Southampton Dock: Vessels of Conflict and War

DOCUMENT Citation Only Nicolás C. Ciarlo.

During the 18th century, the maritime context occupied an outstanding place regarding the process of transformation and geographic expansion of the main maritime powers, which had worldwide impact on social, political, and economical relationships. Within this context, many technological changes took place, some of them related to British naval metallurgy.   This paper presents the research results carried on the metallic artifacts from the sloop-of-war HMS Swift,lost off Puerto Deseado...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jessica Stika.

Through conservation and analysis, artifacts from USS Westfield’s collection contribute significantly to the cultural history of the American Civil War. The sinking of USS Westfield on January 1, 1863 in Galveston Bay, Texas, effectively ended the Union’s ability to dominate Texas’ coastal waters until the end of the war. The disarticulated remnants of Westfield left in Galveston Bay lay subject to almost 150 years of erosion, dredging efforts, and salvage until the US Army Corps of Engineers...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert Church.

In 2007, archaeologists with C & C Technologies published a debris distribution model from data collected during a Deep Shipwreck Project with the former U.S. Minerals Management Service.  The researchers have continued to refine the formula with additional shipwreck information.  Studying the Gulfoil site at a depth of 534 meters BSL, as part of the Reefs, Rigs and Wrecks Program illustrated that a large portion of associated wreck debris fell outside the predictive distribution model and more...

DOCUMENT Citation Only W. Shawn Arnold.

  The oil tanker Gulfoil is located in 534 meters of water.  Built by New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey, Gulfoil is the first oil tanker to be built in the United States of America using British engineer Joseph Isherwood’s system of ship construction.  The Isherwood system used longitudinal framing instead of traditional transverse frames making the ship stronger and lighter than previous construction methods.  Sunk by German submarine U-506 in the Gulf of Mexico in 1942, the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mark Dunkley. Hanna Steyne.

English Heritage, the UK Government’s adviser on the historic environment of England, has over a decade of experience in the management of shipwreck sites. This experience is largely based on managing change to the remains of sunken wooden vessels which allowed for the publication of online guidance on pre-Industrial ships and boats in spring 2011. However, in order to begin to understand the management requirements of metal-hulled ships and boats, English Heritage has commenced a programme of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Chad M. Gulseth.

History’s most successful pirate, Captain Bartholomew Roberts, was killed by the British Royal Navy in 1722. The three vessels Roberts commanded were taken as prizes and sailed to Port Royal, Jamaica to be sold. However, after being in port for only two weeks, a hurricane struck Jamaica and destroyed more than 50 vessels in the harbor. Roberts’ 40-gun flagship, Royal Fortune, and the 24-gun consort, Little Ranger, were lost. The third pirate vessel, Great Ranger, was heavily damaged and sank...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Connie Kelleher.

The North Atlantic headquarters of the ‘Confederacy of Deep-Sea Pirates’ was located along the southwest coast of Ireland. Here pirates lived and traded with native Irish, government officials and English settlers under the Munster Plantation. Many of the pirates’ families lived locally and ran legitimate businesses ashore. Prostitutes also operated within this remote landscape where the lines between legal and illicit were constantly blurred. Contemporary historical documents inform on these...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kroum N. Batchvarov.

In 1677, a French squadron attempted to wrestle control of Tobago from the Dutch West Indies Company. The crucial battle of Rockly Bay was one of the largest fought in the Caribbean in the 1600s. In the 1990s, Mr. Wes Hall of Mid-Atlantic Technologies, LLC, located shipwrecks tentatively associated with that battle. Based on archival data and the known positions of the ships in the battle line, it is likely that these are some of the Dutch ships. The University of Connecticut and the Institute...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Gregory Cook.

As one of the many popular diving spots in Northwest Florida, divers have been visiting the site of the San Pablo for decades.  Little was known about the vessel's history until recent research revealed the large, steel-hulled freighter was sunk in a top secret OSS operation known as Project Campbell.  The project involved the development of a disguised, remote-controlled vessel carrying explosives capable of attacking and sinking enemy vessels, and it was intended to be deployed during the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Innes J. McCartney.

Research into the archaeology and distribution of 29 U-boat wrecks in the English and Bristol Channels, sunk in 1944 -1945 reveals that over a third of them do not match the losses recorded in the official histories of World War Two. Through historical research and archaeological recording these mystery sites can now be tentatively identified. What this process has revealed is how and why the Allies did not correctly assess the losses during wartime. It gives a unique insight into the challenges...