UK Marine Science Strategy consultation

DEFRA are consulting on the draft UK Marine Science Strategy. You have until

DEFRA would be particularly interested to have suggestions for the “high impact” issues that could be considered under the proposed “alignment review”, views on what stakeholders might do to assist in the Strategy’s delivery and ideas for further actions for the future. Comments can be e-mailed to the MSCC shared mailbox mscc@defra.gsi.gov.uk .

DEFRA are holding three regional meetings. Contact them asap if you wish to attend.

Building Victory

The Naval Dockyards Society are holding a conference at the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth on 7 November entitled Building Victory: Mid-18^th Century Naval Warfare – Roles of Dockyards and Shipbuilding. See their website for more details.

Conserving Marine Cultural Heritage

The Institute of Archaeology, University College London has announced the publication of a special issue of the journal Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites (Maney) entitled ‘Conserving Marine Cultural Heritage’. The journal is available online.

More OME publicity

Odyssey Marine Exploration continue to push their interest in the Victory with the media.

NW Passage

Robert Grenier, the senior marine archaeologist at the Canadian parks service, has delivered a lecture at the National Maritime Museum Greenwich on his latest discoveries about Franklin’s 1845 expedition to find the North West Passage.

Holidaymaker finds ‘lost city’

Dr Lucy Blue of Southampton University is to investigate a large submerged building with monumental columns found off Montenegro by a young British holidaymaker.

Maritime Information Association

The MIA offers an online forum to promote networking amongst those with an interest in maritime and naval affairs.

New appointments to ACHWS 

Ian Panter, Principal Conservator for the York Archaeological Trust and Dave Parham of Bournemouth University have both been appointed to the UK’s Advisory Committee on Historic Wrecks.

Marine Communities Fund deadline

The next deadline for applications to The Crown Estate’s Marine Communities Fund will be on Friday 15 January 2010.  This funding round will consider projects due to take place during the 2010/11 financial year. 

Ministerial visit to the Purton hulks

The Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Margaret Hodge MBE visited the important Purton site in Gloucestershire on 13 October

Maritime Archaeological Archives in the UK

A long term archive has been set up on the ADS website for the ongoing maritime archaeological archives project. The second project report entitled Review of Maritime Archaeological Archives and Access is now available to download.

UK Ship Preservation Network

National Historic Ships has issued a new press release on this long term project.

Scotland’s marine heritage

See The Scottish Government website for a news release dated 30 September.

Not finding Franklin?

A privately funded search for the ships of Sir John Franklin’s 19^th century expedition to the North-West Passage has been denied an archaeological permit by the Canadian Nunavut government.

Alexandrian call for papers

A call for papers has been made for The International Seminar on Maritime Cultural Heritage, which will take place in Alexandria from 3-4^th April 2010.

Cold War maritime archaeology

The remains of HMS Volage, a British destroyer sunk by a mine off Albania in 1946 have been located and investigated by a consortium of maritime archaeologists.

Seasearch news

The Seasearch Annual Report for 2008 is now available.

NAS vacancy

The Nautical Archaeology Society is advertising for an office administrator to be based in Portsmouth.

Consultation on the future of the Victory wreck planned

Baroness Taylor has announced that the MOD and DCMS will be jointly undertaking a consultation on the approach to be taken towards the 1744 wreck of the Victory.

Baroness Taylor said:

“Following a Royal Navy survey vessel’s survey of the site in July, we will be releasing a detailed analysis of the wreck site.  Due to the unique importance of this wreck for naval heritage, the MOD and DCMS will jointly be engaging in a process of consultation on the approaches that should be adopted for this wreck.”

The RN/MOD website states:

“Recognising the Rules to the Annex of the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage as representing best practice in underwater archaeology, we will be encouraging all of those with an interest in British naval heritage and underwater archaeology to contribute.”

The consultation process will start towards the end of the year. It is understood that the Government’s strategy for the wreck does not currently rule out the recovery of more of the ship’s armament.

A salvage award that is reported to have been $160,000 has been made in respect of the two guns previously recovered from the site. The warrant for the arrest of the wreck filed in a US court by the American salvage company OME has been dismissed by agreement. OME are reported to be intending to participate in the consultation process and are apparently still claiming that a huge quantity of bullion may have been on board the ship at the time of its loss.

Climate change and heritage

Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education will be running a one day course in Oxford entitled Climate Change and the Historic Environment: Confronting the Issues on Friday 15 January 2010. Further details can be obtained from the Department’s website.

Nautical Archaeology Society

The NAS will be holding their annual one day conference on 7 November in Portsmouth. Further details from their website.

BS 8478

The HSE’s written views on British Standard BS 8478 Breathing Gases for Diving and Hyperbaric Applications are being circulated to MAG members.

Recent Explosion!

Explosion!, The Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport, Hampshire remains open at weekends. This important museum was threatened by closure due to the withdrawal of local authority funding and the withdrawal of a developer from a waterfront development scheme at Priddy’s Hard. However, it is reported that the Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, which owns the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, took over the running of the museum on 1 May.

Archaeology informs flood risk management

Work carried out by the University of Hull on the Hasholme logboat is contributing to the debate on flood risk management on Humberside.

New aviation find

Parks Canada have used an ROV to investigate what is thought to be the wreck of a US Army Air Force Consolidated Catalina flying boat in the estuary of the St. Lawrence in Canada.

Loch Tay Logboat Project

The Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust and the Scottish Crannog Centre have been constructing a replica of a Bronze Age logboat on Loch Tay under the guidance of Damian Goodburn. The vessel is based upon the Carpow logboat currently undergoing conservation at National Museums Scotland. Visitors are welcome until 29 August.

Vacancies at the UK National Commission

Committee members are sought for the UK National Commission for UNESCO. Closing date for applications is 7 September.

‘Family heirloom’ returned by divers

The Caernarfon Denbigh Herald reports that a silver pocket watch found on the 19^th century wreck of the Barbara off Pembrokeshire has been returned to the family of the ship’s captain.

Recent near miss commercial diving incidents

The Association of Diving Contractors, the representative body for inshore and inland diving in the UK, has notified its members that there have been a number of incidents recently in which premixed cylinders of nitrox breathing gas have been found to have insufficient oxygen content to sustain safe diving. Association members are therefore being urged to ensure that they are taking appropriate precautions, such as checking the quality assurance procedures of suppliers and analysing the gas supplied before use.

Clapped in irons

A complete 17^th or 18^th century ball, chain and lock believed to have shackled a convict who drowned trying to escape has been found on the Thames foreshore near Rotherhithe.

Lyonesse

Fieldwork for the Lyonesse Project, co-ordinated by Historic Environment Projects of Cornwall County Council and funded by English Heritage, will take place between 28 August and 12 September.

Coastal change consultation

A government consultation is inviting views on a new draft policy setting out a planning framework for the continuing economic and social viability of coastal communities. It is part of the wider package of consultations intended to deliver sustainable coastal risk management. An associated conference is to be held on 15 September in London.

National Small Boat Register

Preserved historic vessels under 33 feet in length in the UK are listed under the National Maritime Museum Cornwall’s growing National Small Boat Register.

National Historic Ships

National Historic Ships is undertaking quantitative research to analyse the contribution historic vessels make to the UK’s economy.

New website

The International Centre for Underwater Archaeology in Zadar, Croatia has a new website.

Coastal erosion threatens Scotland’s heritage

The BBC has been reporting on the threat that coastal erosion is posing to archaeological sites around Scotland’s coast, including Skara Brae.

Historic ammunition found in garden

The BBC has also reported the discovery of what may be 18^th century naval ammunition in a garden in Morven in the Scottish Highlands. The far from retired and still very active maritime archaeologist Dr Colin Martin is quoted as saying that the bar shot could have been from HMS Terror or HMS Princess Anne, as they attacked Morven in the run up to the Battle of Culloden in 1746.

‘Britain’s Atlantis’

A Radio 4 documentary chronicling some recent discoveries concerning submerged landscapes is available on the BBC iPlayer. The presenter is Francis Pryor.

Jobs

The International Fieldschool for Maritime Archaeology Flevoland (IFMAF) is reported to be seeking a junior researcher.

Call for papers

The eighteenth New Researchers in Maritime History Conference will take place at the University of Exeter, from 12-13 March 2010. The conference provides an opportunity for those who have recently become engaged in research in maritime history (broadly defined) to present a twenty minute paper.

A call for papers has been issued. For more information contact the organisers.

Naval Dockyards Society

NDS will be holding a conference on 7 November at the RN Museum in Portsmouth on the roles of dockyards and shipbuilding in mid-18^th century warfare.

New books

Contiuum UK has published The English Coast. A History and a Prospect by Peter Murphy. This book, rrp £60 (but very substantially discounted by Amazon and others), examines the interaction between people and the English coast, from 700,000 BP to the present day.

The beautifully illustrated Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts by Joe Flatman has been published by the British Library at £30. You can listen to Joe talking about his new book on a British Library podcast at http://publishing.bl.uk/podcast-ships-and-shipping-medieval-manuscripts.

ROV field training

From 4-11 October 2009, an international interdisciplinary field training project in underwater robotics and applications will take place at Murter, Croatia on the Middle Adriatic. Maritime archaeologists are welcome.

Prins Willem

The reconstruction of Dutch East Indiaman Prins Willem, anchored in the Dutch harbour town Den Helder, has been destroyed by a fire.

Purton Hulks

The Friends of Purton will be excavating the Harriet, the only surviving example of a Kennet barge built at Honeystreet in 1905 and beached in 1964.

Working with Cotswold Archaeology on the 19^th-20^th September 2009, Nautical Archaeology Society members wishing to join the excavation should contact Malcolm Holden of the Friends of Purton.

Have you read…

…Mark Johnson on the historic timber-built coastal piers of Yorkshire in the Spring 2009 edition of Yorkshire Archaeology Today?

…Andrew Burn on the marine transgression threat to the monastic precinct at Cockersand Abbey, Lancashire in the Spring 2009 edition of English Heritage’s Research News?

…Oxford Archaeology North on the excavation of the 1715 Old Dock, the world’s first enclosed commercial wet dock in the latest edition of Current Archaeology?

…Gordon Le Pard on the possible medieval lighthouse or sea mark at The Chantry in Dridport, Dorset in the 2008 Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society?

…Janet MacDonald on the introduction of iron water tanks in the Royal Navy in the current issue of The Mariner’s Mirror

Consultation paper on a new Planning Policy Statement 15: Planning for the Historic Environment

Published last Friday, this consultation invites views on a new Planning Policy Statement (PPS) that will replace Planning Policy Guidance 15: Planning and the Historic Environment (PPG15) and Planning Policy Guidance 16: Archaeology and Planning (PPG16).

The government is also inviting comment on the Draft Legislative Programme 2009/10.

100^th Anniversary

This weekend marked the centenary of one of the most famous ‘firsts’ in aviation history – Louis Blériot’s crossing of the English Channel. However it was many years before flying offshore became commonplace.

Lionel Casson

The maritime historian Lionel Casson has died, aged 94. 

US Navy diving tables

For commercial as opposed to sports diving, the US Navy air decompression tables are probably the most widely used diving tables in the world. They are probably the most intensively tested tables and they have an extremely low incidence of failure. 

From 1 July 2009 those using these tables in the UK should be aware that the HSE expect them to use the latest version, Revision 6. The HSE also expect diving contractors to use them as they stand, without the previously commonplace adoption of ‘fudge factors’.

Revision 6 is available as a free download.

Purton Hulks

The hulks at Purton on the River Severn in Gloucestershire are to feature in a new series of the BBC’s ‘Coast’.

More on the Roman ships found off the island of Ventotene, Italy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8168425.stm
http://www.physorg.com/news167720761.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090725/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_roman_shipwrecks
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gshqvuOIMIfGLvRkWELCJKpX5aMAD9\9L1HAG1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090723/sc_nm/us_italy_shipwrecks_1
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_roman_shipwrecks
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8172032
http://www.ansa.it/opencms/export/site/notizie/rubriche/daassociare/visualizza_n\ew.html_1621183992.html (in Italian)
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/07/24/shipwrecks-italy.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534780,00.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/25/2636257.htm
http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE56M3IW20090723

Ancient port of Trafalgar

The remains of the ancient port of Trafalgar are reported to have been found by Spanish archaeologists at a depth of 50m using aerial radar survey. The results can apparently be seen on Google Maps.

Yes, cannon balls can sink ships

An experiment using scale models and an experimental gun, carried out by the University of Haifa and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., has apparently shown that the “unusually thick” oak hull of a vessel found off Acre, possibly an 18^th century British ‘blockship’, could have been penetrated by the cannon balls found inside it.

Research Framework for England

The project to devise a new research framework for coastal and maritime archaeology in England is now well underway following a successful meeting of the period working groups in Winchester.

Benchmarking Competency

The Nautical Archaeology Society has published their long awaited report into what makes someone a competent maritime archaeologist. The report makes a number of recommendations that will no doubt spark some debate.

PastScape 

A number of changes to English Heritage’s PastScape website have been made to improve searches for maritime sites and the amount of information displayed about them. Further details in the next update.

Underwater Discoveries

As a riposte to the for-profit salvors who have been making the news recently, the current issue of ‘Archaeology’ magazine highlights important discoveries made by underwater archaeologists.

Facebook

A new Facebook group has been set up in order to encourage the British Government to pledge that it will oppose profit-led salvage of archaeological sites.

To become a member of the Group, you’ll need to have a Facebook account, and then navigate to: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104553404236#/group.php?gid=104553404236&ref=mf

New mammoth finds

Recent discoveries of mammoth bones by Dutch trawlers have been reported by the Independent newspaper.

Thames Discovery Programme

The latest newsletter is now available from their website.

Iran in the news

Iran has become the 26^th country to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention.

New NAS newsletter

A new edition of the NAS Newsletter is now available to members.

New work in the western Solent

The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology has been carrying out further work at the prehistoric Bouldner Cliff site. You can download a compilation of project videos from the Trust’s website.

Heritage Protection Bill

Concerns over the bill being again left out of the government’s legislative plans are discussed in The Architects’ Journal.

New wreck for Dorset?

Planners wanting to sink an old warship off Dorset’s Portland Harbour are having to consider a different site, following an objection from the MoD.

Liverpool’s Old Dock

The 2001 evaluation of Liverpool’s oldest dock is featured in Current Archaeology’s latest issue.

SS Robin

The SS Robin Trust is looking for new trustees to join its management board.

Vinland Map

The controversial Vinland Map is again in the news.

The Firebrand

In August CISMAS will be undertaking further recording work on the wreck of the Firebrand, a fire-ship lost in 1707 when Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet was wrecked on the Isles of Scilly. See the project website for further details.

The future of our archives

The government is consulting about a new policy for archives. See The National Archives website for the consultation document and a response form.

Bonnie Prince Charlie wreck?

A team of mainly commercial divers led by the well known Joe McCormack is reported to be salvaging material that he claims comes from a wreck bringing supplies to the Jacobites from France. The team believes that these supplies included the inevitable hoard of gold coins.

Odyssey hits the buffers? 

OME have suffered a setback in their fight to over a large hoard of coins salvaged from from a Spanish shipwreck. OME says that it will fight the US court decision. 

Parliamentary questions on the historic environment

See the House of Commons website for details. 

Great Lakes find 

Hunting traps that are at least 8,000 years old have been found at a depth of 50m in Lake Huron during a geophysical survey by the University of Michigan.

Marine Environment Protection Fund (MEPF)

The call for expressions of interest in the Round 3 Programme closed today, 30 June. Successful projects will commence after 1 September and must be completed by 31 December 2010. Funding of normally up to £200,000 per project (exVAT) can be allocated from a total budget of around £2 million. 

Southern North Sea Neanderthal find

A fragment of the skull of a 60,000 year old young adult male Neanderthal has been recovered during dredging. It is believed to be the first such find from the seabed.

Protecting coastal heritage from rising sea levels

The government has launched a consultation on how to protect coastal heritage from rising sea levels. A spokesperson from English Heritage is quoted explaining that climate change threatens many historic buildings. They suggest that some buildings will be adapted, some protected and some will be lost. 

Shipwrecks at risk 

You can now search for shipwrecks on English Heritage’s 2009 Heritage at Risk Register.

ISBSA 12

You are reminded that the 12^th International Symposium on Boat and Ship Archaeology will take place on 12-16 October 2009 in Istanbul.

Scottish Marine Bill

The Scottish Marine Bill is now before the Scottish Parliament. The Bill introduces a framework for the sustainable management of the seas around Scotland, ensuring the need to protect our seas is integrated with economic growth of marine industries. It introduces:

• Marine planning: a new statutory marine planning system to sustainably manage the increasing, and often conflicting, demands on our seas
• Marine licensing: a simpler licensing system, minimising the number of licences required for development in the marine environment to cut bureaucracy and encourage economic investment
• Marine conservation: improved marine nature and historic conservation with new powers to protect and manage areas of importance for marine wildlife, habitats and historic monuments
• Seal conservation: much improved protection for seals and a new comprehensive licence system to permit appropriate management when necessary.
• Enforcement: a range of enhanced powers of marine conservation and licensing

New OME push for permission to work on the Victory site?

Odyssey Marine Exploration appears to have accomplished the unusual feat of drawing criticism from both the  fishing and archaeological communities.

OME has published a new report claiming that trawling is causing widespread damage to English Channel wrecks.

Gregg Stemm of Odyssey is reported to have described the English Channel as being “like a giant industrial wasteland”, with “incredible devastation” caused by the activities of the fishing industry. Representatives of that industry are reported to be less than happy with these claims.

OME is hoping to recover valuable artefacts from the recently found wreck of HMS Victory. Some archaeologists suspect that the publication of this report may be designed to increase the pressure on the UK Government to accede to the company’s plans.

English Heritage is currently undertaking an archaeological assessment of the Victory.

Thames Discovery Programme Films

The Thames Discovery Programme has uploaded the first two episodes of the Foreshore Recording & Observation Group (FROG) films made at the Custom House foreshore site in February 2009 by Anies Hassan, entitled “FROG @ Custom House”.

Defra Consultation

Defra is currently consulting on the draft Strategy for Marine Protected Areas. If you wish to have your say before any MAG response is drafted then contact one of the committee members asap.

New EH maritime post

EH are advertising for a maritime archaeologist capable of drafting and issuing EH advice on environmental assessments and applications for commercial mineral extraction. The closing date is the 1^st June 2009.

English research framework website

The website for the Maritime and Marine Historic Environment Research Framework project is now up and running.

Champions of England

In article in the June 2009 edition of Diver magazine, Alison Hamer of English Heritage asks for a new generation of ‘underwater custodians’ to step forward from the sports diving community.

Slavery Conference

As part of the legacy of the 2007 Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, English Heritage, the National Trust and the University of the West of England (UWE) are jointly sponsoring a one-day conference on 21 November 2009 at the London School of Economics exploring the links between the country house in Britain and the Atlantic slave trade.

A conference flyer has been e-mailed to MAG members.

Queered Seas

The first international conference on homosexuality and the sea will take place at the Merseyside Maritime Museum from 12-14 November 2009. Building on the book by Dr Jo Stanley and the National Museums of Liverpool touring exhibition ‘Hello Sailor!’, the conference will examine questions such as what was it about the culture of life at sea that permitted what was often outlawed ashore?

Further details can be obtained from Eleanor Moffat, Curator of Maritime Collections at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Fly Navy

The new ‘Fly Navy 100’ exhibition at the Fleet Air Arm Museum celebrates the 100^th anniversary of British naval aviation in 2009.

Pirate bones?

The American writer and filmmaker Kevin P. Duffus is trying to find out whether bones removed from a grave in Washington, N.C. are the remains of Edward Salter, a member of Blackbeard’s pirate crew.