| | | | | It is also said that there is a time and a place |
| Why Shipwrecks are Discovered | | | | for everything. When it comes to issues and |
| | | | | resolutions, there are no such things as coincidences. |
| The year is sometime in the mid 1750's. A | | | | Like the ship's sinking, the discovery of the ship also |
| sailing vessel laden with spices and gold sets sail from | | | | had its own reasons. The matter of sonar and other |
| Western Europe to the merchant ports of America | | | | technology had little to do with the timing of the |
| to the west. The voyage goes well until the last leg | | | | ship's discovery. A fisherman's net could have |
| of the journey. In a sudden storm at sea, the ship | | | | snagged the ship's masts or a research submarine |
| founders (sinks) off the coast of North Carolina. All | | | | could have stumbled across the wreck years earlier. |
| of the crew and passengers aboard are lost. The ship | | | | The reason the ship remained undiscovered for 250 |
| rests on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, where it | | | | years was most likely because it was not ready to |
| lay undisturbed for over 250 years. Then, in the early | | | | be found. There were probably issues that remained |
| part of the 21st century, a diving expedition for an | | | | to be resolved and connections that still had to be |
| offshore research company stumbles across the | | | | made. The proverbial dust surrounding the ship and its |
| wreck. The ship is excavated and the many artifacts | | | | demise had to settle before it could be discovered. |
| are taken to a local museum. Many questions can be | | | | Once the pieces of the "issue puzzle" fell into place, |
| raised about the ship's saga. The matter of who and | | | | the ship was then able to be remembered. This |
| what was on board are the obvious questions, but | | | | discovery brings the ship's saga full circle and provides |
| that is only the tip of the iceberg. Why did it take so | | | | a means of closure for those involved. Its story could |
| long to discover the ship? Was its discovery simply a | | | | then be told so that others may learn from its |
| stroke of luck or coincidence? Why did the ship sink | | | | experience. |
| in the first place? The answers to these questions | | | | Many of the principles of the ship's saga apply |
| are not as simple as they seem. | | | | to our lives as well. When something happens to us, |
| It is said that all things happen for a reason. | | | | it is like a ship sinking. We search endlessly for |
| The storm was not the reason the ship went down. | | | | answers to questions that just seem to have no |
| The storm was simply what caused the ship to sink. | | | | answers. We struggle to deal with issues that have |
| The exact reasons can be very complex and difficult | | | | no resolutions. Once we understand the reasons |
| to understand. There may have been something in | | | | behind the circumstances and events in our lives, we |
| the lives of the sailors lost or their families, but most | | | | can begin to deal with the related issues. When we |
| likely it goes much deeper than that. Maybe it was | | | | learn to deal with the issues that we can understand, |
| something about the company that owned the ship. | | | | the other pieces of the puzzle will fall into place. |
| Perhaps it was something with the cargo and the | | | | Gradually, the answers to the bigger questions will |
| market it was intended for. There could be many | | | | become clearer. Like the ship, through this self |
| reasons for the tragedy. The true answers as to | | | | discovery, we can bring our story "full circle" and gain |
| why can be compared to a jigsaw puzzle with the | | | | some sort of closure. Only then can we tell our story |
| pieces being a combination of all of these factors. | | | | and use our experiences to help others. |