Wrap a Wreck! In Situ Conservation of a Ship on Land Suffering from Fungal Decay

Many sixteenth- to eighteenth-century shipwrecks have been found after land reclamation in parts of the former Zuiderzee, one of the busiest waterways in Dutch history. After the land fell dry, some shipwrecks were excavated, destroyed, reburied, or covered with sand or clay. In the late 1970s a method was developed to mitigate degradation processes of some of the wrecks remaining in good condition by wrapping them in plastic foil. The idea was that the plastic would prevent evaporation and lateral subsurface flow. Wet conditions prevent decomposing of wood by especially soft rot fungi. Oxygen will be rapidly depleted by decomposition of organic matter.

Recent monitoring of wrapped shipwrecks has shown that this method of preventing rot worked exceptionally well. We adapted wrapping using new technology nowadays applied for sealing tunnels and landfills. We will present the implementation requirements, materials and new adapted method for wrapping shipwrecks.