• Costa Concordia still obstructing scenic Italian view

    Max Rossi / Reuters

    A couple sunbathe in front of the wreckage of capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia near the harbour of Giglio Porto, on June 20. Salvage crews began preliminary work this week on preparations to refloat the half-submerged Costa Concordia cruise liner in what is set to be the biggest ever operation of its kind.

    Max Rossi / Reuters

    A woman swims in front of the wreckage of capsized cruise liner Costa Concordia near the harbour of Giglio Porto on June 20. Salvage crews began preliminary work this week on preparations to refloat the half-submerged Costa Concordia cruise liner in what is set to be the biggest ever operation of its kind.

    Reuters reports -- Salvage crews began preliminary work this week on preparations to refloat the half-submerged Costa Concordia cruise liner in what is set to be the biggest ever operation of its kind.

    A barge has moved next to the liner and the ship's radar has been removed from the upper deck. The swimming pool slide and the large yellow funnel will be taken off in coming weeks, salvage workers and local officials said.

    Read the full story.

     

    Slideshow: Luxury cruise ship runs aground

    Handout / Reuters

    The Costa Concordia, carrying more than 4,200 passengers, ran aground Jan. 13 off the coast of Italy. At least 25 people died in the accident, and rescuers continue to search for others missing.

    Launch slideshow

     

  • 200-year-old shipwreck discovered in Gulf of Mexico

    NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program via AP

    While most of the ship's wood has long since disintegrated, the copper that sheathed the hull beneath the waterline is still intact. Leaving behind a copper shell retaining the form of a the ship which sank more than 200 years ago.

    NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program via AP

    A large cast-iron cannon lies next to an anchor.The wheel to the right of the anchor may be part of the gun carriage.

    A newly discovered 200-year-old shipwreck was found 200 miles off the Gulf Coast in more than 4,000 feet of water by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The wooden hull of the ship has nearly disintegrated, but a greenish copper shell that once protected the ship's wood remains behind.

    The photos in this blog post were shot on April 26, but made available to msnbc.com today.

    Related Link: 200-year-old shipwreck found full of bottles, guns and plates

    NOAA Okeanos Explorer via AP

    Artifacts from the shipwreck, including ceramic plates, platters, bowls, and bottles, some with the contents still sealed inside sit 4,000 feet underwater in the Gulf of Mexico.

    NOAA Okeanos Explorer via AP

    An anemone lives on top of a musket that lies across a whole group of muskets at the site of well preserved 200-year-old shipwreck discovered about 200 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

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  • Container ship in danger of breaking up off the New Zealand coast

    By Phaedra Singelis, NBC News

    Can you imagine coming across this scene on your walk along the beach? As the ship gets pounded by waves the containers are starting to topple off, and at least one of those contained hazardous waste and hasn't been found.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    People stand on the beach as a container from the stricken ship 'Rena' lies in the water at Mount Maunganui near Tauranga on Oct.13. Salvage crews readied for a badly listing container ship stuck on a reef to break up, deepening New Zealand's worst maritime pollution disaster as it enters a second week.

    New Zealand Defence Force via Reuters

    A New Zealand Air Force helicopter winches a salvage expert onto the stricken container ship Rena, off the coast of Tauranga, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island Oct. 13, more than a week after hitting the Astrolabe Reef. Oil tanks on the stranded ship are threatening to break in half salvage experts said on Thursday as the ship's owners apologized for the large clumps of oil washed up on beaches.

    They're trying to figure out if they can pump the oil and fuel out of the ship before it breaks up, spilling 1,870 tons of oil and 220 tons of diesel into the ocean.

    Natacha Pisarenko / AP

    Waves wash the Papamoa Beach dirtied with fuel oil from the Liberian-flagged container ship Rena which has been stuck aground on a reef off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand, Oct. 13.

    They've already found hundreds of dead birds and are working on saving the 51 birds they found and three seals.

    Blair Harkness / Maritime New Zealand via Reuters

    A penguin affected by fuel-oil from the stricken container ship is treated at the wildlife rehabilitation facility set up at Tauranga made available to Reuters on Oct. 13. Fear grew that the vessel may break up spewing more fuel-oil on to beaches in the country's worst environmental disaster in decades. REUTERS/Blair Harkness/Maritime New Zealand/Handout (NEW ZEALAND - Tags: DISASTER TRANSPORT ENVIRONMENT ENERGY BUSINESS ANIMALS)

    The workers trying to clean up the spill by hand, are also finding hundreds of dead fish washed up along the beach.

    Bradley Ambrose / AFP - Getty Images

    Clean-up workers rake oily sand following the leak from the stricken container ship 'Rena' at Mount Maunganui near Tauranga on Oct.13.

     Full story.

  • Shipwrecked champagne

    By Mish Whalen

     

    Seventy bottles of what is believed to be the world's oldest champagne were discovered on July 2010 in a shipwreck, at a depth of about 165 feet, southeast of Mariehamn, on the southwestern Finnnish Aaland Islands of the Baltic Sea. An expert who tasted it said it had an accent of mushrooms merged with honey. See the full story here

    Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP - Getty Images

    The manager of the Aaland museum, Viveka Loendal presents to the media champagne from the early 1800s on November 17, 2010 in Mariehamn.

    Alex Dawson / AFP - Getty Images

    Photo taken in July 2010, southeast of Mariehamn, on the southwestern Finnnish Aaland Islands of the Baltic Seaand and released by the Government of Aaland showing a diver taking out the bottles of about 200-year-old champagne and securing the cork so it will not open from the pressure of the cold and deep water.

    Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP - Getty Images

    A glass of a 200-year-old champagne, on in Mariehamn.

    Jonathan Nackstrand / AFP - Getty Images

    Swedish and worldwide champagne expert Richard Julin tastes a 200-year-old champagne, on November 17, 2010 in Mariehamn.