You wrote..... The fact of the matter is, no kind of wood could possibly have survived for 85 years in salt water. No keys, let alone anything else besides the plate would have a chance of existing at this point. Sorry, not correct. As a scuba diver I can attest to the fact that wood often survives Centuries of immersion in salt water. On a dive expedition in Panama I brought up a sailor's sewing kit: the wood was completely intact, and there were even steel pins in tissue paper. The kit was coral encrusted, and from a sailing ship of about 1690. We found several wooden rigging blocks, and a couple of wooden deck braces. The Mary Rose was raised in England in not bad shape, and it was built by Henry VIII. The Vasa in Sweden was raised from the bottom practically intact (well, the lower part), and it turned turtle and sank on the same day it was launched in 1700???. Ed Carwithen Oregon
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