A 200-year-old shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Texas, where archeologists have launched a high-tech salvage operation. A team of nautical archeologists and biologists will explore the wreckage, found by a Shell Oil survey crew about 150 miles off the coast.

 

The exploration of satellite video and audio signals keep the team in communication with the crew staffing a vessel stationed above the debris field, which sits about 3,000 feet below the surface of the water. The team involved has the unique ability to stay on land and vigorously participate in a salvage operation happening at sea. Satellite links allow them to watch the underwater robot vehicles locate the artifacts and carefully bring them to surface. By radio, they can relay instructions to the ship’s crew controlling the salvage robot.

 

Images beamed back from the floor of the gulf display muskets, a cannon, clothing, plates and platters that went down with the ship. One prominent artifact retrieved by a robotic arm is a sealed bottle filled with bright yellow ginger, which was used as a treatment for seasickness.