Aim to sail Sutton Hoo ship replica across Channel
The team building the replica of a famous Anglo-Saxon burial ship have told of their aspirations to eventually sail it down the River Thames and across the English Channel.
The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company (SHSC) is reconstructing the famous ship unearthed at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939.
It had been working at The Longshed in Woodbridge, but recently announced it would move to a new home nearby with an aim to finish construction next year.
Prior to any voyages, Sean McMillan, trustee and chair of the board of SHSC, said the team would first have to learn how to handle tough currents.
"It will take us, I imagine, the first two years, two seasons, on the [River] Deben because nobody knows how to row a ship like this so we've got to work that one out," he explained.
"It probably means we're going to run into the mud everywhere we can.
"But then after that we'll probably go around to the [River] Orwell, to Aldeburgh, and learn how to control a ship like this in fairly strong currents.
"What a sight that will be.
"After that then up the Thames maybe as far as Tower Bridge. I wouldn't go any further than that because I don't fancy taking this through London bridges completely out of control."
Mr McMillan also suggested travelling to Faversham in Kent which has royal Anglo-Saxon links.
"After that then we'll start looking at all sorts of other possibilities - across the Channel, to Holland, maybe down into the rivers in Germany," he continued.
"Maybe we'll get across to Denmark and have a drag race with the Viking ships."
The ship is between 50 and 60% complete and reaches a length of 90 feet (27.43m).
The team is making use of 7th Century building techniques for the £1.5m reconstruction.
"There are no machines, no power tools, the whole process is exactly as it would have been in the 7th Century," Mr McMillan added.
"The trees are split - it's called cleaving - where they are deliberately split along the grain, so you end up with a sort of pie chart of triangular sections.
"Those are then planed down using hand axes to achieve the one inch thick planks from which the ship is built."
The original ship excavated at Sutton Hoo is believed to be the burial ship and grave of King Rædwald - the 7th Century Anglo-Saxon ruler of East Anglia.
The story of the excavation was told in the Netflix film The Dig starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes in 2021.
Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Sutton Hoo boat replica finds 'magnificent' home
Sutton Hoo replica boat build needs more oak trees
First finished pieces of Sutton Hoo ship joined
The ancient treasures that inspired a Netflix film
The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
13 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Viking's silver treasure, an ancient Korean crown and three more discoveries
The summaries below were drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All linked stories were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists. Throughout history, cultures have left behind a trail of breadcrumbs for archaeologists to follow. New sites and artifacts are found all the time, revealing forgotten secrets of the past. Here are some of the latest discoveries: 1,400-year-old crown — still decorated with insect wings — found in South Korea In Gyeongju, South Korea, archaeologists uncovered a 1,400-year-old crown adorned with jewel beetle wings from the Silla Kingdom. This ornate crown, found in a burial site, is a first-of-its-kind discovery in the region. The crown's intricate decorations, including gold beads and jade pieces, highlight the craftsmanship of the era. | Published May 22 | Read More | Hobbyist studying old map notices odd mark that leads to medieval find in Sweden In Derome, Sweden, a hobby archaeologist discovered the remains of a medieval monastery using an 18th-century map and modern technology. The site, likely dating back to the late 12th century, revealed thick walls and pillar foundations. This find sheds light on the region's monastic history and the Order of Cistercians. | Published May 22 | Read More | Students locate ancient Roman army camp beyond empire's northern border. See it In the Netherlands, university students discovered a rare ancient Roman military camp beyond the empire's northern border. Using computer models and LiDAR surveys, they confirmed the presence of Roman walls and a moat near Hoog Buurlo. | Published May 28 | Read More | Viking-era silver treasures found on farm in Sweden and restored. See them shine In Täby, Sweden, archaeologists unearthed a collection of Viking-era silver treasures, including arm rings, necklaces and coin pendants. The site, occupied for 500 years, also revealed structures from the Viking Age. The silver collection is notable for its size and preservation. | Published May 30 | Read More | Ancient waste shows surprising 'luxury' food item was not only for Roman elite In Pollentia, Mallorca, researchers found evidence of thrushes, a luxury food item, being sold by street vendors in ancient Rome. The discovery in a cesspit challenges the belief that thrushes were exclusive to elite banquets. This find suggests that thrushes were a common part of the urban diet in Roman times. | Published June 3 | Read More | McClatchy News continues to follow the discovery of intriguing archaeological discoveries from around the globe. Check back to see the latest finds.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
‘Lost in Starlight' Director Han Ji-won on Blending Romance and Sci-Fi for Netflix's Breakthrough Korean Animated Feature
Lost in Starlight marks a defining moment for 36-year-old filmmaker Han Ji-won — and a rare breakthrough for Korean animation on the world stage. A vividly realized sci-fi romance set in Seoul in the year 2050, the film is Netflix's first original animation produced in South Korea, and it has won praise from none less than the country's most decorated director. In statements accompanying the film's global release on May 30, multi-Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho hailed the feature as 'a visual masterpiece that takes you around the universe,' highlighting Han as a new talent to watch while signaling a long-awaited coming-of-age moment for the country's animation sector. More from The Hollywood Reporter Netflix Hires Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, to Oversee U.K. Film Ben McKenzie on His Crypto Doc 'Everyone Is Lying to You for Money': A "Human Story About Trust" "NATO for News": Is a Joint Effort by Media Companies the Way to Go in the Age of AI? South Korea has long been known as an animation powerhouse, but mostly for behind-the-scenes work. For decades, local studios quietly toiled as production subcontractors on Japanese anime and Hollywood features — cranking out clean-up, in-betweening, and digital compositing for global franchises — while Korean-made animation rarely reached an international audience under its own banner. Lost in Starlight's success hints at the outlines of a coming animated chapter in the ever-breaking Korean cultural wave. A genre-fluid imagining of Seoul in the not-so-distant future, Lost in Starlight follows two young dreamers separated by 140 million miles. Nan-young (voiced in Korean by actress Kim Tae-ri), a space-bound astro-botanist, departs on a mission to terraform Mars, leaving her quiet, music-obsessed boyfriend Jay (voiced by Hong Kyung) behind on Earth. The film unfolds as a lyrical meditation on long-distance love, personal ambition, and the delicate emotional gravity that holds people together. Visually, it is suffused by luminous, hologram-filled cityscapes, soft water colors and interstellar dreamscapes — a highly accomplished style that blends some of the grounded warmth of Studio Ghibli's hand-drawn character design work with the cosmopolitan shimmer of a Makoto Shinkai sunset. Shortly after Lost in Starlight's debut, The Hollywood Reporter connected with Han to discuss her journey of bringing Lost in Starlight to screen, her animation influences, what Bong's praise has meant to her and the unbridled potential of Korean animation. How did begin? What was the original inspiration behind the project? Some years ago, I worked on a branded film — Beautiful Moments, for the Korean jewelry company StoneHenge — and for that project I was given a lot of creative freedom. I was able to explore ideas I'd had been interested in for a long time — things like the female dream, astronauts, family stories, childhood, space, and music. That film incorporated all of those elements, and it ended up getting a lot of attention. Based on that, Climax Studio contacted me, and I had the chance to expand on those themes. At the time, I was dating, so I was very interested in love, and I wanted to incorporate that into my storytelling. Luckily, the production company was interested in letting me explore all of these things, and that's how the story began to take shape. is set in a futuristic version of Seoul, and there are so many imaginative visual details throughout the film's world. How did you approach depicting Seoul in 2050? It felt to me like a clean, fresh version of That's actually a quite accurate way to describe it — a clean version of Blade Runner. I set it against a realistic backdrop as well. In Korea, there's an area of Seoul called Eulji-ro, which is popular right now with both tourists and artists. It has this very cyberpunk, retro-industrial vibe. It used to be full of manufacturing workshops, metal shops, garages — very gritty — but now a lot of indie artists do performances and collaborative projects there. Jay, in the animation, works around there. And there's also Sewoon Arcade, where his record shop is based — that's a real location in Seoul too. So I started with those realistic backdrops and added imagination to create this future landscape. You mentioned the 'cleanliness'— that really resonates with what I wanted to express. I didn't want to depict a dark or apocalyptic future. I imagined a future where we've done our best to protect the environment and things turned out okay. I wanted the setting to feel like a place that's good to live in. So blending that retro charm with futuristic optimism, rooted in real locations, was very intentional. I also appreciated the way female empowerment is expressed in the film. The two lead characters each go on parallel journeys of self-overcoming, but there's such a striking contrast: Nan-young goes all the way to Mars to uncover the mystery of her mother's disappearance, braving storms and mortal danger. Jay, meanwhile, is mostly just shy, trying to work up the courage to sing in public. That's a fair point, but I don't necessarily think Nan-young's achievement is bigger than Jay's. Visually, of course, Nan-young's journey seems more dramatic—going to Mars and confronting her inner trauma—but I believe that revealing your voice in front of a large audience is also an act that requires great bravery. As a female creator, I did want to show how women overcome barriers and achieve things, but I think the contrast you noticed might just have more to do with their professions — astronaut versus musician — rather than a hierarchy of bravery. What I really wanted to show is that growth can come from epic journeys, but also from the small, intimate challenges. Korea has a long history of doing skilled contract work for international studios, but relatively few original Korean animated features have broken through globally. Could you describe the Korean animation scene right now? Should viewers expect more exciting original work to come? As you said, Korean studios have long taken on outsourced work from the U.S. and Japan, mostly in the production stage, rather than pre-production. But in recent years, more companies are building dedicated teams to work on design and story development. There's a real push now to create original IP. Some companies are even forming in-house story and webtoon teams. Globally, most animated works are based on existing webtoons, comics, or games, rather than original IP. So a film like ours — based on an original story — is still relatively rare. But there are some recent examples, like The Exorcism Chronicles (2024) and King of Kings (2025). These are good signs for both studios and creators. My own background is in independent animation, and I believe Korea is quite strong in that area. So the potential for synergy in this moment between indie animators and Korean studios is really exciting. But animation takes time, and long-term support is essential — so that's something we still need more of before the scene can really take off. Do you think Korean animation has any specific qualities — visual or thematic — that noticeably set it apart from Japanese anime and the U.S. studio animation that viewers around the world know so well? It's hard to generalize, because it's been a long time since Korean feature animation was active in a big way, and even the works that exist are quite diverse in style. My film is 2D, whereas most commercial work recently has leaned toward 3D. So even within Korea, there's a visual gap depending on the technique. But I didn't want Lost in Starlight to look like Japanese anime. I wanted it to reflect how young Korean people today look, dress, and do makeup. That Korean-ness was important to me. At the same time, I incorporated some Western-style drawing elements. It's a blend. Rather than speaking for all of Korean animation, I just hope this work can offer a new kind of reference point for global audiences to understand what Korean animation can be. During the long, five-year process of making this film, what were some of the biggest moments of doubt for you? This film is quite unique. It blends sci-fi with grounded emotion, and it's not confined to a single genre. That meant we had to maintain a very delicate balance — across story, music, visuals, production, everything. We worked with both in-house and external teams, and the outside partner had their own production pipeline, which we had to adjust to fit our vision. That required extensive communication. Sometimes we'd ask ourselves, 'Do we really have to go this far?' But in the end, we're proud we did, because that attention to detail is what made the final product satisfying. Acheiving that delicate genre balance was the hardest part — but also what made it special. There was something subtly fresh in the character design for me — perhaps that came from seeing Korean fashion and contemporary culture in this medium for the first time, as you mentioned. The color palette and the handling of light and landscapes also reminded me a lot of Makoto Shinkai. Where do you identify your influences? Like most animators, I've been influenced by the works I loved growing up—and Makoto Shinkai is definitely in there. But when it comes to character expression and storytelling, I've also drawn from others — like Hayao Miyazaki, who really inspired me to pursue animation in the first place. I was also deeply influenced by Isao Takahata's Only Yesterday, which focuses on very realistic, fully dimensional characters. Satoshi Kon also had a strong impact on me, especially with his realistic visual style. For Lost in Starlight, I worked with a character designer. I shared my artistic preferences and early drafts, and his style aligned closely with mine. That collaboration really helped create the unique, realistic look we achieved. Netflix has shared a quote from Bong Joon Ho calling your film 'a visual masterpiece that takes you around the universe.' How did that come about? Our production company showed him the film and asked for his thoughts. Of course, director Bong is someone I respect enormously, so it was a huge honor to receive that praise from him. I heard that he also remarked on how well the film captured the feeling of contemporary life in a futuristic setting, and he appreciated the drawing style. I was very humbled and honored to hear that. It's been that Bong is actually at work on a feature animation himself — an adult animation titled , which will be his next film. Given how the Korean Wave has impacted so many areas of global culture — pop music, fashion, cinema, TV drama — do you think animation could be the next frontier? Someone of Bong's statures jumping into the arena could give the Korean animation industry a big boost, no? Absolutely. It's been a long-standing dream for many of us in animation for Korean works to go global. For years we said the industry was struggling and that our breakthrough would probably be a long ways off — but then webtoons became globally successful, proving our creative capacity. If someone like Bong Joon Ho gets involved in animation, of course that would give us a huge boost. That said, 2D and 3D animations operate under different business models — the investment and marketing strategies totally differ — so we can't treat them exactly the same. But I believe we're ready to show the world that Korean animation has a rich tradition, high standards, and strong creative voices. If we're given time and support, I truly believe we can build another K-wave — this time in animation. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Long, dark 'streaks' spotted on Mars aren't what scientists thought
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Mysterious dark streaks flowing across Mars's surface may not be the result of running water after all, a new artificial intelligence (AI) analysis suggests. The streaks, first observed running along Mars's cliffsides and crater walls by NASA's Viking mission in 1976, were long thought by scientists to have formed as a result of the flow of ancient water across the now mostly desiccated planet's surface. But an AI algorithm trained on slope streak observations has revealed a different origin for the streaks — likely being formed from wind and dust, not water. The findings, published May 19 in the journal Nature Communications, could have important implications for where humans choose to explore Mars, and the places they search for evidence of possible ancient life. "That's the advantage of this big data approach," study co-author Adomas Valantinas, a planetary scientist at Brown University, said in a statement. "It helps us to rule out some hypotheses from orbit before we send spacecraft to explore." The sinewy lines are darker than the surrounding Martian ground and extend for hundreds of meters downhill. The shorter-lived of these features are called recurring slope lineae (RSL), and regularly spring up during Mars's warmer spells. This led some planetary scientists to suggest that seasonal temperature fluctuations could be causing ice or frozen aquifers to melt, or humid air to condense, sending streams of salty water trickling down the planet's craters. If this were true, it would make these regions of particular interest to future Mars missions. Related: Curiosity rover finds largest carbon chains on Mars from 3.7 billion-year-old rock To investigate this, the scientists behind the study trained a machine learning algorithm on confirmed streak sightings before making it scan through 86,000 satellite images to create a map of 500,000 streak features. RELATED STORIES —NASA may have unknowingly found and killed alien life on Mars 50 years ago, scientist claims —'Building blocks of life' discovered on Mars in 10 different rock samples —Just 22 people are needed to colonize Mars — as long as they are the right personality type, study claims "Once we had this global map, we could compare it to databases and catalogs of other things like temperature, wind speed, hydration, rock slide activity and other factors." Bickel said. "Then we could look for correlations over hundreds of thousands of cases to better understand the conditions under which these features form." Using the map, the scientists found the streaks were most likely to form in places where wind speed and dust deposition was high, suggesting that they came from layers of fine dust sliding off steep slopes. Other studies have pointed to tantalizing evidence of water and even life on Mars. If the study findings hold up, they could serve as a guide to sift between the Red Planet's useful leads and its red herrings.
