109-Year-Old Shipwreck George E. Billings
Monday, April 8th, 2013
Did you know that hundreds of historic ships and aircraft lie beneath the waves off of California’s coast? We talked with Bob Schwemmer, a NOAA maritime archaeologist, whose job is to explore and document shipwrecks like the wreck of a 109-year-old schooner discovered on the ocean floor. The George E. Billings once hauled timber in the early 1900s from the West Coast to Hawaii and Latin America. Bob tells us how it was found last year after two decades of searching in NOAA’s Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. And there’s more to the story!
For more information, please visit:
- Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary
- Channel Islands NMS Shipwreck Database
- National Marine Sanctuaries Maritime Heritage
- California State Lands Commission-Shipwrecks
Everyday action: Get out and enjoy the ocean, and learn more about shipwrecks that lie just off our coast!
There has been a dramatic recovery in seal and sea lion populations around the north Pacific where the animals have found protected places to recover, such as the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Anthropologist Todd J. Braje, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Humboldt State University, tells the story. (Photo courtesy of Todd J. Braje/Humboldt State University)
