Still from ROV video

[Chris Johnson]

Sure i'll get corrected if i'm wrong but that's too deep for natural seaweed growth so its either a 'floater' or something more?

[C.W. Herndon]

Did FN carry drift bombs on the Electra?  I am thinking that I read somewhere that they were not useful on that bird because of a lack of a vantage point from which to observe them on the sea once dropped.

Not to drop a wet blanket on this, just something nagging me from Fred's comments (and I can't lay my fingers on the item so far today...).

Jeff,

There is no way to show for sure that AE and FN had drift bombs on board for the 2nd flight, but the Luke Field inventory listed 12 aircraft water lights and 7 Aluminum Direction Bombs as part of the cargo for flight #1.(see items #30 and 31 of report below) It also listed a Pelorus drift sight, MK II B with extra base. (see item 122 of report below) These items were all to be used to compute wind speed/direction.

Gary L., if I remember correctly, has on more than on occasion mentioned the importance of being able to compute the wind speed/direction and using the drift sight as a way to do this. The extra base was to be used to sight through the cabin door while it was held open by the brackets installed for use with the skyhook/pollen collection device.

http://tighar.org/Projects/Earhart/Archives/Documents/Luke_Field.html

[richie conroy]

Does anyone have any picture's of tie down ropes mentioned in Luke field inventory

[richie conroy]

Also in the list it mention's "Sheet metal Alcoa" What could this have been for ?

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Also in the list it mention's "Sheet metal Alcoa" What could this have been for ?

It's the Alclad sheet used for the 'skin' of the airplane Richie, cut and drill to required size. Take a sheet of your own if needed for running repairs on your world record flight around the world.

[Greg Daspit]

Woody
I think that orange thing may be a species of soft coral. I looked at the video and when the light hits the reflection it seems to make the camera auto adjust or something but the orange blob does not seem to be expanding after the camera settles down.

Regarding the "bomb casing" image. It is not the same shape as the one attached but close. The thickness of the "fins" makes sense if they are ceramic. The hollow part looks like it has the same finish as the exterior. If freshly broken open wouldn't they have a different finish on the inside if it was protecting the flakes for 75 years and the outside exposed to the elements?
The broken edges don't seem fresh either.
Edit: if a different bomb exploded ignore those comments.
I think it is coral but I wouldn't rule out a ceramic bomb casing broken long ago

[Chris Johnson]

Greg,

wouldn't it be too deep for a fost Soft Coral? As I read it 60M is the usual depth associated with soft corals.

[Chris Johnson]

Is the wing image just someone showing some old fottage to gie an example of what stuff may look like? To me it looked like an image from a seabed, flat surface.

Maybe just a teaser in the trail to hook interest.

(but if it was a wing on Niku i'd be as chuffed as a Badger in clover)

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Is the wing image just someone showing some old fottage to gie an example of what stuff may look like? To me it looked like an image from a seabed, flat surface.

Maybe just a teaser in the trail to hook interest.

(but if it was a wing on Niku i'd be as chuffed as a Badger in clover)

The real time display from the ROV image capture show the date and time to be consistent with the expedition Chris. So unless that has been added/falsified/altered it looks kosher.

[Tim Collins]

Richie, Jeff et al -

Stop playing around with those old ROV stills and get working on those screen captures from Discover over at the NIKU VII thread - many of us don't want to wait until Sunday!

(all in fun of course)

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

 ;)
Tim
No need, Jeff Glickman at Photek has the footage and, its just a matter of time.
The quality is very impressive, the Phoenix International and Submersible Systems teams have done a brilliant job, splendid work.
The sneak preview tells us all we needed to know, there is more than a coral reef and associated flora and fauna (and shipwrecks) down there.

[Greg Daspit]

Greg,

wouldn't it be too deep for a fost Soft Coral? As I read it 60M is the usual depth associated with soft corals.

If its that deep it may be a deep sea coral which can live below 50 meters and as deep as 6,000 meters
http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-photos/new-soft-coral
http://coralreef.noaa.gov/deepseacorals/about/facts/dsc_occur.html

[Chris Johnson]

But arn't they mostly hard coral and cold water?

[Greg Daspit]

But arn't they mostly hard coral and cold water?

Chris, after doing minimal research there seems to be both. The link I posted above showed a specific species of deep sea soft coral found recently. They are finding more and more as the deep becomes more accessible. This  link has more information

Perhaps someone who knows about this can chime it. I think it would be interesting to learn about the age of the coral. Some seem to live to be very old. Information like that may help determine if there were slides recently or not. And therefore help study the search area for the plane. For example if you see a very old living coral you can guess it wasn't buried recently

[Chris Johnson]

Thaks Greg, very interesting.

I wounder how coral bleaching affects deeper corals as Niku had a very bad case of this a few years back.