Kurt Knorel points to an encrusted feature on a possible 18th-century shipwreck site in Maryland waters.
This should be required reading for us Maryland folks
http://books.google.com/books?id=PSBvAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22chronicles+of+colonial+maryland%22&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=t4B-X2mFko&sig=WJgtRHhK_r2wLZGEWO1hekdhzHs&hl=en&ei=agduSv2tBZPulAew8qy1Ag&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4
LAMP blog post on recent work
Check out this great post at the St. Augustine Lighthouse blog on their recent work. It features some great video.
http://www.
Used dive gear
Long-time friend Townie Burden just gave IMH a lot of used gear, including wetsuits, drysuits, hoods, booties, BCs, and accessories. Some of it is almost new, but some is pretty salty. The suits are small, medium, and extra large. We will keep some as loaners, and sell some. If you are interested, contact david.howe@maritimehistory.org.
He also gave us a Fisher Pulse 8-X underwater metal detector. We will keep that for use in the field, not sell it. Sorry!
IMH summer intern
Remy A. Pohl, a diver and high school senior from Hastings NY, will spend the next three weeks living aboard the IMH houseboat at Tall Timbers and doing as much field work as possible and as much data entry as he can stand. He is on facebook.
Recent major underwater finds
See http://www.archaeology.org/0907/underwater/
Good stuff!!
National Park Service awards $1.3M in battlefield protection grants
The Maryland Department of Planning received $78,000 to identify and assess naval engagements of the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 in Maryland. Work will include collecting baseline data at six engagement sites to build future planning and management efforts, including National Register nomination for eligible sites.
For other details see http://media-newswire.com/release_1093643.html.
Field school in u/w recon and low-viz mapping
IMH will hold a four-day field school in underwater reconnaissance by sidescan sonar, and site mapping in low-visibility water. Tentative dates are 15-16 and 22-23 August 2009.
The school will be based at Tall Timbers MD. It will comprise one day ashore and one day afloat, for divers and non-divers, and two days in the water mapping two wrecks in the lower Potomac (divers only).
Space is limited, but some slots are still available. If more people sign up than we can accommodate, we will offer it again later in the year.
To sign up or for more information email david.howe@maritimehistory.org.
old bald guy
Revolutionary War find?
On 31 July and 1 August 1776, Loyalist forces under Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia, burned a number of their own vessels near St. George’s Island where the St. Mary’s River joins the Potomac.
In March 2009 IMH hired Azulmar LLC to run a sidescan and mag survey in the area. Azulmar got several sidescan and mag hits, and sent us an initial group of 13 potential sites.
Dawn Cheshaek, Spike Meatyard, and I dived two of those sites on Saturday, 13 June. We found some weird, anomalous rocks ranging in size from melons to mattresses. They might be ballast. We need to map them carefully to determine if they lie in ship-sized clusters.
It is much too early to conclude they really are ballast — but if they are, we may have found an early Rev War site. Stay tuned. Better yet, come dive!