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Summer 2002
Fall 2002
Summer 2001
Fall 2001
Summer 2000
Fall 2000
Fall 1999 Bermuda Field School
Bermuda is a maritime historian's dream come true. Where else can a person dive on shipwrecks from the sixteenth century to the present in a single day? That is how members of the East Carolina University 1999 fall Bermuda Field School spent their first day on the water. For nearly twenty years, Dr. Gordon Watts of ECU, has been bringing graduate students to Bermuda to do field work in underwater archaeology. Our host is Dr. Edward Harris, director of the Bermuda Maritime Museum.
The 1999 ECU Bermuda field school included graduate students Matt Muldorf, Don Froning, Matt Lawrence, Dede Marx, Tane Casserly, and Mark Padover. Gary Byrd came along as the Diving Safety Officer. Doug Jones returned to Bermuda as the cook. Clifford Smith of the Bermuda Maritime Museum assisted in the lab and in the field.
The Primary site examined this year was a wreck found three years ago during the 1996 ECU field research project. Hull design and construction features suggested that the vessel was contructed and probably sank in the middle-eigteenth century. As investigation progressed, the date of the construction and loss shifted in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. Machine cut nails and the framing pattern exposed by test excavation support the later date.
The initial field work yielded a few artifacts, including a wooden sheave from a block, small pieces of line, a few fragments of possible shoe leather, and a few small buttons.
While the grid area was mapped, a trench was dug into the ballast pile to determine the shape of the ship's hull. The ballast was removed, then grids were moved into position over the trench for mapping and profiles.
Maps hand drawn underwater by students were digitized into AutoCAD, then combined into an overall site map.
The most unusual discovery were twelve iron knees scattered about the site. One knee was selected for recovery, mapped in situ, and brought to the museum for cleaning, examination and documenation. Once concretions were removed, it was found to be a cast iron knee. This may not seem strange, but there appears to be no archaeological record of cast iron knees on shipwreck sites. Previously examined historical sources document wrought iron knees but to date no record of cast iron knees has been discovered. Other knees may be recovered in the future to confirm that they are all cast iron and to establish if the area all identical or if each one is unique.
The field school also had excitement outside of the academic activities. About midway through our time in the Bermuda, Hurricane Floyd struck eastern North Carolina hitting the ECU campus. If that wasn't enough, Hurricane Gert decided to pay Bermuda a visit. A few days before Gert hit, dolphins from the local Bermuda group called Dolphin Quest were brought in the Museum's Keep Pond to ride out the storm. The dolpins were present from the duration of the field school, greeting us in the morning and upon our return from the field in the evening.
As Stephen Spender states, "History is the ship carrying living memories into the future." For the members of the East Carolina University 1999 Fall Bermuda Field School, our future lies in the history of the the ship and its memories.
Wisconsin Fall Field Semester 1999
For the first time in several years, students in the Maritime Studies Program had a choice between two fall field schools. While the traditional Bermuda field school remained an option, students also had an opportunity to accompany Dr. Bradley Rodgers to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and carry out a Phase II survey of three mid-nineteenth century wrecks in Lake Michigan. Graduate students Kimberly Eslinger, Catherine Fach, Russ Green, Michael Hughes, and Michael Plakos, participating in the three-week field school that began on 9 September 1999. Acting Wisconsin State Underwater Archaeologist Jeff Gray and Fillipo Ronca, former students in the Maritime Studies Program, coordinated much of the project and encouraged volunteers from the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association (WUAA) to participate. The call was answered by a number of WUAA divers, including Tom Villiand and Kathy Klecker. WUAA volunteer Russell Leitz also worked in the field and made available the results of his extensive historical research, which proved invaluable for placing the vessels in their proper historical context.
The three vessels were stone barges, converted for that purpose at the turn on the twentieth century by the Sturgeon Bay Stone Company. After outliving their usefulness, the company sank the vessels and burned them to the waterline in 1931. Submerged in less that ten feet of water the wrecks lay roughly parallel to one another, as they did while afloat and tied up at the quarry's dock.
After a preliminary dive, it was discovered tat the three wrecks were infested with zebra mussels and posessed varying amounts of plant growth, although a couple of hours with paint scrapers and machetes rendered these obstacles manageable. Visibility on the site ranged from 5 to 30 feet and water temperature averaged 55 degrees.
Two of the surveyed vessels were built as centerboard schooners prior to their stone barge conversion and are believed to tbe Oak Leaf (1881) and Ida Corning (1886). Designated wrecks 1 and 2 respectively, the schooner-barges were remarkably intact below the turn of the bilge and provided students an opportunity to document both "through the keel" and offset centerboard construction. Wreck 1 is 166 feet long with a 31-foot beam, while wreck 2 is approximately 150 feet long with a similar sized beam.
The third stone barge, is believed to the 216-foot former passenger steamer Empire State, launched in 1862. Wreck 3 was documented entirely by students, from laying the baseline and developing a grid system, to producing a completed site map. Carried out under Dr. Rodgers' patient supervision, but without his intervention, the exercise provided participants with invaluable practical experience and new respect for the value of trial and error.
Throughout te project, students made several excursions. These outings included dives on the well-known passenger steamer Niagara and the three-masted lumber schooner Fleetwing; the latter of which served as an "underwater classroom" due to the exceptional condition of may principal construction features. Jay Martin, Director of the Wisconsin State Maritime Museum in Manitowoc, treated us to and extensive tour of the museum. Students also toured Sturgeon Bay's Door County Maritime Museum with curator Chritine Randall.
The month-long survey produced three detailed wreck maps, and overall site map, and the requisite quantity of field notes. The data will form the basis for a site report to be written by the field crew and Dr. Rodgers. Copies of all documentation remained with Wisconsin's state underwater archaeologist and the information will be added to the growing database of Lake Michigan shipwrecks. Daily field activity appeared on te Wisconsin Sea Grant website. Funding for the project came largely from Sea Grant and was administered by the Wisconsin State Historical Society.
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Department of History |