The ocean is fraught with many mysteries and treasures. Many people devote their entire lives to searching for treasures and legendary sunken cities - thanks to them, we learn about amazing things hidden at the bottom.
Yonaguni
Yonaguni Island is located in western Japan. It became famous when divers discovered an amazing underwater complex at a depth of 27 meters. It consists of platforms with steps leading to terraces covered with intricate patterns of triangles. Scientists have come to the conclusion that this monument, which was allegedly created 2000-3000 years ago, was man-made.
Jurassic microbes
This find was discovered by scientists only in 2012. Microbes that are about 86 million years old still rest peacefully on the ocean floor.
Ancient Heraklion
The city of Ancient Heraklion was hidden in the depths of the ocean for several millennia - scientists learned about it only in 2000. It was once a port city through which ships entered Egypt. The prosperous place was razed to the ground by an earthquake that occurred in the first century BC. Most of the city's residents died, and miraculously the survivors escaped.
Antikythera - the most ancient computer
The Antiker mechanism, recovered from the depths of the ocean in 1900, is often called one of the most important finds of the 20th century. Scientists believe that this is the world's first analog computer, helping the ancient Greeks make great strides in mastering mathematics and astronomy.
Precious metals from the Third Reich
The world record for gold mining found in one place is 61 tons of silver from the time of the Third Reich. Treasures carried out by the Nazis on the SS Gairsoppa in 1941 were considered lost forever - until the company Odyssey Marine Exploration I didn't bother looking for them. To date, approximately a fifth of the total mass of valuables has been brought to land.
Treasures from the galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha
In 1985, after a seventeen-year search, the legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher discovered a Spanish galleon that sank in 1622. The ship Nuestra Señora de Atocha was transporting a precious cargo weighing 40 tons to Spain. The ship sank for unknown reasons off the coast of Florida. Numerous attempts by divers to get the treasure were unsuccessful.
Mel Fisher took the matter seriously - he found investors and organized a company that was supposed to handle the search operation. Work was carried out for decades, as a result of which treasures worth a total of $450 million were recovered from the site of the death of the galleon.
Cursed emeralds
Treasure hunter Jay Miscovich retrieved jewelry from the bottom of the ocean that ultimately destroyed him. Not far from the coast of Florida, he discovered huge emeralds worth several million dollars. Local television, and then federal investigators, became interested in the find. All this turned the life of the newly rich man into such stress that he committed suicide - this cemented the reputation of emeralds as “cursed” stones.
He took up the development of the ocean and for this he founded a company.
From time to time, people find really strange things at the bottom of the seas and oceans. Some of the artifacts found are simply stunning. Read more about ancient ruins, incredible animals and treasures...
Ancient computer
The Antikythera Mechanism is one of the most amazing discoveries modern era, despite the fact that it lay in the ocean for thousands of years. It is the oldest known computing mechanism.
However, it is still not clear how the mechanism was used. There is speculation that this is the first analogue computer due to its apparent complexity.
Presumably this computer was designed to predict lunar and solar eclipses based on progressions of Babylonian arithmetic cycles, but the true function ancient computer remains a mystery.
Apollo engine
In March 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos conceived a completely crazy but fascinating idea: he went in search of the engines that were used during the takeoff of the Apollo 11 manned spacecraft.
They have been lying on the ocean floor since the rocket launch in 1969. The two engines and some parts that were recovered have now been recovered and are on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kansas, USA.
Ancient city
“How can an entire city drown?” - you ask. Surprisingly, this happens more often than you think. Sea levels are constantly rising due to melting ice caps and other factors, flooding cities. And these are unfortunate historical facts.
Fortunately, modern technologies allowing us to rediscover and study these underwater ruins. One of the most famous examples is located off the coast of Egypt - the city of Thonis, better known as the city of Heracleion.
The found statue represents a foundation that is more than a thousand years old.
In parts ancient city that have been discovered, and from the materials used, researchers have glimpsed the former significance of the sunken ancient city, which was supposedly a center of Mediterranean trade. These ruins were discovered in 2000.
Emerald Treasure
Jay Miscovish from Key West, Florida, USA, bought a treasure map from a friend in a bar in 2010. Treasure hunter and diving enthusiast Miscovich went further to find out the condition of the multimillion-dollar emerald treasure he began searching for on the seabed off the coast of Florida.
The total weight of the found treasure, consisting of real emeralds, was more than 36 kg. The exact origin of these treasures is not yet known.
It is interesting that some time after the discovery of numerous precious stones, Jay Moskovich faced legal battles with US federal agents. And in 2013, he was found shot dead in his own home. The death was identified as suicide.
Coelacanth
Previously it was believed that they became extinct 65 million years ago. One species of coelacanth fish was discovered in 1938 by local fishermen off the coast of Africa. And the second species was discovered in Indonesia. What is most interesting is that coelacanths have not succumbed to evolution at all over the many millions of years of their existence.
They are included in this list because they are very rare fish, about which, unfortunately, there is very little information in the fossil record. In terms of food, fish is of absolutely no value, since it is completely unsuitable for human consumption.
Pirate ships
The wooden ships that have been lying on the seabed for centuries are breathtaking. For example, in 1718, the ship of the legendary pirate known as Blackbeard sank to the bottom after running aground off the coast of the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean).
And in 1966, what remained of this ship was discovered, including thousands of artifacts.
In 2013, the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources led the effort to remove the heavy artillery from the vessel. Several cannons weighing more than 900 kg each were lifted. And in 2014, a total of twenty different guns were recovered from a pirate ship.
New sharks
IN Indian Ocean in 2012, hundreds of sharks were pulled from the depths, while at least eight of them were the new kind. Paul Clerkin, a graduate student at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California, USA, led the expedition and was delighted with the results.
"They're not like the classic great white sharks you see on television," he told NBC News. They are similar to the usual sharks with a jagged spine and, perhaps, this is the only similarity.
Microbes from the Jurassic period
Something much older than coelacanth fish has been discovered in the depths of the ocean. In 2012, microbes originally from the Jurassic period were discovered at great depths.
They were barely alive. These tiny organisms had not eaten for 86 million years, and barely had enough oxygen to maintain their metabolism.
It's hard to believe that these microbes were still alive, but there is more than enough reason to consider these tiny creatures to be among the oldest of all living organisms on the planet.
British Silver
More than 61 tons of silver worth $36 million were recovered from Atlantic Ocean. This is rightfully considered a world record for a treasure discovered in one place. The wealth was on board the British ship SS Gairsoppa, which sank in 1941 after being torpedoed by the Nazis.
The ship sank 480 km off the coast of Ireland, and it was believed that it would never be found.
As of the summer of 2012, representatives of Odyssey Marine Exploration (Tampa, Florida, USA) claimed that only about 20% of the total silver that should have been on board had been recovered. The total weight is believed to be about 240 tons.
Giant animals 
Not a single list of strange underwater discoveries wouldn't be complete without some sort of giant monster. Several creatures are known to have washed ashore over the centuries, with some reaching over 12m in length.
For example, this is a giant squid that was filmed in its natural environment in 2001 by Japanese scientists.
Or this record-breaking crab, nicknamed “Crab Kong”. This arthropod has not even reached its maturity yet, but is already 3 m in diameter. The Japanese giant crab was caught near the city of Tokyo. 
Initially, the fishermen who caught it wanted to make soup from the sea “monster,” but then it was given to the biologist Robin James who intervened in the case, who took it into his care.
Diver... Imagination pictures the ocean coast, schools of strange fish and a satisfied scuba swimmer. Although the hobby of diving is in no way associated with the cold north, in Tyumen there are several hundred of those who have seen the bottom of all the rivers and lakes in the region and have made expeditions to the Urals. Dive in our latitudes as much as possible! And the reservoirs may be inferior to the Maldivian shores, but they are their own, dear ones. But diving is not just a hobby for the soul. It's also about helping people. An experienced diver, an international category instructor in technical and recreational diving, a professional diver, and the head of a diving center, Andrey Shelpakov, told Komsomolskaya Pravda - Tyumen about what can be found at the bottom of Tyumen reservoirs, about the dangers of diving and about the signs.
Mysterious finds
Tyumen resident Andrey Shelpakov has been interested in diving for more than 17 years. Previously, he conquered mountain peaks, but now he cannot live without water depths. He says it was always interesting to see what the water hides.
– What’s under water is a big secret. And personally, I'm interested in seeing this. Yes and undersea world very beautiful: at the bottom there are whole meadows of algae, various fish that swim around you at arm's length... The water hides a lot - shark teeth, mammoth tusks, pots of gold coins and even figurines. This is the little that my fellow divers and I found in the water,” says Andrey.
Many people become interested in scuba diving to find treasures. And they really do find it. Divers who manage to find valuables at the bottom carefully store the artifacts and try not to show them to anyone. After all, sometimes a find is valued at several tens of thousands of dollars! Some valuables are handed over to the museum, while others are kept as souvenirs.
For example, about ten years ago, Tyumen diver Evgeniy found an ancient skull at the bottom of Lake Andreevskoe, the cost of which is estimated at 10,000 US dollars. After all, the preservation of the skull is excellent, despite its age - at least 5000 years. The find is valuable both for scientists and for underwater trophy hunters. They say that a local oligarch was going to buy the artifact from Evgeniy. I dreamed of exhibiting a copy in a local museum. But it didn’t work out. Now the diver does not show the find to anyone. The scuba diver also refused to contact KP-Tyumen journalists.
As Andrey Shelpakov says, at the bottom of reservoirs Tyumen region You can find fossils of ancient animals, and sometimes ancient coins. But serious treasures are not hidden in our lakes and rivers. Unlike, for example, the neighboring Sverdlovsk region. There, divers still find valuables from the Yekaterinburg mint.
Underwater crime world
There are no valuable treasures in our region (perhaps they haven’t been found yet), but the underwater world of Tyumen is full of... criminal finds. According to divers, at the bottom they regularly find echoes of the 90s and traces of today’s crimes. Sawn safes, license plates, knives, mobile phones and weapons of all shapes and sizes... The surviving weapons are handed over to the police. A rotten crime weapon that is of no value is thrown away.
But this is not the worst thing. During scuba diving, Tyumen scuba divers also find human remains. Andrei’s colleague Vladimir twice came across the corpses of murdered people.
“I won’t say on what lake it happened.” Once I went on vacation with my family and took scuba gear. He sank to the bottom and noticed jeans in the seaweed. Floated closer - it looked like a human skeleton. But it's hard to see. I was upset, of course, but I thought it was just my imagination. The next day I decided to check again. The algae opened up - indeed, at the bottom there was a girl’s corpse. Called the police. It turned out that she went missing 5 years ago. They killed her, tied a rail to her corpse and threw her into the water,” Vladimir throws up his hands.
By the way, law enforcement officers and rescuers sometimes ask divers to help them with their work. Tyumen scuba divers try not to refuse and go out as volunteers to look for drowned or missing people.
If they had seen it, they would not have entered the water.
It’s interesting, but scuba diving enthusiasts themselves do not swim in Tyumen reservoirs. And they don’t allow their children. They say that the rivers in Tyumen and the region are so dirty that swimming in them is, to put it mildly, dangerous.
Of course, tires and plastic bottles can be found in any river, lake, or quarry. But in Tyumen, according to divers, the situation is simply critical.
– Our water bodies are poorly cleaned. Well, or they pretend to clean it. Tires, plastic and beer bottles, broken glass, construction waste... This is a small fraction of what is at the bottom. And people swim in this,” states Andrey. And he says that an attempt by divers to clean one of the reservoirs led to the removal of several KamAZ trucks of garbage from a small lake! True, the city administration does not ask local divers to clean the reservoirs. They cope on their own. But divers believe that it was unsuccessful.
Hobbies for the rich
Even though diving is not only a hobby, but also a useful activity for society, it is considered a hobby for wealthy Tyumen residents. Only scuba gear (without an air tank), mask and fins for diving will cost at least 60,000 rubles. And the cylinder also needs to be refilled regularly. A separate budget item is a wetsuit. How colder water, the more expensive it is. If you want to swim in our latitudes, you will have to pay about 80,000 rubles for it. Of course, diving equipment can be rented, but it will only be issued to a certified diver.
“But an inexperienced person simply will not be able to dive with the equipment. It is not simple. You need to be able to calculate the dive, be able to handle complex equipment. Therefore, in any case, he will need to undergo training,” says Andrey. “And that’s why we rent equipment only to certified divers. Otherwise, it may not return to us and remain with the lover at the bottom of the reservoir.
They will also train a diver for a fairly tidy sum - 24,000 rubles. This includes theoretical lessons, several dives in the pool, and then in real conditions.
Where to swim
In Tyumen there are about 300 people who consider themselves divers. Some of them prefer to dive in warm countries. It’s no wonder: in summer the temperature at the bottom of Tyumen reservoirs does not rise above +6 degrees. And visibility sometimes leaves much to be desired.
The most the best places For diving, Andrey considers the mountain lakes of the Sverdlovsk region and ancient quarries flooded with water. Their depth sometimes reaches 130 meters. In the Tyumen region, the diver prefers to dive at the Blue Lakes, Perevalovsky and Bogandinsky quarries. These places are very popular among local divers. True, it is preferable to dive there in winter - there are no drains, no clay, and you can calmly admire sleeping fish.
Who can go diving? Andrey says that no special abilities are required, with the exception of those forces that will be required for training. The main thing is the absence of obvious health problems, when diving is not allowed at all. For example, if you have problems with the respiratory system or circulatory system, with consequences of serious traumatic brain injuries. Both children from the age of eight and people with disabilities, even if there are no arms or legs.
– Do divers have signs before diving?
– Yes, you can’t take pictures. I don’t know where this sign came from. And I don’t comply,” Andrey smiles.
altic UFO (“Baltic UFO”), or Baltic anomaly (“Baltic Anomaly”) - this is the name given to the world news agencies an unusual round object, next to which an expedition of Swedish oceanographers led by Peter Lindbergh and Dennis Asberg operated. The mystery of the Baltic UFO that was eventually found at the bottom, an impressive solution to the mystery.
An item was found unusual shape at a depth of 87 meters. Experts put forward many theories about what it could be. Some claim that this is a secret design from the Second World War. And with its help, the Germans fought with submarines.
The mystery of the Baltic UFO that was eventually found at the bottom: the Star Wars ship
A mysterious object discovered at the bottom of the Baltic Sea brought together a whole team of experts from different directions, bringing joy and perplexing them. All professional archaeologists, historians, as well as ufologists became interested in the amazing find. Each specialist put forward his own theory about what it could be. But everyone can’t decide what kind of object it is and, most importantly, what it’s for.
Labeled as an “anomaly of the Baltic Sea”, the structure looks like a natural one spaceship, sank underwater from Star Wars.
The item was discovered by Swedish treasure hunters, the Ocean X team, under the command of Captain Lindberg and archaeologist Asberg. They had to clean the find for many months from the numerous silt that covered the object.
The anomaly was discovered by accident; the equipment refused to function near the place where the object was located. Everything electrical was turned off, even the lights on the suits. After such events, they began to study the territory in more depth.
Of course, the news about this find spread all over the world, almost all newspapers and the Internet wrote about it. But they couldn’t voice a clear version of what it is. The versions about the object are very different, some put forward a theory about a Russian sunken ship, others about an unknown spacecraft.
The mystery of the Baltic UFO that was eventually found at the bottom: attempts to unravel the object
Weiner, who studied a sample of material raised from the bottom, concluded that such a metal does not exist in nature.
There are experts who claim that this is a secret Nazi submarine, because it is known that Germany conducted tests in these waters. Others insist that it is a UFO. But there is no confirmed data for such daring hypotheses on this moment there is no - however, there is no clear refutation of this.
The “Baltic UFO” is an object with a diameter of approximately 60 meters at the bottom, which was found using sonar.
"For 18 years professional activity I have never seen anything like it,” Lindbergh was amazed at the time.
Accurate geometric shapes Stunned experts, this structure resembled the ship “Millennium Falcon” from the legendary film “Star Wars”, or similar to a famous architectural structure like the English Stonehenge.
The mystery of the Baltic UFO that was eventually found at the bottom: the mystery of the “mushroom” has been solved
The specialists came to the aid of the footage that the team shared; they were filmed close to the subject. They suggested that this structure did not fly, they just wondered, because near the “Baltic UFO” there is a dented strip and furrows about 300 meters long. It can be assumed that the object made an emergency landing.
The object itself resembles a mushroom hat, rising 4 meters above the bottom. An oval hole and unusual “scorch marks” were found at the top: formations similar to hearths covered with soot.
At this point, the mystery of the “mushroom” may have already been discovered. Geology professor at Stockholm University Volker Brüchert believes that the object lying at the bottom of Botanical Bay - between Finland and Sweden - is most likely of geological origin. As the expert noted, the Baltic Sea is the result of the passage of a glacier in this area. Having melted, which marked the beginning of the sea.
The specialist suggested that the samples that came to him were fragments of ordinary basalt - a rock of volcanic origin. He believes that the basalt was brought to this site by a glacier. And after the ice melted, he found himself at the bottom of the sea. So the object itself most likely ended up in this place due to melting glaciers.
In the waters of the Moscow River in the metropolitan district of Khoroshevo-Mnevniki there is an arsenal of firearms and ammunition. Not only security officials, but also divers know firsthand that dark waters sometimes hide dark secrets. The thrill in this sport is not only associated with diving to depth: extreme sports enthusiasts never know what they will encounter at the bottom and whether it will be antiques, fragments of ships... or corpses mixed with weapons. I talked with divers from different regions of the country and found out what criminal secrets are hidden under the water for the time being.
The Long-awaited Dead
“It was in the summer, three or four years ago. It was a warm June day, I went to Lytkarino near Moscow to go diving, snorkel, and look at the bottom. I’m swimming, filming the underwater world, ahead is something like a whirlpool. I swim there, to a depth of ten meters, visibility is poor. And suddenly I see human legs at the bottom. I swam closer and took a closer look: the drowned man was a man of about sixty, in swimming trunks, with his arms extended forward. Traces of decay were already visible on the body,” recalls a diver from Moscow.
Shocked, he immediately went to a cafe on the local beach and told about the terrible discovery. Unexpectedly, the news pleased Fedorenko’s interlocutor. “Oh, finally found!” - he exclaimed. As it turned out, a week earlier a grandfather and granddaughter came to the quarry to swim. The elderly man disappeared, the girl looked for him - to no avail. The efforts of police and rescuers also did not yield results.
“We called the police. The staff asked me to bring the body ashore. I didn’t really want to, of course, but what can I do? I took my grandfather’s hands, swam, and they already helped me upstairs. In the sun, the corpse began to swell, there was a smell - it was hot outside, plus 25, it was at the bottom, like in a refrigerator, - there was a maximum of 2-3 degrees. Therefore, we had to keep the body in shallow water until the transportation arrived to pick it up. People came running, all the onlookers gathered,” says Alexander.
According to him, after this story, employees periodically contact him. Recently, rescuers again invited him to dive in Lytkarino: a person had once again disappeared there. This proposal did not please the diver much: looking for corpses is not an activity for the faint of heart. Moreover, the dead sometimes... rise up under water.
“The rescuers told me: when a person drowns, he first lies at the bottom,” says the diver. - As tissue decomposes, gas is released and the body swells. Buoyancy changes, and the drowned man gradually rises to his feet. Even an experienced diver will feel scared here.”
According to Lenta.ru’s interlocutor, sometimes the police contact divers. Employees of the Moscow criminal investigation department, investigating a robbery, once asked a diver to look for a safe at the bottom. There was an assumption that he could lie in this place, but there was nothing there. However, sometimes extreme people themselves give work to law enforcement officers.
“Once in Strogino I found an F-1 grenade at the bottom of a reservoir. Judging by the appearance, it had been lying there for a long time, but nevertheless it was with a fuse, everything was as it should be. I then had to get it out myself and hand it over to the sappers called to the scene. They put her in a special bag and took her away. Was it scary to pick up a grenade from the bottom? It’s no worse than finding a corpse, I’ll tell you,” explains Fedorenko.
Bottom ATMs Skhodny
“I have been diving for a very long time, since 1974. I can’t say that at different times, like the 1990s, there were more or less criminal finds. Weapons and ammunition have always been found, including in the Moscow River,” says a diver from Moscow.
According to him, scuba diving enthusiasts hand over found weapons, for example Makarov pistols, to the police. Sometimes it turns out to be “clean”, that is, not involved in crimes. But more often it happens differently.
“What was unusual? ATMs at the bottom of the Skhodnensky diversion canal. We didn’t approach them, didn’t try to lift them - since they were lying there, that meant it was necessary. Sometimes there are requests from police officers to help in criminal investigations. For example, they have an assumption that a human body was drowned in a pond. But during all the time we were diving, we did not find any criminal corpses,” says Petrov.
Stranger from the Fridge
“My most memorable find was the body of a woman in the refrigerator,” recalls Petrozavodsk diver Dmitry Belenikhin. - It was about five years ago, during training. We have a quarry within the city limits, they used to mine stone there, but for the last few decades it has been flooded. The depth of the quarry is 13 meters, and we often dive there. That day we noticed a suspicious refrigerator at the bottom. They opened it right in the water and saw the dismembered body of a woman there. Legs, arms, and head were laid out on the shelves. We immediately called the police, the refrigerator was taken upstairs, and the body was taken for examination. I don’t know how the criminal investigation ended. It seems that the killer was never found.”
One day he discovered a domestic car at the bottom of a reservoir. At first, Belenikhin thought that the owner simply decided to get rid of the old car in this way - but everything turned out to be not so simple. The motorist has previously insured his vehicle, and then drowned him to fake theft and get money.
“We periodically find cannonballs in Lake Onega. If you plunge into the history of Petrozavodsk, it turns out that the city was founded by a cannon factory built in Peter’s time, which produced weapons for the Russian army during the Russian-Swedish war. In our city there is a street called Probnaya: they tried cannons on it, firing towards the lake. The nuclei have remained there to this day; it is even surprising that they did not go deep into the ground. We periodically retrieve them from the bottom, although it is not easy,” says the diver.
“Police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations periodically turn to us with requests to find drowned people or equipment. Sometimes we find people. Mostly these are drowned people or suicides. And then you dive, you see: there is a man at the bottom. So diving is canceled today. We call the police,” Spitsyn concludes.
