PRESS RELEASE OF 28 NOVEMBER 2018

  During a campaign of technical dives in the Sicilian channel carried out during the last month of October 2018, Domenico Majolino, who organized and led a team formed by staff of its diving center Ecosfera dive of Messina and diving center Blue Dolphins, based in Lampedusa, Alessandro Turri, came across the fortui discovery of a naval underwater wreck that, from the first investigations carried out, does not seem to have ever been described and identified previously. Due to the adverse marine weather conditions have not been able to carry out many dives, but Majolino and Turri could still create a characterizing photographic and video documentation. The preliminary instrumental evidence on the point was followed and confirmed by an immersion during which it was verified, at a depth of about 50 meters, the presence of the remains of a steamer ascribable to a structure of mixed wood/metal type on which has begun to sketch identification hypotheses in order to the constructive typology and to the historical period:-The presence of a dark brown head and a metallic winch suggest to be in the presence of a sailing ship of the modern epoch; -The iron of which the keel and the ordered are made, the wood of what remains of the plating covered with copper plates identify a mixed-type hull. This type of constructive solution sees the beginning of its use in the second half of the NINETEENTH century which lasts until the early TWENTIETH century; -The presence of pipes and a brick engraved with the initials B B (the latter probably refractory to the boiler room, produced by the Bartlett Bros. of Hudson, New York, which operated in 1800) would suggest the presence of a steam propulsion; -The size of the two metallic cubia eyes would lead to a vessel of no large tonnage. As usual, in the context of the continuous and fruitful collaboration now more than ten years with the Superintendency of the Sea of the Sicilian region, Domenico Majolino and Alessandro Turri have delivered the coordinates of the wreck and the videophotographic material Carried out at the Superintendency itself as well as the Hydrographical Institute of the Navy and the Coast Guard-Maritime district office in Lampedusa.     Majolino and Turri have also expressed their willingness to conduct on the site the bodies in place, so as to proceed with joint surveys that can help the identification of the wreck. Domenico Majolino and his team of Ecosfera diving share the passion for the history of the wrecks, with particular regard to those of the strait and the channel of Sicily and for all that represents historical memory of the city of Messina. For years he has carried out his research activities under the careful supervision of the Superintendency of the sea with the common purpose of knowing and protecting the cultural heritage underwater of historical interest of modern and contemporary age. The activity of relit identification is based on the close synergy between the scrupulous study of historical testimonies (newspapers of the time, naval registers, other sources) and the in situ study for the acquisition of surveys that can confirm or refute The identification hypothesis.   The expedition and/or historical research took part: Domenico Majolino, Alessandro Turri, Daniele Cotogno, Vincenzo Striano, Simona Ratti, Monica Tentori, Stefano Saleri, Giorgia Pelagalli.