Dendrochronological Dating and Provenancing of Timbers from the Arade 1 Shipwreck,Portugal

As part of a larger project promoting the development of historical dendrochronology in the Iberian Peninsula, ship‐timbers from the Arade 1 wreck (mostly planking and framing elements), stored at the DANS/IGESPAR in Lisbon, were examined. Of these, 52 samples were identified as deciduous oak (Quercus subg. quercus) and two as chestnut (Castanea sativa). Of 24 timbers selected for dendrochronological research, 23 could be dated, placing the origin of the wood in western France and the felling of trees between AD 1579 and 1583. Their homogeneity suggests they are part of the original construction, which probably took place shortly after AD 1583. © 2012 The Authors     

The Underwater Recovery of Monumental Marble Column Drums from an Ancient Shipwreck at Kızılburun,Turkey

In the first century B.C., a stone carrier sank off the Aegean coast of Turkey at K?z?lburun transporting all the elements of a monumental marble column, including a single Doric capital and eight drums. The 60-tonne cargo lay at a depth of 45–48 m and was excavated in its entirety by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University between 2005 and 2011. Ongoing research has shown that the Doric column pieces in the K?z?lburun cargo originated in the marble quarries on Proconnesus Island in the Sea of Marmara and were very likely heading for the Temple of Apollo at Claros when the ship sank just 50 km short of its destination. The complete recovery of the ship’s cargo posed a unique set of methodological challenges involving lifting the multi-tonne marble drums without disturbing the delicate waterlogged wooden hull remains preserved beneath. This report summarizes the solutions developed over five seasons in order to rig, hoist, move, and ultimately raise to the surface eight large ancient marble column drums (as well as all the other marble artifacts in the cargo) from a depth of almost 50 m under water.     

Arade River Archaeological Complex: Dredges and Archaeology

Situated on the southern coast of Portugal, the Arade River mouth has been visited and inhabited for over three millennia. Dredging operations, in the first and last decades of the 20th century, brought up the importance of Arade's cultural heritage and triggered a large-scale project of study, survey, and archaeological excavation. This project is conducted by Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática, the Portuguese agency for nautical archaeology, under the direction of Francisco Alves, and with the support of both local and state authorities. This paper is a preliminary assessment of the finds made so far.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

The Dor 2001/1 Byzantine Shipwreck,Israel: final report

Dor 2001/1 was a Byzantine coaster, about 16.9 m long, with an estimated displacement of 50 tonnes, dated to the first third of the 6th century CE, and loaded with building stones. It was excavated over five seasons, recorded under water, and a section of the shipwreck was retrieved and studied on land. The hull construction was based on frames without any type of planking edge‐fasteners. It is thus among the earliest frame‐based shipwrecks found so far in the Mediterranean. The origin of its construction tradition, with flat frames amidships, hard chine and straight sides, might have been related to a riverine tradition.     

Archaeology of 17th‐Century Iberian Shipwrecks: reassessment and comparison of excavated,recorded, and published hull remains

Of 55 17th‐century wrecks located around the world identified as Iberian, 37 have either been destroyed, looted, or salvaged by treasure hunters, and just 11 the subject of archaeological work. Of these, only seven have been published: structural components, planking, fasteners, caulking, and other hull remains are reported to different degrees of detail. This article compares hull components within this small sample to assess the shared traits, or distinctive Iberian shipbuilding tradition, proposed by Oertling (2001; 2005), Castro (2008), and Hormaechea et al. (2018: 64–65). Additional traits are proposed that have been observed in the archaeological record.     

Quantifying Ship Shape in Archaeology: Evaluating 3D Geometric Morphometrics

The analysis of the archaeological remains of ships and boats, in particular hull shapes, have been central to wider analysis of performance, function, and significance within past societies. This article reviews established methods of quantifying shape in ship and boat archaeology—linear measurement ratios and form coefficients—and evaluates the utility of 3D geometric morphometrics (GM). The 3D shape of 30 vessels from north‐west Europe dating between 325 BC and AD 1915 are quantified to study how hull shape relates to a vessel's function and intended operating environment. A comparison of the three methods highlights the importance of analysing the complexity of a hull in a holistic manner and demonstrates that 3D GM outperforms the traditional methods.     

The IJsselcog project: from excavation to 3D reconstruction

The 15th‐century IJsselcog was lifted in 2016 from the river IJssel near Kampen (the Netherlands). From stern to bow and from starboard to portside about 70% of the original wooden hull is preserved. The combined approach of analogue documentation and photogrammetry enabled the research team to reconstruct the original ship in 2D and 3D, followed by a comprehensive study of its nautical characteristics. The hull volume and height were maximized by the shipbuilders using previously unknown construction elements in cogs, such as wales and vertical riders; shipbuilding traits that are generally applied to 16th‐ and 17th‐century carvel‐built cargo ships.     

Preliminary documentation of a chine-girder barge at Conway, South Carolina

The study of small flat-bottomed plantation craft in South Carolina began in 1983 with the discovery and study of a barge at Mepkin Abbey on the Cooper River. Since that date the author has documented a wide range of craft in contexts ranging from plantations and ferry crossings to marine phosphate mines (Newell. 1986; 1989). The flat which is the focus of this report is the first of its type observed during this 8-year study period. Its construction and hull profile indicate that the vessel is a late 18th century craft. Current research by the author into the origins of the unique design suggests eastern European or French sources for the use of iles or chine-girders, a constructional element of the craft used in conjunction with transverse planking not commonly seen in flats of English design.     

The Western Ledge Reef wreck: a preliminary report on investigation of the remains of a 16th-century shipwreck in Bermuda

In September 1988 archaeologists and students from the Program in Maritime History and Underwater Research at East Carolina University (PMHUR) identified the remains of an early shipwreck during a survey of the Western Ledge Reefs carried out for the Bermuda Maritime Museum (BMM). Structural material exposed at the wreck site proved to be a section of lower hull containing the keel, hull planking, frames, and a portion of the keelson that included a mast-step. In order to recover the archaeological record preserved at the site, the BMM applied for, and received, a licence from the Receiver of Wreck. As work at the site intensified, a prior claim to the wreck was discovered. Discovery of that claim ultimately led to a co-operative agreement between Brian Malpas, Donald Canton and the BMM that permitted on-site investigation to continue. During 1989 and 1990, the site was excavated by the Museum's underwater archaeological staff, the staffand students of the PMHUR and volunteers. In 1990, a comprehensive in situ map of the hull remains was completed and in accordance with the terms of an agreement between Malpas and Canton and the BMM, a team of archaeologists, students and volunteers raised the remains of the Western Ledge shipwreck in August 1991. Each recovered element of the wreck was transported to storage facilities at the museum and catalogued, cleaned, recorded and documented using techniques developed to record the Red Bay galleon. That work was completed in the autumn of 1991 and on 31st October 1991 the wreck structure was donated to the museum for study and possible display.     

The Rigging and the 'Hydraulic System' of the Roman Wreck at Grado, Gorizia, Italy

The hull of the Roman wreck at Grado has been preserved under the cargo of amphoras. On the site, a lot of wooden elements of the rigging are preserved, including deadeyes, blocks, and toggles. Three possible bitts were identified, one of them sculpted; two were nailed to the hull while one was loose. Near the keel a lead tube, protected by a wooden box, has been interpreted as a bilge-pump but more probably it was a suction-pump. The tube would have been connected to a piston pump which has not survived. Possible explanations for its use are presented.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

H. L. Hunley Revealed: documentation,deconcretion, and recent developments in the investigation of an American Civil War submarine from 1864

Since 2014, the conservation staff at Clemson University's Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, South Carolina have been removing the concretion from the hull of H. L. Hunley, an American Civil War submarine lost 1864. In parallel, the archaeological team has been documenting the condition of the hull, the concretion layers, and the hull features revealed by the deconcretion process. This involved photography, direct measurements, and 3D scanning. This article will discuss the strategy for recording the concretion, the techniques used to document the newly revealed hull and its unique features, and the preliminary analysis of their archaeological significance.     

In situ corrosion studies on the submarine Resurgam: A preliminary assessment of her state of preservation

Abstract

The submarine Resurgam was the world's first mechanically powered submarine, built in 1879 and lost in 1880 off the north coast of Wales. She was discovered 116 years later in 1996 and as part of an initial survey the corrosion characteristics and state of preservation of the hull were investigated.

The results showed that the hull was actively corroding, although the corrosion mechanism was such that the corrosion products formed were likely to be of a protective nature. The present corrosion rate of the wrought-iron hull of the submarine was hard to quantify based on established means, as the profile of 116 years of corrosion products had not been retained over the entire hull due to spalling of the corrosion products. Where the concretion profile was retained it was possible to calculate an average corrosion rate of 0.1 mm per year. This, coupled with the knowledge of the corrosion rate of freshly exposed wrought iron in sea water, enabled a ‘worst case’ corrosion rate of between 0.1–0.2 mm per year to be estimated.

Two arrays of sacrificial anodes were attached to the hull to test the feasibility of using this method to slow the corrosion rate and stabilize the submarine In situ. It is too early to say how successful these will be in the long term, yet initial results were encouraging as the corrosion potential was seen to shift to a more cathodic and thus less corrosive potential after their attachment.     

The Edesö Wreck: the hull of a small,armed ship wrecked in the Stockholm archipelago in the latter half of the 17th century

In 2003 a well‐preserved shipwreck was found north of Dalarö in the Stockholm archipelago. In 2007 and 2008 the site was surveyed jointly by archaeologists from the Swedish National Maritime Museum, Södertörn University and the University of Southampton. The surface finds were inventoried and drawings produced of the hull structure, which measures 20 m between the posts. This paper presents the results of recording the hull. The original name of the ship, as well as the precise history of its demise, are unknown, but it appears to have been a small man‐of‐war, built and probably sunk in the late 17th century. It was possibly built in England, or at least in the English fashion of that time.     

A tidal wind model for 85–120 km based on CIRA-86: a feasibility study

This paper examines the feasibility of deriving a climatology of the diurnal variations of the wind in the 85–120 km region from the tidal components of temperature, density, and composition contained in the new COSPAR International Reference Atmosphere, CIRA-1986, Part I: Thermosphere Models [(1988), Adv. Space Res.8, 9]. To derive the wind field, we used the zonal and meridional momentum equations which have been modified from the characteristic scales of the tidal components observed in the 85–120 km region. The CIRA temperature and density model was used to derive the eastward (westerly) and northward (southerly) pressure gradient forces which serve as the forcing functions in the coupled momentum equations. Ground-based wind data from the Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere (MLT) radar network is used as an independent data set to check the accuracy of the derived tidal wind model. At midlatitudes, the model reproduces some of the general features observed in the radar tidal data, such as the dominant semidiurnal tide with increasing amplitude with height and clockwise (counterclockwise) rotation of the velocity vector observed in the northern (southern) hemisphere. The model overestimates the semidiurnal amplitudes observed by radar by 50–75% during most seasons with the best agreement found during the equinoctial months. The model exhibits little phase variation with height or season, whereas the radar data exhibit a downward phase progression during most seasons (other than summer) characteristic of upward propagating tidal waves, and large seasonal phase variations associated with seasonal changes in vertical wavelengths. The diurnal tidal amplitudes, which are generally 5–20 m s⁻¹ at mid-latitude radar stations and are dominant over the semidiurnal amplitudes at lower latitudes, are less than 5 m s⁻¹ at all latitudes in the model.     

The use of a high-resolution 3D Chirp sub-bottom profiler for the reconstruction of the shallow water archaeological site of the Grace Dieu (1439), River Hamble,UK

The remains of Henry V's flagship, the Grace Dieu, currently lie buried within the inter-tidal sediments of the River Hamble (S. England). Previous archaeological investigations have been hindered by difficult excavation conditions resulting in a poor understanding of the dimensions, shape and degradation state of the hull's deeper structure. This study therefore aimed to image, characterize and reconstruct the buried remains of this vessel using a high-resolution 3D acoustic sub-bottom Chirp system with RTK-GPS positioning capability. The accurate navigation and high-resolution data that were acquired enabled the construction of a full 3D image of the site that not only identified the remains of the wooden hull, but also features buried within it. In addition, the degradation state of these buried wooden remains were investigated by calculating reflection coefficients while a hypothetical larger reconstruction of the Grace Dieu's hull was achieved, through the use of the ShipShape ship design software package.     

Preliminary Analysis of the Hull of the Roman Ship from Grado, Gorizia, Italy

The hull of the Roman wreck at Grado has been partially preserved under the cargo of amphoras. The right side presents a rare evidence of a section of the waterway. The ship has been assembled by mortise-and-tenon technique following a shell-first conception. All the frames, except one, are of pine while planking is either of pine and elm. Some strakes, of larix , are a repair made by patch-tenons; a wale shows an other kind of repair. Various signs left by the shipwright are on the hull. In the stern area, a box of wooden elements had to protect a 'hydraulic system'.
© 2006 The Authors     

A Basque Shipyard Design Method of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries,and its Relationship to Non‐graphic Hull Design of the 15th Century

The aim of the article is to show that the Mutiozabal shipyard in Orio, Gipuzkoa, Spain, was using the tools and procedures of non‐graphic hull‐design methods into the latter 19th and early 20th centuries. These procedures allow a hull to be designed with a very simple set of tools: a template of the master‐frame and some simple graduated gauges or graminhos. The plan of a 65‐Burgos‐foot ¹ (18.11 m) trading boat is used as the basis of the study. The nature of the templates and graminhos is shown in detail, as well as their use.     

A Minimum-Impact Method for Measuring Corrosion Rate of Steel-Hulled Shipwrecks in Seawater

Current research on USS Arizona is focused on a minimum-impact technique for calculating corrosion rate of the battleship's steel hull by analysing physical and chemical properties of marine encrustation covering the exposed hull. An equation is derived that allows concretion thickness, density, and total iron content to be used to calculate corrosion rate of steel hull plate.
© 2006 The Authors     

Dowels as a Means of Edge-to-Edge Joinery in the 9th-century AD Vessel from Bozburun, Turkey

After the excavation of the 9th-century AD merchantman from Bozburun, Turkey, from 1995 to 1998, examination of the preserved hull material revealed a method of using dowels embedded in the plank edge to join hull planking together. This method has not previously been recorded in the early medieval Mediterranean. The article discusses the characteristics of the joints in the hull planking of the Bozburun vessel, and considers its role in the transition from the shell-first to frame-first methods of assembly.
© 2005 The Nautical Archaeology Society     

Diurnal and seasonal variability of the southern-hemisphere main ionospheric trough from differential-phase measurements

A differential-phase technique utilizing the radio transmissions of NNSS satellites was used to make measurements of the latitudinal variations of ionospheric vertical total electron content (TEC) in the southern mid-latitude trough region from the location of Macquarie Island (a cis-auroral site; geographic coordinates 54.5°S, 154.95°E, geomagnetic coordinates 64.5 S, 177.67 E, L = 5.38) for a period of 14 months during 1987–1989. The differential-phase method provided a means of observing a relatively large expanse of ionosphere whilst centered on the cis-auroral region which was well suited for trough studies. By monitoring the two transmitted radio signals at 150 and 400 MHz from the Navy Navigation Satellite System (NNSS) polar orbiting satellites it was possible to deduce the latitudinal variation of ionospheric vertical TEC for the duration of the satellite pass. The absolute TEC was derived from Faraday-rotation and ionosonde data obtained during the same period.The main findings of this work have been the high incidence of daytime troughs for all seasons and the relative low incidence of night-time troughs. Both summer and vernal equinox seasons display a greater occurrence frequency of daytime troughs than the winter and autumnal equinox seasons. Winter-time troughs at any time are less frequent than for any other season. Comparisons with the northern-hemisphere trough display a marked difference in occurrence frequency and distribution of troughs. An attempt to explain some of these features in the light of the high-latitude convection theory is offered. Case studies are given for all seasons to highlight these findings.