Adventure Living
The Lost Expedition
Finding safe and quick passages for shipping routes during the 19th century was key to helping businesses thrive as well as making trade quicker and easier. One of the hardest trade routes for the British Empire was the Northwest Passage. A shipping route that was proving difficult to navigate due to the fact that it was in arctic waters and it was incredibly perilous to travel because of ice flows.
The Northwest Passage is in the arctic waters off of the Queen Elizabeth Islands and is located near Victoria and Baffin Island. The Franklin Expedition was sent in order to find a safe route through the Northwest Passage for ships to have a safe passage. Captain Sir John Franklin was given command of the expedition. He was given a crew of 24 officers and 110 men, along with two ships: Erebus and HMS Terror. The only members of the entire crew who had any Arctic experience were Franklin, Francis Crozier (Captain of HMS Terror), and two other officers. The ships and crews were given their provisions: three years worth of preserved meat in hastily soldered tin cans.
Nosey janitor discovers ancient coin hoard
Original Article by TheLocal.de
A German janitor who decided to take a peek in a box she had walked past a hundred times, discovered more than 170 ancient coins worth millions of euros.
Tanja Höls told The Local she was doing her normal rounds of storerooms in the Passau state library in Bavaria when she decided to open up the inlaid wooden box and see what was inside.
“The box itself was fairly unspectacular, it looked like a big jewellery box, with lots of little drawers inside,” she said.
“So I pulled open one of the drawers and there were some coins in it. And I pulled a couple more open, and there were more coins – lots of different ones, different sizes and different metals.”
Monster Waves
For the longest time, the thought of monster waves coming from out of nowhere was believed to be a part of maritime folklore. Tales of sailors and ships encountering massive walls of water in otherwise calm conditions were met with head nodding, an “uh huh” and either a reassuring pat on the shoulder or a glass of milk. (We can’t confirm that this is what happened, but it’s far less impolite than what their reactions of those that were told probably were.) It’s understandable when there was no concrete proof and the characteristics say a tall wall of water formed and was followed by a hole in the sea. At one time these were just tales, but 16 years ago they were proven to be real.
History of Jousting
Jousting began during the Middle Ages (around the 10th century) as knights became the main combatants during battles. Jousting tournaments were a way for knights to practice their skills on horseback as well as their skills with the lance.
Godfrey de Preuilly is credited with having created the sport of jousting and jousting tournaments. The first recorded jousting tournament was in 1066, though it did not gain popularity until the 12th century. The lands of England were divided up in a feudal system. Meaning that everyone who owned land paid allegiance to the King. This meant that noblemen had to fight and protect their king. So, jousting became a form of mock battle to improve upon their skills as well as provide entertainment to the people of the kingdom.
The Diamond Shipwreck
History rarely unfolds like a fable. But consider this: A 16th-century Portuguese trading vessel, carrying a fortune in gold and ivory and bound for a famed spice port on the coast of India, is blown far off course by a fierce storm while trying to round the southern tip of Africa. Days later, battered and broken, the ship founders on a mysterious, fogbound coast sprinkled with more than a hundred million carats of diamonds, a cruel mockery of the sailors' dreams of riches. None of the castaways ever return home.
Urban Exploration: Toronto City Hall
In 1957, the City of Toronto held the largest architectural competition ever, and invited 520 architects from around the world to submit their plans for Toronto's new City Hall. After a year of submissions and public debate, the avant-garde design proposed by Finnish architect Viljo Revell triumphed. The building was finally completed in 1965.
My friend Sean and I entered City Hall's wondrous subbasement by pushing forcefully on a door at the bottom of the north stairwell. Once inside we began exploring very tentatively. As can be seen on City Hall blueprints, the building's subbasement is mostly one gigantic room, so we were constantly worried that an employee somewhere else on the level would spot our mischievous feet beneath all the pipes and vents.
Divers Find Expensive Bottles Underwater
A couple of divers did hit the drink, when from the bottom of their dive, they discovered a deliciously fruity stink... seems a schooner ran aground, and it’s cargo they had found... some 150 bottles they brought up with a wink... and not just for the taste, for not a drop would go to waste... at $132,000 a bottle.... ahhhh whatever... you get the point now grab a glass and read the rest of this and see if you don’t strap some fins on yourself! Anyone else out there find any interesting bottles while diving?
Vietnam's 800 ft tall Cave
“Past the hand of dog, watch out for dinosaurs,” says a voice in the dark.
I recognize Jonathan Sims’s clipped, British military accent but have no idea what he’s talking about. My headlamp finds him, gray muttonchops curling out from beneath his battered helmet, sitting alone in the blackness along the wall of the cave.
“Carry on mate,” growls Sims. “Just resting a buggered ankle.”
Treasure in the English countryside
Imagine a group of soldiers or thieves travelling down an old Roman road. They step off the road and dig a pit, fill it with their goods, cover it and walk away. Travel forward 1300 years and you're now in the English countryside, farms all around you. Equipped with your metal detector you ask a local farmer if you can walk his field. On July 5, 2009, Terry Herbert came to the farmhouse door and announced to farmer Fred Johnson that he had found Anglo-Saxon treasure.
Modern Treasure Hunters
Justin an avid Treasure Hunter is always looking for freshly turned over mounds of soil. Many times while driving from place to place his family will hear...”Turn around! Turn around! I just saw some glass in that vacant site. Many buildings dating into the 1800’s are being demolished to erect new establishments within the cities.
300-Year-Old Chinese Coin Found in North of Canada
Original Article by Epoch Times.
A Chinese coin more than 300 years old has been found near a proposed mine site in Yukon in north of Canada.
James Mooney, a cultural resource specialist with Ecofor Consulting Limited, spotted the coin while doing heritage impact assessment work for Western Copper and Gold Corporation.
