Divers have stolen from the Holland 5, a historically important submarine wreck lying in the English Channel.

English Heritage said divers stole the torpedo tube hatch of the Holland 5, which sank six miles off Eastbourne in East Sussex in 1912.

The theft was discovered during a licensed dive by the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS) in June and confirmed during a dive last month.

The NAS described the wreck as a “remarkable piece of naval heritage”.

Sussex Police and English Heritage have appealed for help to catch the perpetrators, who may have struck up to two years ago.

Experts said a group of people would have been behind the theft but that the hatch carried very little monetary value.

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A rare Roman lantern made of bronze has been unearthed by a metal-detectorist in a field in England.

Danny Mills, 21, made the find in a field near Sudbury in Suffolk.

The area was dotted with plush Roman villas and country estates in the second century.

The object, described as a rare example of Roman craftsmanship, has been donated to Ipswich Museum where it is now on display.

In the autumn of 2009, Mr Mills, a metal detector user, found a large bronze object whilst metal detecting in a field near Sudbury.

He immediately reported the discovery to Suffolk Archaeological Unit.

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The remains of La Belle, a ship which sank in 1686, are set to be freeze dried in a massive dryer at Texas A&M university in a revolutionary new procedure.

Texas A&M University researchers working to restore the hull of La Belle, a light frigate recovered from its underwater grave, are using an unconventional method to preserve the pieces: a state-of-the-art freeze dryer big enough to hold a few head of cattle.

La Belle was carrying 43 people when it sank in Matagorda Bay in January 1686. The ship’s remains now lie in a vat of oily preservative on Texas A&M’s Riverside Campus, the former Bryan Air Force Base that serves as headquarters for research and related activities, including a division of the Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation.

The massive freeze dryer, at 40 feet long with an 8-foot internal diameter, is the largest such machine for conservation use in the hemisphere, says Peter Fix, the maritime center’s assistant director and project conservator for the La Belle.

The instrument arrived Monday, and Fix plans to test some smaller pieces of other objects before dismantling the carefully tended timbers of La Belle and placing them in the cavernous cavity.

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A 9,000-year-old coral reef found in the South Pacific may provide clues as to what will happen to coral when sea temperatures rise.

The samples confirmed that it was indeed coral and radiocarbon dating confirmed its age.

Other similar ancient reefs – called relict reefs – have been discovered before, but none as far south as this.

The team think that this reef died when it was flooded as a result of sea levels rising about 7,000 years ago, but the modern temperature at these latitudes also limits coral growth, which is why the relict reef is so much bigger than the modern reef.

Now that sea temperatures are rising, however, reefs may start to grow bigger at higher latitudes.

The relict reef doesn’t have an extensive modern reef attached to it but it does have some individual corals which are newer – from the last 2,000 years.

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An expedition to Titanic has revealed that the famous shipwreck is not as badly corroded as feared.

The hi-resolution images show the ship’s iconic bow, complete with railings, four kilometres below the surface.

A team of scientists used a pair of robots to take thousands of photos and hours of video. More than 1,500 passengers and crew died when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic, 98 years ago.

The release of the new material come almost 25 years – to the day – since the vessel was first discovered.

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