[SEMCO] Live Broadcast Planned from Palmer/Crary Shipwreck

[Anne Smrcina]

NOAA 06-R451

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*

Contact: 781-545-8026
Matthew Lawrence, maritime archaeologist ext. 213 
(matthew.lawrence at noaa.gov)
Deborah Marx, maritime archaeologist ext. 214 (deborah.marx at noaa.gov)
Anne Smrcina, education/outreach coordinator ext. 204 
(anne.smrcina at noaa.gov)


*RESEARCHERS TO BROADCAST LIVE FROM NOAA STELLWAGEN BANK NATIONAL MARINE 
SANCTUARY*

*Online Video Feed will Showcase Historic Shipwrecks*

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the 
National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut 
(NURC-UConn) will offer the public a real-time view of a pair of 
historic New England shipwrecks as researchers explore them on July 15 
with a robot sub.

Video of the wrecks will be broadcast live from a research ship 
operating off the Massachusetts coast in Stellwagen Bank National Marine 
Sanctuary. The public can view the ship-to-shore broadcasts through the 
internet at www.nurc.uconn.edu, or at the Gloucester (Mass.) Maritime 
Heritage Center.

“New technologies are enabling us to explore our ocean world like never 
before,” said Craig MacDonald, superintendent of Stellwagen Bank 
National Marine Sanctuary.


During the broadcasts, experts from NOAA and NURC-UConn will provide 
commentary about the history of the ill-fated coal schooners /Frank A. 
Palmer/ and /Louise B. Crary/, the marine life on and around the wrecks, 
and ongoing research and management efforts to understand and protect 
these and other maritime heritage resources in the sanctuary. The 
30-minute broadcasts are planned for 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. EDT on 
Saturday, July 15.

The live broadcasts are part of the Fifth Annual Stellwagen Bank 
National Marine Sanctuary Celebration, to be held at the Gloucester 
Maritime Heritage Center. The event highlights the natural and 
historical resources of New England’s only national marine sanctuary. A 
long-running component of the Sanctuary Celebration has been the New 
England portion of the Great Annual Fish Count 
<http://www.fishcount.org/>, an international program that encourages 
divers and snorkelers to identify and count fish in local waters. 
Coordinated by the Reef Environmental Education Foundation 
<http://www.reef.org/>, this year's fish count will run throughout the 
month of July in coastal areas around the world.

The /Frank A. Palmer/ and /Louise B. Crary /collided in Massachusetts 
Bay in December 1902 and sank in more than 300 feet of water. Today, the 
Maine-built schooners sit upright on the seafloor of the sanctuary, 
still joined at the bow. Scientists from NOAA and NURC-UConn confirmed 
the ships’ location within the sanctuary in 2002 based upon the 
coordinates supplied by maritime researchers H. Arnold Carr and John P. 
Fish. Since then, NOAA and NURC-UConn researchers have visited the 
wrecks annually with a remotely operated vehicle to monitor, study and 
document their condition. The shipwreck site was recently listed on the 
National Register of Historic Places.

The NOAA National Marine Sanctuary Program manages 13 national marine 
sanctuaries and one coral reef ecosystem reserve that together encompass 
more than 150,000 square miles of America’s ocean and Great Lakes 
natural and cultural resources. The sanctuary program seeks to increase 
public awareness of America’s marine resources and maritime heritage by 
conducting scientific research, monitoring, exploration and educational 
programs.

The NOAA National Undersea Research Program funds six research centers 
around the country at major universities. The National Undersea Research 
Center for the North Atlantic and Great Lakes 
<http://www.nurc.uconn.edu/welcome.htm> 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.

NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to 
enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction 
and research of weather and climate-related events and providing 
environmental stewardship of our nation’s coastal and marine resources. 
Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), 
NOAA is working with our federal partners and 60 countries to develop a 
global Earth observation network that is as integrated as the planet it 
observes, predicts and protects.

- 30 -

*Side scan images, underwater stills and video, and historic photographs 
are available. Contact the sanctuary for access to these images. *

On the Internet:

NOAA - www.noaa.gov
National Ocean Service - oceanservice.noaa.gov
National Marine Sanctuary Program - sanctuaries.noaa.gov
Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary - stellwagen.noaa.gov
National Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut - 
www.nurc.uconn.edu
NOAA Preserve America Initiative - preserveamerica.noaa.gov

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