Wednesday, 22 March 2023, 12 pm CST
Details forthcoming, but mark your calendars for Warren Reiss’s webinar on the Ronson Ship, an 18th century British merchant ship excavated in Manhattan, New York in 1982. Join the webinar here.
The Yukon River Steamboat Survey: The Construction and Evolution of the Northwestern River Steamboat
Since 2007, INA Research Associate John Pollack and his team have documented the archaeological remains of the Klondike Gold Rush in the form of 30 field sites and three heritage ships in the Yukon, British Columbia, and Alaska. John shared the results of his team’s comprehensive fieldwork, and discussed the evolution of the Northwestern river steamboat, its hull construction, and machinery. View a recording of the webinar by clicking here.
A Practical Guide to Maritime Archaeology
Dr. John Broadwater’s new book, A Practical Guide to Maritime Archaeology: with a Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region, was just released on Amazon. This is a great guide for those wanting an introduction to maritime archaeological practices or for anyone wanting a quick reference to archaeological methods, terminology, tools, and techniques. There are numerous illustrated examples of archaeological sites within the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. All proceeds go to the Archeological Society of Virginia. Click here to order your copy!
The Pirates of North Carolina: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of Colonial Piracy in North Carolina
Tuesday, 7 March 2023, 1 pm EST
Join Allyson Ropp, a maritime archaeologist, as she explores the history, archaeology, and cultural memory of piracy in colonial North Carolina. Hear the individual histories of the famous pirates who utilized North Carolina’s coastline and learn what drew them to North Carolina in the first place. See what evidence exists in North Carolina relating to the time of the pirates and how they utilized the environment to meet their needs. Finally, explore the overlap between our current memory of pirates and the overlap with their historic presence and uses within the state. Registration for the webinar can be found here.
Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference
9-12 March 2023
Registration is now open for the Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference (MAAC) at the Ocean City Fontainebleau Resort in Ocean City, Maryland. For more information, or to register, click here.
Seventeenth-Century Shipboard Food: The Ship Biscuit & Salted Beef Research Project
Wednesday, 25 January 2023, 12 pm CST
Join the Institute of Nautical Archaeology on Zoom for a Webinar with recent Texas A&M graduate Dr. Grace Tsai. Dr Tsai will discuss replicating shipboard food – salted beef and pork, ship biscuit, beer and wine, and other provisions – using archaeological and historical data. Grace’s team simulated an oceanic voyage by storing food in casks on Elissa, the 1877 tall ship docked in Galveston, Texas. By analyzing the food in a laboratory for their nutritional and microbiological data, the team got a glimpse into the unique food situation and health of past sailors during the Age of Sail. View the Webinar by clicking here!
Connecting Ancestral Memory through the History and Archaeology of Slave Shipwrecks
Thursday, 2 February 2023, 7 pm EST
Join Kamau Sadiki from Diving With a Purpose (DWP) as he shares the stories of two shipwrecks, São José Paquete de Africa and Clotilda, involved in the Transatlantic Era of African enslavement through underwater archaeological documentation.
In this immersive lecture, Kamau will highlight the work of DWP, a non-profit organization of SCUBA divers whose primary mission is to bring back into memory the stories of shipwrecks involved in the commodification and enslavement of Black bodies.
Registration is required and can be found here.
Twenty-year Evolution of Royal Navy Ironclads
Friday, 20 January 2023, 12 pm EST
New technologies enabled the development of armored warships. The naval race between France and Great Britain prompted the rapid evolution of ship designs to counter new uses of propulsion, gun platform layout, and hull design, including the ironclads HMS Warrior, Captain, and Devastation. These advances set the stage for the development of dreadnoughts in the 20th century.
Registration is required and can be found here.
Raising the USS Monitor Turret
Tuesday, 31 January 2023, 1 pm EST
Join NOAA for a webinar on the story of the USS Monitor, including the role that the U.S. Navy played in the salvage and recovery operations during MONITOR Expedition 2002. As told by CAPT Bobbie Scholley, the Navy’s On Scene Commander for the operation, you will hear how the Navy partnered with NOAA and The Mariners’ Museum to plan and execute a historic diving operation off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 240 feet below the surface, to recover the unique revolving gun turret and two Dahlgren guns from the wreckage of USS Monitor.
Registration is required and can be found here.
IMH Reinvigorated
The New Year brings new change. The Institute conducted no fieldwork during the Covid-19 pandemic, but in 2022 we were re-energized by a new President, Vice President, and Board of Directors. We plan to get back to work in 2023, scouring the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries and the ocean worldwide searching for long lost wrecks and telling their story, monitoring previously identified wrecks, and conducting refresher training in archaeological work.
Looking to the future, we will resume efforts to recruit new volunteers, train our members in archaeological standards and procedures, and stand by to assist the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the U.S. Navy, Maryland Historical Trust, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and other agencies and archaeological societies. Keep an eye on the Blog for future archaeological opportunities!