have been documented within the boundaries of this area of ocean.
The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil’s Triangle, is a loosely defined region in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, where a number of aircraft and ships are said to have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. According to the US Navy, the triangle does not exist, and the name is not recognized by the US Board on Geographic Names. Popular culture has attributed various disappearances to the paranormal or activity by extraterrestrial beings. Documented evidence indicates that a significant percentage of the incidents were spurious, inaccurately reported, or embellished by later authors. In a 2013 study, the World Wide Fund for Nature identified the world’s 10 most dangerous waters for shipping, but the Bermuda Triangle was not among them
8 JUNE 2015 – Bermuda: Contributor Dr. Philippe Rouja swimming off of the bow of the Mary Celestia.- Mallinson Sadler Productions/Dan Stevenson)
