Springs Preserve’s ‘Shipwreck!’ exhibit brings high seas to desert valley

Miles and miles from any sea, museum visitors can learn of treasures recovered miles beneath the waves in the Odyssey Marine Exploration exhibit "Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure" on display through Jan. 31 at the Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd.

The visiting exhibit is packed with artifacts that survived their stay beneath the ocean — gold, silver, porcelain and glass — all recovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration from centuries-old shipwrecks, and each a time capsule, a window into the past.

"Searching the deep seas and exploring the past is a passionate quest for the Odyssey crew," a welcoming message reads. "Over the years, they've discovered hundreds of shipwrecks and uncovered some of the sea's most fascinating mysteries."

Despite the exploration company's reach, it's estimated the Odyssey team has only scratched the surface.

"The vast ocean floor is scattered with shipwrecks spanning centuries of maritime travel, trade, warfare and exploration. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization estimates there are over three million shipwrecks worldwide," the exhibit adds.

Aaron Micallef, Springs Preserve curator, said the exhibit is unique. Most touring displays are put together by an exhibit company or a museum. This exhibit was created by Odyssey Marine Exploration.

"A lot of times when these shipwrecks happen as part of the negotiated settlement between the company that is doing the reclamation and the country of origin, they require some sort of educational opportunity to go along with that," Micallef said. "This company decided to put together an exhibit."

Shortly before the exhibit opened at the Springs Preserve, Odyssey Marine Exploration sold it to an exhibit service, but Micallef said, despite the sale, it remains the same as when he went to check it out three years ago in Hot Springs, Ark.

"I try to go out and check them as often as I can," he said. "I'll swoop in, check them out and fly right back. I really did enjoy the exhibit. I thought it was a nice combination of science and technology along with artifacts and a storyline."

That storyline goes over the forces that sent ships to the ocean floor: weather, piracy, war and navigation failures. And visitors get an idea of why there are so many wrecks to explore.

"Before airplanes, cars and trains — ancient, medieval and colonial traders and explorers relied on ships to transport exotic foods, goods and slaves over long distances," the exhibit explains. "Limited navigational tools meant that for centuries most ships used routes that were not far from the coast. With thousands of years of maritime trade and millions of vessels sailing the seas it doesn't take long to figure out why there were so many wrecks around the world."

In the English Channel alone, the Odyssey team has discovered 267 shipwreck sites in just the western portions.

Museum visitors can experience at least one of the forces that sunk ships, the hurricane. Phone booth-like tubes, similar to the one in the permanent collection at the Discovery Children's Museum, allow guests to see what a Category 1 hurricane would feel like with winds at more than 75 mph.

A storm was the culprit in the sinking of the SS Republic. Battling hurricane winds, driving rain and towering waves, passengers boarded four lifeboats and one raft as the SS Republic sank en route from New York to New Orleans in 1865. The exit was orderly, but the captain was pulled down with the sinking ship and was barely able to swim to a lifeboat. It took four days for the lifeboats to be rescued and a week for the raft. Many artifacts from the Civil War-era sidewheel steamship are on display at the Springs Preserve. Stories of the passengers on board are also included.

"I think, all too often, we forget that these shipwrecks are in fact graveyards," Micallef said.

Pirates, too, were among the threats sailors faced. Visitors can hoist a pirate flag. And those who only know Calico Jack's flag, popularized in the film, "Pirates of the Caribbean," will learn that pirate flags flown during the golden age varied, though most had a black background with a skull and crossbones, skeletons, daggers and other symbols representing death, violence and time running out for the pirates' prey.

Visitors can learn of the fate of pirates such as Edward Low, Christopher Moody, Henry Avery, Blackbeard, Christopher Condent, Thomas Tew, Black Bart, William Kidd and even the notorious female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. While some retired to enjoy their booty, that was not the lot for most.

"Hanging corpses of prominent pirates were tarred and bound in chains, then hoisted in an iron cage called a gibbet," the exhibit explains. "Left to rot at the entrance to a port in sight of every passing vessel, the pirate's grisly fate served as a warning to those who might consider a life of piracy."

Visitors can check out a pirate's realistic reproduced remains in a giblet, or they can use a computer program to suit up a buccaneer, or they can identify ships through portal-mounted scopes.

A major portion of the exhibit is dedicated to learning about the science and technology used to seek out, document, recover and preserve artifacts from shipwrecks.

Because most finds are too deep to be accessed by divers, Odyssey's crew uses remote-operated vehicles. Their Zeus vehicle has recovered more than 20,000 artifacts and more than 600,000 coins. The process is labor-intensive and difficult, with technicians operating a robotic arm to carefully unearth and retrieve one artifact at time. Visitors can try their hand at collecting coins with a model. Micallef said even after practice, he can pick up only one coin for every 10 tries.

"It's difficult on purpose," he said. "We want people to understand that there are professionals who spend their entire adult careers perfecting that. It's not something that's easy."

Admission to "Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure" is included with Springs Preserve admission, which for Nevada residents, is $9.95 for adults, $8.95 for students, seniors, teachers and members of the military, and $4.95 for children 5 to 17. Visit springspreserve.org.

— Contact View contributing reporter Ginger Meurer at gmeurer@viewnews.com. Find her on Twitter: @gingermmm.