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| The Institute of Maritime History (IMH) is a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation dedicated to research, preservation, and education in nautical archaeology and maritime history. |
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The latest news and notes from the field from the Institute of Maritime History.
« March 2006 |
Main
| May 2006 »
SHIP field schedule, 2006 (always subject to weather):
29 – 30 Apr U-1105: rig buoy, inspect
06 – 07 May scan and map, Potomac River
13 – 14 May scan and map, Potomac River
20 May – 11 Jun Roper: haul, repair, paint
17 – 18 Jun scan and map, Potomac River
24 – 25 Jun scan and map, Potomac River
08 – 09 Jul scan and map, Potomac River
15 – 16 Jul Roper to Delaware Bay
16 – 22 Jul scan and map, Delaware River
22 – 23 Jul Roper to Tall Timbers
05 – 06 Aug inspect U-1105
19 – 20 Aug scan and map, Potomac River
02 – 04 Sep scan and map, Potomac River
09 – 10 Sep inspect U-1105
23 – 24 Sep scan and map, Potomac River
30 Sep – 03 Oct scan and map, Potomac River
04 – 8 Oct scan and map, Potomac River
21 – 22 Oct scan and map, Potomac River
11 – 12 Nov U-1105: pull buoy for the winter
25 – 26 Nov scan and map, Potomac River
02 – 03 Dec scan and map, Potomac River
16 – 17 Dec scan and map, Potomac River
Contact Dave Howe for underway times and locations.
24 April. No joy yet in placing the mooring buoy on the U-1105 for the summer season. We were blown out last weekend by high winds and heavy seas.
We are looking into the acquisition of a houseboat as a "barracks barge" and floating work platform. to support a larger crew than Roper can sleep. Several cheap or free boats have been proposed. Stay tuned!
An interesting news article was published today in The Chronicle Herald. Researchers at Dalhousie University discovered a novel bacterium, BH1, isolated from rusticle specimens taken from the RMS Titanic, and have deposited the culture with the ATCC in Manassas, Virginia.
While it is not available for distribution to the community yet, an analysis of its known gene sequence data indicates that it belongs to a category of bacteria called Halomonas. Because Halomonas species are typically halophiles, they are usually found in water sources with high salinity levels, such as the Dead Sea and even within the frigid waters of Antarctica. Halomonas can also inhabit deep-sea sediment, deep-sea waters affected by hydrothermal plumes, and hydrothermal vent fluids.
BH1’s exact ”biocorrosive ability” is not clear yet. However, discovery of BH1 provides a tool for comparison and aids in identifying the potential microbes within the communities that contribute to the overall biocorrosion process(es).
The full article can be found at http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/497160.html
Two days, 12 dives, and no joy -- the river mud still has hold of the buoy chain despite our efforts on 15 and 16 April. There is no joy in Mudville.
But we WILL wrest the chain from the belly of the beast and deploy the buoy next weekend.
If we finish that on Saturday, 22 April, we will spend Sunday taking sidescan images of ten suspected sites down the Potomac, and physical measurements of two of them.
In July 2006, IMH will conduct an underwater reconnaissance of the historic harbor area at New Castle, Delaware.
We will work daily from Sunday, 16 July, through Saturday, 22 July, using our dive boat Roper, and a 14-foot skiff, and perhaps other vessels. We will employ various search methods, including sidescan sonar, divers, perhaps probing or excavation (if directed by the State), and perhaps a magnetometer, metal detector, sub-bottom profiler, and ground penetrating radar (if we can the obtain the use of that equipment). En route to and from New Castle we will also sidescan the area around Pea Patch Island to supplement the work we did there in November 2005.
We have also invited diving and non-diving members of the Archaeological Society of Delaware, the Delaware Marine Archaeological Society, the Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society, and the New Castle Historical Society, to join us on the project. Space aboard the vessels is limited, so an early commitment will be appreciated. Interested individuals please contact david.howe@maritimehistory.org for details.
In July 2006 we plan to return to Delaware to conduct detailed reconnaissance of an historic anchorage area, using remote sensors and divers.
On 9 April we tried but failed to rig the U-1105 mooring buoy for the summer season. We will try again on 15 and 16 April, weather willing -- and this time we will succeed.
IMH Divers were out in force this weekend, putting in two days on the Lower Potomac River.
The official marine forecast said "Small Craft Advisories, south winds at 20 knots, gusting to 30 knots,
seas 3 to 4 feet." Well, April Fool! It was gorgeous ― some wind, bright sun, calm seas, a beautiful
spring day. Six of us went out to continue our reconnaissance of the lower Potomac River.
Our gallant crew included Captain Giorgio Sciubba of the Italian Navy, Erik Rebeck of the Olney Scuba
Adventure Dive Club, Isabel Mack, Aimee Fullman, Kirk Pierce, and Dave Howe of IMH.
We based at St. George Island for the weekend. The area is said to hold a number of vessels that were
scuttled in 1776 from a flotilla commanded by John Murray, the fourth Earl of Dunmore and the last
Royalist governor of Virginia.
We confirmed two wrecks but were unable to get good measurements. One was visible along a creek
bank and would require excavation to assess; the other is a modern barge in deeper water, but the current
and poor visibility prevented manual measurement by tape.
We also got fuzzy sidescan images of another possible wreck (but divers found nothing), and we found
nothing on sidescan at four other reported sites in shallow water. If anything is there, it is deeply buried
in silt.
So we have not found Lord Dunmore's fleet ― yet.
2 APRIL:
Another beautiful day. Six crew again. Captain
Sciubba, Aimee, and Erik left for other
commitments, but we were joined by Larry Stern
of IMH and by Jim and Jay Sanborn, local
residents and sculptors of note. One of Jim's
works is at the CIA headquarters in Langley VA,
and has developed its own cryptic or cryptological
cult.
We tried again to measure the barge, to see if it
might be STC 410, a tank barge that exploded at
the Piney Point oil terminal in December 1986.
Measurement by sidescan sonar showed the wreck is too small to be that barge, but we need to confirm
those measurements manually while we gain confidence in the reliability and precision of our sonar.
We'll be back. We also looked again for yesterday's fuzzy wreck but found nothing; and then we
confirmed the positions of two other known sites on the trip back to Tall Timbers Marina.
MORE TO COME:
We will continue work in the area after we deploy the U-1105 buoy later in the month. We hope to finish
the entire river below Piney Point by 30 June 06, and then recon the area from Piney Point through the
Wicomico River before 30 June 07.
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