there was the first target that we
looked at in deeper water there it was
right in front of us I remember the
first images of this small forest it
seemed like of wooden objects rising up
out of the sediment and everyone was
just like this is something interesting
and then as we got closer we found this
one piece that seemed to be much taller
than the other ones and they started
following it up and I just kept going
and going and going and we got to the
top like this is the mast of a ship and
the room just sort of went quiet from
the not at the top of the mast to the
Timbers on the keel the 1500 year old
Byzantine sailing ship was perfectly
preserved
no other ancient ship had ever been
found in this pristine condition so it
was an unprecedented find
suddenly coming out of the gloom we saw
that mast of that ancient shipwreck but
this mythical kind of ship that we read
about was possible but no one had ever
found one just mesmerized even though
you’re a scientist even though you’ve
done this a zillion times
you’re still overwhelmed by it because
it’s so special but seven years ago all
the team could do was look they didn’t
have the time or the tools to excavate
such an important piece of history today
they do once again Ballard and his team
have reassembled on the waters of the
Black Sea but this time they’ve come
with some state-of-the-art technology to
excavate a one-of-a-kind site so our
goal is to go back now and expose the
ship and see its state and enter the
ship and that’s gonna be very exciting I
can’t wait the expedition plans to make
two stops first on a new shipwreck in
shallow waters then on to the deepwater
site discovered seven years ago they’re
working on a tight two-week schedule
with a limited budget in a sea unlike
any other on earth
what makes the Black Sea unique is a
dense layer of stagnant oxygen-deprived
water that blankets its lower depths and
acts like a preservative this layer may
have been formed when the Black Sea
first took shape one theory suggests
that 7500 years ago the Black Sea was a
large landlocked freshwater lake but
since the end of the last ice age sea
levels had begun to rise water from the
Mediterranean poured over a thin strip
of land called the phosphorus and
drained into the freshwater lake
increasing its size by 50%
over time the heavier saltwater sank to
the bottom where it was trapped cut off
from the oxygen usually supplied by
ocean currents one byproduct of this
dead layer is the creation of hydrogen
sulfide a poison to most living things
that dead anoxic layer lies below a
depth of about 600 feet and almost
nothing can live in it including things
that like to eat ships
looked at in deeper water there it was
right in front of us I remember the
first images of this small forest it
seemed like of wooden objects rising up
out of the sediment and everyone was
just like this is something interesting
and then as we got closer we found this
one piece that seemed to be much taller
than the other ones and they started
following it up and I just kept going
and going and going and we got to the
top like this is the mast of a ship and
the room just sort of went quiet from
the not at the top of the mast to the
Timbers on the keel the 1500 year old
Byzantine sailing ship was perfectly
preserved
no other ancient ship had ever been
found in this pristine condition so it
was an unprecedented find
suddenly coming out of the gloom we saw
that mast of that ancient shipwreck but
this mythical kind of ship that we read
about was possible but no one had ever
found one just mesmerized even though
you’re a scientist even though you’ve
done this a zillion times
you’re still overwhelmed by it because
it’s so special but seven years ago all
the team could do was look they didn’t
have the time or the tools to excavate
such an important piece of history today
they do once again Ballard and his team
have reassembled on the waters of the
Black Sea but this time they’ve come
with some state-of-the-art technology to
excavate a one-of-a-kind site so our
goal is to go back now and expose the
ship and see its state and enter the
ship and that’s gonna be very exciting I
can’t wait the expedition plans to make
two stops first on a new shipwreck in
shallow waters then on to the deepwater
site discovered seven years ago they’re
working on a tight two-week schedule
with a limited budget in a sea unlike
any other on earth
what makes the Black Sea unique is a
dense layer of stagnant oxygen-deprived
water that blankets its lower depths and
acts like a preservative this layer may
have been formed when the Black Sea
first took shape one theory suggests
that 7500 years ago the Black Sea was a
large landlocked freshwater lake but
since the end of the last ice age sea
levels had begun to rise water from the
Mediterranean poured over a thin strip
of land called the phosphorus and
drained into the freshwater lake
increasing its size by 50%
over time the heavier saltwater sank to
the bottom where it was trapped cut off
from the oxygen usually supplied by
ocean currents one byproduct of this
dead layer is the creation of hydrogen
sulfide a poison to most living things
that dead anoxic layer lies below a
depth of about 600 feet and almost
nothing can live in it including things
that like to eat ships
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