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Update on condition of the RV Petrel in Edinburgh at Leith, Scotland

4/20/2023

 
     We're back from a fantastic week in historic and charming Scotland. Lots of things to see in and around Edinburgh, lots of really wonderful people to meet (even some from Kentucky!), but one major focus was to see how close we could get to the RV Petrel at Leith. The only way to do that was to get to the harbor and take a tour of the late Queen's luxury ship, the HMS Britannia. So, on Wednesday we hopped a bus that dropped us off to the exhibit entrance and got on board the beautiful ship that took Queen Elizabeth and the royal family all over the world. From the deck that housed the living quarters we had a direct line to the Petrel in drydock - and what a sad sight.
​     She is still tilted at a 45 degree angle, but some very large cranes have been put in place to begin the process of setting her upright. I'm posting the photos I was able to take as there was no way to legitimately or safely get any closer. We did speak with one of the tour guides who works that deck and I gave her a card with my contact information. She will let me know of any changes in the status of the ship as she sees them. I really hope to hear from her. It's hard to let go of the personal connection to this ship. She will always be a part of this project. 

Tammi

Drain the Oceans Episode, the Story of the MV LUCONA Scam

4/6/2023

 
Later this weekend there would be an episode of Drain the Oceans (National Geographic Channel) based on one of the early discoveries of our friend and shipwreck hunter David Mearns of Blue Water Recoveries, LTD. Back in the 1990s David worked for a company called Eastport International, the group that won the contract to go locate an exceptionally hard ship to find, one involved in a possible insurance scam which included murder. The ship was the MV LUCONA, the man responsible for her disappearance and the death of 6 people, Udo Proksch. Proksch was a wealthy man; entitled, spoiled and very dangerous. He was a Nazi sympathizer during WW2 and had friends the like of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and Heinrich Himmler. The discovery due to the work of David and Eastport led to the downfall of this horrible man, who died in prison in 2001 during heart surgery. In David's book, "The Shipwreck Hunter: A lifetime of extraordinary discovery and adventure n the deep seas," he goes into remarkable detail in describing the endeavor of putting together the crew and equipment necessary to carry this out, and the research involved. This story is just one of the 25 major shipwrecks he covers in the book. If you have not read the book I highly recommend you do. And full disclosure, he has some very nice things to say about myself and the project in the last chapter. For that, I will always be appreciative. 

This episode of Drain the Oceans is titled, "$20 Million Time Bomb: a bomb, murder, and a foiled multi-million insurance scam on the high seas". The broadcast is on Nat Geo this Sunday April 9th at 10 pm EST. Below are images of the introduction to this chapter from the book. Just a couple of paragraphs, a teaser to whet the whistle.

​-Tammi

​

    Tammi Johnson

    Welcome to the blog!  I'm a life long Kentuckian with a degree in Anthropology, thus a nice background in research, thanks to some great profs at the University of Kentucky.  Family and historical research are what float my boat, and this project has been the heart of it for a very long time now.  I welcome input and ideas for blog entries, so if you have something to contribute I'll happily post it. 

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