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Aaaaaaaannnnnd the winner for this month's Caption Contest(!) is:
"Slow down! We just outran the kite!" — Michael Satterlund "As found in the WM catalog; cockpit shade, large, blue. $4099." — Rob Adkins "Hey, where'd our bowman go?” — Kent Carter "Love the new bimini!" — Betsy Crowfoot "Head's up, you're without tack, and have no clew!" — Bill Huber "OK, the backstay is fully polished. Now bring it around to the port shroud!" — Mark Bettis "How do you dry your kite?" — Jaimie Bartlett "When the whomper whomps." — " curtisazevedo "Ah man I think this sail is for downwind! Let’s have a beer and figure out how to tack this thing." — Chris Johnston "Yet another painting where the artist just doesn't understand how the sails and rigging are supposed to look." — Steven Hartman
"A Spanish galleon with $17 billion worth of treasure that sank off the coast of Colombia more than 300 years ago was discovered by an underwater autonomous vehicle operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)," reported Mark Pratt of the Associated Press. "The discovery was made off the coast of Cartagena three years ago, but officials only just disclosed it last week, according to WBUR TV in Boston. "'We've been holding this under wraps out of respect for the Colombian government,' Rob Munier, WHOI's vice president for marine facilities and operations, told the station. The exact location of the wreck of the San Jose, often called the 'holy grail of shipwrecks,' was long considered one of history's enduring maritime mysteries. The 62-gun, three-masted galleon went down on June 8, 1708, with 600 people on board as well as a treasure of gold, silver and emeralds during a battle with British ships in the War of Spanish Succession. The treasure is worth as much as $17 billion by modern standards. "The Massachusetts-based WHOI was invited to join the search because of its recognized expertise in deep water exploration. The institute's autonomous underwater vehicle, REMUS 6000, helped find the wreckage of Air France 447 in 2011, which crashed in 2009 several hundred miles off the coast of Brazil.
LATITUDE / TIM
Unbolt the compass and turn it around, we are clearly going the wrong way. — Jim Palermo
"It was REMUS 6000 that in November 2015 took some side sonar images that found the San Jose in more than 2,000 feet (600 meters) of water. The vehicle descended to 30 feet (9 meters) above the wreck to take several photographs, including some of the distinctive dolphin engravings on the San Jose's cannons, a key piece of visual evidence. "The wreck was partially sediment-covered, but with the camera images from the lower altitude missions, we were able to see new details in the wreckage and the resolution was good enough to make out the decorative carving on the cannons," said WHOI engineer and expedition leader Mike Purcell. "'It was a pretty strong feeling of gratification to finally find it,' said Munier, who was not at the site but learned in a phone call from Purcell. 'It was a great moment.' "The treasure has been the subject of legal battles between several nations as well as private companies. Several weeks ago, UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, called on Colombia not to commercially exploit the wreck, whose exact location remains a state secret. "The treasure remains on the sea bed — for now. "
Latitude 38 founder Richard Spindler, aka the Grand Poobah, has finally tied the knot with his longtime partner Doña de Mallorca. The couple went through a "government ceremony" in San Diego a few months ago, before getting properly hitched on Bastille Day aboard Majestic Dalat in Paris. "We can't believe we managed to keep it a secret from all of you for so long," the Poobah said on his Facebook page.
"A basketball-sized lava bomb slammed through the roof of a tour boat near an active fissure of Hawaii's Kilauea volcano [on July 16], showering the vessel with debris and injuring 23 people, according to the Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency," and according to NPR. "Officials said that an explosion off the coast of Kapoho hurled several lava bombs onto the boat — called Hotspot — at about 6 a.m. local time. "Hawaii News Now reported a woman in her 20s suffered a fractured femur and was in serious condition. The other wounded passengers were being treated for burns and scrapes. The boat is one of two owned by Lava Ocean Tours, a company whose website promises adventure seekers that they can 'See, Hear and Feel the heat from your front row seat.' Despite the alarming events of Monday morning, an employee told NPR that the company's owner and boat captain, Shane Turpin, had continued to lead other tours throughout the day. "Kilauea's ongoing volcanic eruption has swallowed up entire communities — an estimated 700 homes have been destroyed — and reshaped large swaths of the Big Island since May 3. In fact, on Friday, geologists confirmed that lava flows entering the ocean from one of the most active fissures had started to form a small island off of Kapoho." (For those of you that might have been wondering, Captain Shane Turpin has no relation to Latitude 38 editor at large Andy Turpin.)
