British Warship Sunk May Hold Treasures of White House
David Usborne
Independent
__________
New York (US):
Nearly two hundred years after the almost forgotten War of 1812 between Britain and the then fledgling United States, a new skirmish has broken out over the fate of a British warship wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia and believed to contain precious artefacts hauled from the sacked White House in Washington.
American divers sparked the dispute after they recently located the wreck of what many believe is HMS Fantome, a British Navy brig that led a convoy of ships from Washington to Halifax after British troops stormed the American capital and burned down the White House.
A Halifax-based documentary film-maker and marine explorer, John Chisolm, has launched a campaign to petition the Canadian provincial government in Nova Scotia to rescind the permit it has given to a Massachusetts marine exploration company to explore the wreck, on the grounds that its divers are plundering important treasures.Under Nova Scotian law, anyone can explore wrecks such as the Fantome and, provided they pay 10 per cent royalties on their finds to the government, they can make off with whatever booty they find.
Experts have long assumed that the Fantome and the other vessels in the doomed convoy lie on the dangerous shoals in the relatively shallow waters just outside Halifax harbour.The ships went down during a vicious storm on 24 November 1814, only weeks after the British burned the White House.
They were bound for what was then the most important garrison in British North America.What treasures lay in the hold has never been established, but it is believed that gold was among them.
Adding to the mystery, Mr Chisolm last week told The Independent on Sunday that someone had stolen the relevant documents in the Nova Scotian archives that might have answered that and many other questions about the Fantome.
Nov 27, 2005
David Usborne
Independent
__________
New York (US):
Nearly two hundred years after the almost forgotten War of 1812 between Britain and the then fledgling United States, a new skirmish has broken out over the fate of a British warship wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia and believed to contain precious artefacts hauled from the sacked White House in Washington.
American divers sparked the dispute after they recently located the wreck of what many believe is HMS Fantome, a British Navy brig that led a convoy of ships from Washington to Halifax after British troops stormed the American capital and burned down the White House.
A Halifax-based documentary film-maker and marine explorer, John Chisolm, has launched a campaign to petition the Canadian provincial government in Nova Scotia to rescind the permit it has given to a Massachusetts marine exploration company to explore the wreck, on the grounds that its divers are plundering important treasures.Under Nova Scotian law, anyone can explore wrecks such as the Fantome and, provided they pay 10 per cent royalties on their finds to the government, they can make off with whatever booty they find.
Experts have long assumed that the Fantome and the other vessels in the doomed convoy lie on the dangerous shoals in the relatively shallow waters just outside Halifax harbour.The ships went down during a vicious storm on 24 November 1814, only weeks after the British burned the White House.
They were bound for what was then the most important garrison in British North America.What treasures lay in the hold has never been established, but it is believed that gold was among them.
Adding to the mystery, Mr Chisolm last week told The Independent on Sunday that someone had stolen the relevant documents in the Nova Scotian archives that might have answered that and many other questions about the Fantome.
Nov 27, 2005
