Artifacts from the Hughes Glomar Explorer, real life inspriation for Charles Stross' The Jennifer Morgue.

Charles Stross in the Jennifer Morgue explored the secret history of the ship, the Hughes Glomar Explorer. There really is such a ship.  At the Franklin Institute in June an exhibit of the history of Spying had artifacts from Project Azorian, the attempted lifting of a soviet submarine by the Hughes Glomar Explorer.

A commemorative plaque.

A belt buckle and in the background a manganese nodule that was an example of the intended use of the ship.

Of course in Stross' novel nothing so mundane as a Soviet submarine is lifted, the true prize was yet another eldritch horror.