We know what you'll be doing on Sept. 19 -- showing off your pirate vocabulary, your pirate flag, even your pirate library. Yes, Talk Like A Pirate Day is coming up fast.
The big question: what will you be doing Oct. 1? That's when the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore opens its exhibit Shipwreck! Pirates & Treasure. Real-life treasure hunters have recovered gold coins, pirate artifacts and other objects from sunken treasure ships. In a few weeks, highlights of those finds, together with some interactive computer simulations, will be open to the public at the Science Center.
If the hurricane-force storm predicted for the East Coast this weekend isn't enough for you, the exhibit also features a virtual storm:
Meet famous pirates like Blackbeard and learn about the roles pirates played in history. Explore the lore, legends and facts of pirates who sailed the oceans of the world. Through the use of multi-media and innovative technology, this interactive exhibit merges elements of science, technology, history, marine archaeology, weather and navigation. The experience includes piloting a virtual submersible over a shipwreck site, operating a robotic manipulator arm to recover gold coins, and battling the forces of nature while standing in a 75-mph hurricane tube.
The artifacts come from the Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., a publicly traded company that says in its press release about the exhibit that it is
"engaged in the exploration of deep-ocean shipwrecks and uses innovative methods and state-of-the-art technology to conduct extensive search and archaeological recovery operations around the world."
To help Odyssey Marine as it explores existing sites and finds new treasures, the company recently raised $1.8 million in new financing. As The Tampa Bay Business Journal explains:
Odyssey Marine (NASDAQ: OMEX), a Tampa shipwreck exploration company, expects to receive $1.8 million before deducting expenses — after agreeing to sell the promissory notes and issuing warrants to sell 270,000 shares of common stock. The purchasers were not identified in a filing with the SEC that described the deal.
Odyssey Marine said it would use the net proceeds for working capital, capital expenditures and other general corporate purposes.
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