We started diving operations yesterday afternoon with myself and Robert Spier, running transects in the greater site location. We could not make a visual confirmation of the site, nor locate it through probing. Today, we were back at it with a larger crew, searching to the south of yesterdays transects. The morning yielded no results, but after a quick look at the site plotted on Google Maps we took some measurements from the beach and then out into the river and dropped our dive flag where we thought we would locate it. Then, swimming in a circular search pattern, the tell-tale signs started to pop up! Several sizable stones, appearing from the cortex to be a European flint were sighted, and three Dutch sugar bricks were also seen. These are very important, as not much foreign brick was imported into St. Mary’s City in the 17th century. Most of the brick was locally made. Dutch red bricks are of a smaller size and have a sandier appearance than the locally made bricks, so they are easy to identify. As these were found in association with the site in the past, we can be sure now that we are on it.
Tomorrows plan is to start defining the edges of the site. We will deploy weighted buoys along the edges, creating an outline at the water’s surface which we can then plot using a laser transit system. Hopefully we will have a few images or videos to add to tomorrow’s blog to spice things up as well.
As today was spent mostly gathering supplies without any real fieldwork taking place, I have created a video to introduce you to the site as well as discuss some other aspects of my research. Enjoy!
Yesterday marked the beginning of our fieldwork season for 2012. Our goals for this summer are to locate the site and create accurate site maps tied in to a known geo-spatial coordinate system, and to make a thorough assessment of the site. For those of you just joining us, this project is based on a site in the St. Mary’s River, adjacent to the St. Mary’s City town center, which past work has suggested to be the remains of a trade vessel from the seventeenth century. If so, this will be the oldest British ship remains known in the region. The site is known as a ballast distribution, of which preliminary testing has suggested European origins. We hope to obtain a sample of this ballast for further testing. The site sits against what is believed to be the seventeenth-century shoreline. Historic map regression shows that as late as 1850 this was indeed the shoreline. Based on the data we currently have, we are operating under the assumption that the site represents an ocean-going trading vessel from the seventeenth century, which was likely faulty or beyond its usable life and then abandoned against the shoreline. If this is the case, anything of any value, including iron fittings, would have almost certainly been stripped of the ship. While this perhaps for some makes it less interesting, from an archaeological perspective it perhaps makes it more interesting. Any artifacts we find in association will be quite literally, the trash from the ship. Many shipwreck sites are seen as a sort of time capsule, showing an array of goods both for use on this vessel and for trade. Abandonments will show what was not valued, telling us a new side of the story.
To start, Kevin Norris, a surveyor with Lorenzi, Dodds, & Gunnill, Inc. came to set our datum points along the beach. Using RTK and a robotic total station, we were finally able to set two points near the site off of which we can base all of our measurements. Many thanks to him for all of his hard work after normal working hours last evening.
Today has been spent doing preparatory logistic work, getting ready for dive operations to begin on Sunday. I took many pictures and began stockpiling video footage as well in hopes that in the coming days I will have a video blog to post.
And to end, I would like to thank many of the people who have made this possible and contributed to this project in a significant way. Dr. Regina Fadden, director of the Historic St. Mary’s City museum, has been crucial in obtaining funding for this project, as well as providing accommodation for those venturing to St. Mary’s City for the project. Dr. Henry Miller, Director of Research at HSMC has worked with me very extensively in developing my research plan and providing support wherever he can. David Howe & co. of the Institute for Maritime History has provided amazingly useful support by loaning me both his time, equipment, and volunteers to ensure that we have what we need to preform the fieldwork to the highest standard possible. Terry Brock, a graduate student at Michigan State as well as close personal friend, has been very instrumental in helping me publicize this research in a meaningful way that has generated a fair amount of interest from both other archaeologists as well as public. Lastly, Dr. Susan Langley and Troy Novak from the Maryland Historical Trust’s Maryland Maritime Archaeological Program provided me with invaluable assistance in developing a fieldwork plan. Many thanks to all of you, as well as to the individuals volunteering their time on this site to help us learn about Maryland’s colonial maritime past.
I have finally managed to work out a fieldwork schedule for my survey of a ballast distribution near St. Mary’s City Maryland that just might turn out to be the oldest English ship remains known in the Chesapeake! This was my primary purpose for beginning this blog, so I am happy to finally be able to get out and begin the work. We will be starting out on May 31st with some preliminary work such as setting datums. From the 3rd to the 10th of June we will be diving the site to create detailed maps of the site and collect as much data as possible as to the sites origin. During this time, please check in for daily updates on our activities. If you are an archaeologically trained diver and would like to volunteer, please contact me directly at satucker@smcm.edu.
Today I thought I would write a post about some of the work preformed thus far on this project. Last summer during the planning phases on this project I went out a few days to do some prep work for this summer’s field season. With the help of some archaeologist friends, first Scott Strickland and Patrick McKitrick, and the second day with Scott Strickland and Jasmine Gollup, I did some survey work attempting to locate the site. We managed to place survey markers on the beach, which had not been done before. Unfortunately, one of those was later lost (removed), so I will have to reset those points. Then came the diving. Working off of old maps of the site from the mid-1990s I searched the area for the site. I could not find it, but did find a number of features such as what was likely the spring head used for fresh water by the early colonists, a number of pilings from the Broome family’s wharf, and some other odds and ends such as a 19th century leather shoe and what was maybe an iron pitch pot. All of these things though and no site.
Dave Howe and Dawn Chesaek of the Institute for Maritime History came out to give me a hand, lending a boat and their side-scan sonar in hopes to find the site. After a few hours of scanning, we finally found the site, directly where it was thought to be. After some quick dives we realized it was covered by sediment, but that is what we would like to see from a conservation stand point. The plan for this year is to go back and survey the site in so it can be more accurately mapped, and do some surface collection of artifacts that might be associated with it. Artifact collection comes with great responsibility though, in that these artifacts must be conserved. This is costly and time consuming, but without doing this the objects brought to the surface will not survive for long after. This is one of the areas we most need funding for. If you would like to help out with this, please visit our funding page at www.gofundme.com/g0g2k and give any amount you would like!
St. Mary's River Archaeological Project 