AILSA CHANG, HOST:
During a recent exploration in the deep sea, researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found a mural that has survived more than 80 years under water. But this mural had never been photographed in full. It's part of the shipwreck of the USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier that sank during a key battle in World War II. Phil Hartmeyer is a marine archaeologist at NOAA's Ocean Exploration Program, and he joins us now to talk about this find. Welcome.
PHIL HARTMEYER: Hi, Ailsa.
CHANG: Hi. So just describe what this mural looks like.
HARTMEYER: Well, the mural is a large format, 42-foot by 14-foot tall, map of our entire planet, and it...
CHANG: Wow.
HARTMEYER: ...Depicts, really in stunning color, where USS Yorktown has completed its activities, where it's operated, including, you know, lines that are drawn from, you know, the Hawaiian Islands to Midway.
CHANG: That's so cool. It's a visual history of its trips.
HARTMEYER: Absolutely.
CHANG: Do we know who painted the mural and when it was painted, anything like that?
HARTMEYER: We don't, and it's such an important part of this mystery where, here we have this dark gray warship, right? And then here we have this just beautifully detailed handpainted mural that we really know nothing about except for what we found 3 miles below the surface.
CHANG: Wow. What a fascinating mystery. I mean, this mural - it was found at the site of a battle, the Battle of Midway, which unfolded just months after Pearl Harbor, right? Why was this mural so important for your team to find?
HARTMEYER: Well, Ailsa, for several reasons - the Battle at Midway was certainly a turning point in the war, and the battle really signified one of the changing historical elements, the trends in naval warfare. And that was this evolution to, you know, battles fought in the air in the importance of naval aviation. And the mural was often, you know, one of the last things that Naval airmen and aircrews saw as aircraft were getting raised up the elevators onto the flight deck where they'd take off and land. So there's really an incredible sort of emotional component to this as one of the last things airmen would see, is this beautiful handpainted journey.
CHANG: Wow, I love that. Well, I know that your team - the way I understand it, you were expecting and looking to find this mural, but did your team expect it to be in such good condition when you approached it?
HARTMEYER: We didn't. We didn't know what to expect. The maneuver to get the remotely operated vehicles within eyesight to be able to image the mural was very technical, and the descent into the elevator shaft itself had never been done before. This was the first mission that went inside USS Yorktown.
CHANG: Ah, wow.
HARTMEYER: So there really wasn't much to expect. And then we saw the beautiful blues and the golds and the motifs, and it was - it took our breath away.
CHANG: Are there conditions about the deep sea that would actually make it more likely that art would be preserved at such extreme depths?
HARTMEYER: You know, potentially so, and, you know, every day through these expeditions and deep sea exploration that's being led by NOAA Ocean Exploration and others, we're learning more about the oceanography of these places, the chemistry of the water, and discovering new species, you know, almost every cruise, where the biota and some of these factors that together make deep sea ecosystems really a thriving environment.
CHANG: I understand that you may have also discovered a new species of jellyfish while you were exploring this shipwreck. Is that right?
HARTMEYER: Absolutely. It was a great moment during one of the dives where we're going from parts of the ship, you know, showcasing places where incredible acts of valor took place. And, you know, then this beautiful jelly scrolls across the RV cameras, and, you know, our biologists are just jumping on the line, and no one had seen this before. And...
CHANG: Wow.
HARTMEYER: ...It just adds to this experience - right? - of how little we know about this just incredibly rich environment. And there's new species all over the place. We have to look.
CHANG: Yeah, you just have to look. Phil Hartmeyer is a marine archaeologist at NOAA's Ocean Exploration Program. Thank you so much for joining us today.
HARTMEYER: Thanks for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
