[SEMCO] [Fwd: Portland Live Dive 2005]

Wed Jul 6 12:41:04 EDT 2005

Live Dive to the Steamship Portland

Join the NOAA Undersea Research Center (NURC) at the University of
Connecticut and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS) 
on Saturday 9 July 2005 as scientists and archaeologists explore the
steamship Portland via a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).  45 minute 
live Internet broadcasts from the shipwreck will take place at 11:00am 
and 2:00 pm (EDT).  Details on how to access the live dive are 
available at http://www.nurc.uconn.edu 

Viewers of the live broadcast will witness the remarkable, yet fragile,
condition of the historic shipwreck.  The Portland’s remains 
dramatically convey the terrible ordeal its passengers experienced 
prior to the steamship’s sinking.  Furthermore, the biological 
diversity resident on the wreck is a snapshot of the sanctuary’s 
ecosystem and provides a sharp juxtaposition with the human loss 
associated with the shipwreck.

In addition to the Internet live broadcast, the live ROV footage will 
also be shown at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum in 
Provincetown, MA on 9 July 2005 at 11:00am and 2:00pm.  For more 
details visit http://www.pilgrim-monument.org  

Three years of historical and archaeological research by the SBNMS and
NURC team resulted in the vessel’s listing on the National Register of
Historic Places in 2005. Since confirming the Portland’s location in 
SBNMS in 2002, scientists have documented the site to learn about New 
England’s maritime heritage. The live broadcast is supported by NOAA’s 
Preserve American Initiative Grant Program.

Launched in 1889, the Portland was one of the most palatial coastal
steamships afloat as it traveled between Portland, Maine and Boston.
Measuring over 280 feet long, the Maine-built wooden-hulled side paddle
wheel steamship transported passengers and freight along the New 
England coast with a relatively uneventful record until its loss with 
all hands, an estimated 192 persons, in November 1898.  The Portland 
became known as the “Titanic of New England” due to the scale of the 
tragedy and its impact on the region.

SBNMS and NURC have been active partners since the sanctuary’s 
designation by Congress in 1992.  Technical support from NURC has been 
crucial to satisfying SBNMS’s mandate to inventory, assess, nominate 
to the National Register of Historic Places, interpret, and manage its 
maritime heritage resources.  Through this partnership, NOAA 
scientists have located over a dozen potentially historic shipwrecks 
in the sanctuary and completed detailed investigations of the sites 
with side scan sonar, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and 
autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

Congress designated the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary in 
1992 as 'an area of special national significance.'  Virtually the 
size of the state of Rhode Island, the sanctuary stretches between 
Cape Ann and Cape Cod in federal waters off of Massachusetts.  SBNMS 
sits astride the historic shipping routes and fishing grounds for such 
ports as Boston, Gloucester, Plymouth, Salem, and Provincetown.  These 
ports have been centers of maritime activity in New England for nearly 
400 years.  As a result, the sanctuary is a repository for this 
nation’s maritime heritage resources in the form of shipwrecks.  
Historic uses of the sanctuary include fishing and maritime 
transportation, all evidenced by the remains of historic shipwrecks on 
the seafloor.

NOAA's National Undersea Research Program (NURP) funds six research
centers and one institute around the country at major universities. A 
key strength of NURP is its partnership with the nation's science 
community. The National Undersea Research Center for the North 
Atlantic and Great Lakes is located at the University of Connecticut 
at Avery Point. This center supports and conducts research in the 
waters off the northeast coast of the U.S. including the Gulf of 
Maine, Georges Bank, Southern New England Bight including Long Island 
Sound and the Great Lakes.

Deborah Marx
Maritime Archaeologist
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
175 Edward Foster Rd.
Scituate, MA 02066
781-545-8026 extension 214

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