The shipping forecast looks good

One of the most significant underwater discoveries in history has been made off the coast of Haiti this week, as more than five centuries later, Christopher Columbus’s flagship, the Santa Maria, has been found. This opens the door to an unprecedented range of maritime archaeological evidence of Columbus’s discovery of America – although questions have been raised if he was indeed the first European to do so. It’s been a busy few weeks in the field, with slightly sensationalist stories emerging of a “Byzantine iPad” appearing on a shipwreck (it’s almost as exciting as it sounds). The good ol’ Discovery Channel has thrown together a pop-History selection of the biggest shipwreck finds in history, which is worth a few minutes for those of you still inspired by the Famous Five…  For those interested, the Oxford Centre of Maritime Archaeology offers undergraduate options, but it’s still an interesting dive (sorry) for all you Historians, Arch and Anth students and all of us with a child-like fascination in shipwrecks.