Tools

In the Persian Gulf, authorities are concerned about terrorism as well as piracy. Coalition vessels (the Coast Guard cutter Aquidneck, behind Coast Guardsman Zachary Coone) patrol exclusion zones around Iraq's Al Basrah and Khawr Al Amaya terminals, where tankers take on millions of barrels of oil daily.

The Pirate Hunters

As buccanneering is back with a vengeance, stepped-up law enforcement and high-tech tools work to help protect shipping on the high seas

Marine archaeologists rescued the shipwrecked H.L. Hunley (above, a computer rendering) in August 2000 more than 135 years after it sank during the Civil War.

Saving Our Shipwrecks

New technologies are aiding the search for one Civil War submarine, and the conservation of another

Sometime after 1938, a forger, perhaps oblivious to the document's historic nature, tried to boost its value by painting Byzantine-style illuminations on a few of its pages.

Reading Between the Lines

Scientists with high-tech tools are deciphering lost writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes

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Tool Time

The fragments now rest in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Old World, High Tech

An ancient Greek calendar was ahead of its time

The compass has a symbolic importance transcending its utility.

Useful Gadget

The legendary explorers carried destiny on their expedition. But they could not have fulfilled is without this unprepossessing device

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Tools as Art

Welcome to the Hechinger Collection, where hammers are brittle, saws never get old and wrenches mimic baby birds

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