HH bs on the BS

As part of our efforts to hold HH accountable to the words they post on their public website, we read the entire publicly accessible thread about the Black Swan find, dated from May 2007 through January 2008. As painful (and often boring) as it was, we found some real gut-splitting howlers, as well as the usual paranoia and delusions of grandeur HH has about its place in the world and the industry.

Check these out and see if, like us, you're amazed these guys think they have the right to proclaim themselves "experts" on Odyssey, the BS, and marine history and archaeology. And, as far as the whole "grand moral vision" thing goes? [Loud Buzzer Noise.]

Enjoy!

DOC (5/2o/07): "Now why, if OMR has had time to recover all these silver coins did they not recover a Bronze Cannon?"

[Hmmm, intriguing question. How about because there wasn't one to be recovered?]

DOC (5/21/07): "It is most heartening to see the points made by HHI thrust at OMR by shareholders. While not conclusive it is also apparent that OMR was not completely forthcoming in answering those questions. The pattern of deception by OMR has not changed...There was other questionable activity in January by OMR when the heavily indebted company for the first time ever made healthy bonus stock options to most inside employees, not to mention the exclusive arrangement with Mr. Bears' Galleon Partners.I expect a firestorm very shortly."

[Yes, of course, we OMEX shareholders followed the lead of HH when it came to interpreting Odyssey's BS explanation. No self-delusion going on here, no sir.]

DOC (5/21007): "OMR's twisting of History was what brought them under the gunsights of HHI; either they didn't know what they were talking about or were trying to create the impression that they had done proper research. Our investigation indicates that OMR has always been piscine in aroma."

[Piscine? Doc was really working the thesaurus this night. Perhaps this is when he also stumbled on "germane"?]

Solomon (5/21/07): "OMR keeps all its research secret, under the false pretext that it is protecting its investment. False, because none of this archival research of old government papers has any bearing on where the Sussex is. Reuters shows a propensity to republish OMR's self-serving nonsense. This is not the role of journalism. It is pathetic. Has Reuters stock in OMR? It may as well. The BBC is not doing much better, but then, when does it ever?… No qualification and no supporting evidence….I will not risk boring you with more along the same lines. I will mention that the Associated Press has also been receiving my wrath. Lastly, you may notice that these mistakes all promote the position of OMR, which has some very powerful friends. Do I think some of these journalists are bent? Is the Pope a Catholic?"

[Are Solomon's hysterical histrionics justified? But of course! Everyone knows Odyssey controls the world's press to promote its own interests and to enrich management. Well, except for the New Yorker magazine, of course, which is clearly under the hypnotic influence of HH, at least according to them. By the way, we bet the Associated Press was absolutely terrified to face the infamous Wrath of Solomon. Oh yeah.]

Solomon (5/22/07): "Having used Falmouth as their base last year, why do you think OMR switched to Gibraltar? I can understand that they wanted to avoid an English court room, but why not chose a convenient French port nearby? How do you explain the misreporting always being in favour of OMR? Coincidence?"

DOC (5/22/07): "As Solomon and I have both said, there is a lot more to this than meets the eye and OMR has never been forth coming. They can't even read history and get it right."

[Interesting lecture, especially coming from a "researcher" who recently said it was "public record" that Henri Delauze was a current member of OMEX's board of directors. He was only off by two years.]

DOC (5/22/07): "In other news my intel net is giving me tentative confirmation that this recovery represents more than one wreck. At this point I wonder if we can sift the English from the Spanish. Of course, had this been done with trained and accredited archaeologists we wouldn't be in this mess."

[Doc has an "intel net"? Their info wasn't very good, obviously. We're shocked.]

DOC (5/24/07): "Members,I suspect that OMR may possibly have raided a Spanish treasure ship in the Med and one or more Treasure Ships within the EEZ of the UK. There simply wasn't enough time for archaeology, much less the recovery recorded to date. I suspect that the play will move more swiftly as the various government agencies have been brought into the melee. I am quite sure that OMR has outsmarted themselves once again."

[We're quite sure we know who outsmarted themselves in this post. Once again.]

Solomon (5/25/07): "We know that the legal authorities of three nations at least are now investigating OMR. We assist in this as we can and as we have throughout. I have no good reason to believe the spin put by OMR on its latest news. I do not accept it as fact that these treasures have come from any one shipwreck, or that it came from near British waters, or that OMR even conducted the salvage. For all I know, others vacuumed a variety of sites on behalf of OMR. The value of OMR stock has plummeted. Insiders have been selling. The message is plain. As far as I am concerned, our work in public is now done."

[Oh if only this had been true!]

Gollum (5/25/07): "Great Work! I'll be interested in seeing what new news comes out in the next few days, and what OMR's Stock does accordingly. When the storm hits, I will take delight on all those idiots on Yahoo Forums who have denegrated [sic] Doc and History Hunters. I hope their losses will not be small! Can you say: 'Schadenfreude?'"

[Well, isn't that sweet?]

Doc (5/25/07): "No one seems to be addressing the fact that no archaeology was done by OMR. How does one recover and conserve 500,000 coins in less than two weeks, much less stop at the store and buy that many buckets and partially fill them? You simply don't. The only possible answer, which may be of some interest to the SEC, is that the recovery was made at some time in the past. Just how far in the past as regards SEC filings and share trading is the crucial point with regard to fraud. Without a good general knowledge of the protocols of the science the Public has swallowed the tale as the truth. In fact, it simply isn't possible."

Solomon (6/30/07): "Proponents of OMR paid hackers to attack this site from Christmas Eve and for the following two months. We tracked down many of them, some of whom were using mobile phones to try and avoid being located in the real world. We located even these....I am no longer surprised at the depths to which OMR proponents sink."

[Note that no evidence whatsoever is provided to back up Solomon's certainty that Odyssey or its supporters were behind HH web attacks. And considering HH still can't fix the current IE glitch on their site, what's to rule out they didn't hose it site themselves?]

Solomon (7/2/07): "Reading the rollcall above of honoured members of History Hunters and recalling the names of other members who have also played a part, I am very proud. We have nailed our Colours to the mast and I am beginning to have confidence that we will eventually nail the bad guys to the floor. Three Cheers!"

[Solomon is fond of getting nailed metaphors. Insert joke here.]

Sovereign (7/8/07): "Odyssey Marine and its supporters have been attacking - often personally and viciously - the character of Claudio Bonifacio. Their motive is obvious: he found the Mercedes in Portuguese waters. Anyone doubting this should consider that the main television channel of Portugal sent out two divers and filmed it."

[You mean the same Claudio Bonifacio who was arrested by Spanish authorities for violating cultural patrimony laws? Yeah, we know that guy. Sure.]

Sovereign (7/12/07): "The truth begins to appear. This is a noteworthy piece that seems to offer strong confirmation of the suspicions of History Hunters...This is exactly where we have argued that she is, based on the permit to survey issued by Portugal to Claudio Bonifacio, the RTP documentary and the permit application by Subsea. We have other, reliable evidence for this. It explains, as mentioned above, the attacks on Bonifacio, and quite possibly his arrest and the seizure of his research papers...Equally certain is that the enormous explosion that destroyed the ship spread the wreckage over a wide area - say 2 km, part of which are in internmational [sic] waters - and that the coins sank straight to the seabed, in Portuguese waters."

Administration (7/12/07): "Yahoo promoters have written there that nobody important reads those posts. No doubt they would like to believe this, for their posts are often complete garbage, designed to deter detractors. Perhaps also, they are ashamed of their own posts, as they are often childish, generally dishonest and in UK law at least, often actionable in law. Nobody should be under the misapprehension that their words exist in only some sort of juvenille [sic] playground, or that they are anonymous."

[Too bad Doc didn't heed his Admin's advice; it may have spared him a lawsuit and a court trial. We'd also like to note that regardless of whether "important people"read OMEX's Yahoo site, we seriously doubt anyone takes seriously or acts on information available there. To suggest that NATO, the U.S. State Department, or the Spanish government read and act on the anonymous posts at Yahoo is not only deeply naive, but profoundly stupid.]

Solomon (7/12/07): [Regarding the UK's official protest over Spain's illegal seizure of the Odyssey ship, the Alert] "Does the British government really understand what has been happening here? Arrested? This was not my understanding of what happened this morning, which was that the Alert was invited, probably along the lines of "you are invited to help with our enquiries". Now they are in Spain, of course, it is a different matter. A dios, chums. I wonder if the Alert has the same bunch of kids on board as when they sailed towards Portugal? If I were to follow the same blithering nonsense of Morris, posting in Yahoo, I could now call the bunch of them criminals. But I am neither that previous [sic], not [sic] that stoopid [sic]. I can wait. P.S. Are we sure that the above vessel isn't a trawler?"

[Yes, that's right, the Alert was politely "invited" by armed Spanish Naval vessels pointing weapons at it. And we suppose the captain's arrest was merely to give him a place to rest. By the way, the trawler reference picks up on the frequently mentioned, less-than-subtle suggestion by some HH posters that Odyssey picked up the BS coins by a trawling net. Oh sure.]

Solomon (7/14/07): [In reference to HH's initiating a "project" to assist all those parties, including several governments, fighting Odyssey over the BS] "I should mention that as this preliminary stage is now complete and I have no experience in maritime archaeology, marine surveying, maritime law, marine salvage or any other aspect of this project, I am now taking a step back. Doc has pleanty [sic] of experience in all these matters and a much clearer idea how this project should be managed. Further, there are other, major projects on land which demand my attention."

DOC (7/14/07): "Solomon, I will give this my very best effort. I do hope that this comes together as we have envisioned in the future. As you have stated, and I will repeat, HHI has major projects already underway that represent critical investments of both time and money that we must see thru to completion. If we are given the nod by the governments that are involved in the "Mercedes" case we will assemble our team of professionals and give them free rein and all the support we can muster."

[We assume HH's grandiose plan to assemble an anti-Odyssey "Dream Team" (led, ahem, by Doc) to inject itself in the middle of the BS proceeding had no takers. Again, we're shocked.]

So there you have it, a "best of HH" featuring wild speculations, paranoia, delusions of grandeur, and unadulterated ignorance.

Stay tuned, we're just getting warmed up here, folks.

UPDATE: Unlike HH, we strive to be fair and accurate. Since this older post mentions that HH hadn't yet been able to fix the IE glitch on their site, we can now report that that problem apparently has been fixed. At least, we're not having any difficulties getting in any longer with our IE Browser. Now, let's see how long it takes them to ban our IP address, which has been a chronic complaint of our readers. (5/28/08)