Last hurrah

July 1^st, 2010

Sadly, it’s our last full day in Lochaline.  The field school has flown by.  We’ve been working on site for about two weeks and have accomplished a great deal in such a short span of time.  What made the project so pleasant was the exceptional weather we’ve enjoyed this past fortnight.  This morning we got out of bed ready to finish the few tasks that still needed to be completed and were greeted with true Scottish weather. The fog and rain meant that we would all be getting wet in the interest of site preservation as we still needed to place sandbags over our excavation trenches.

Mary assembled us for our morning briefing, gave us our marching orders and we were off.  Rich and I hit the beach to load the sandbags.  “Scuba” Steve and his scuba team of Michelle, Lesley, Sergey and Dan Pollard headed off to borrow Colin’s boat which would serve as today’s dive platform. 

In this flurry of activity Mary joined Rich and me on the beach filling sandbags.  We loaded up the van with our wet sandy bags and set off for the pier where the scuba team was waiting.  “Scuba” Steve went to fetch our main squiggy boat that would transport the sandbags.  While waiting for Steve at the pier we had time for a quick photo.

Once everything was loaded on the two squiggy boats they set off for the site to carefully place the sandbags over the excavated parts of the wreck.  “Scuba” Steve and his two scuba angels Michelle and Lesley took the lead in Squiggy 1 while towing Sergey and Dan Pollard in Squiggy 2.  Dan, being a man of the sea, knew his boat could handle the choppy waters and insisted he could make it to the site unaided by Squiggy 1.  I can still hear Dan now shouting “but I’ve got a 2 and a half horse power engine.  This thing is ready to fly”. 

Here is where Mary, Rich and myself leave the valiant scuba team to carry on while we go back to the house to start the process of organizing and archiving.  Like a well-oiled machine, both teams took care of their assignments and the morning was a success.  We all met up at the place we’ve called home for the last two weeks and finished up the odds and ends for the project. 

We’ve got a big feast planned for tonight to celebrate the hard work we’ve put in and to reinforce the friendships we’ve made.  We all came in with different strengths and interests but we will all leave as better nautical archaeologists thanks to the efforts of Mary Harvey, Colin and Paula Martin, Steve Liscoe, Sara Hasan, HHHHHHHHHHhand especially Mark and Annabel Lawrence of Lochaline Dive Centre.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself and am glad I got the chance to get to know everyone who participated in the Sound of Mull Field School 2010.  Same time next year Mary?

 Dan Hudson

Our penultimate day in Loch Alain and our last full day of diving means time to reflect on what we have learned thus far.


In SCUBA-ing as in life, balance is the key. If we refer to the below picture we can see the perfect balance of preparedness stripped down to bare necessity – a perfectly moulded NAS diver.

Now I know what some of you BSAC divers are thinking – this ill prepared buffoon simply does not have enough equipment to survive anything other than the most minor of setbacks. For example diving with only two tanks is never advisable (where are his ponies?), and diving to any depth with only three computers is simply reckless (the keen eyed of you will note that he’s only carrying a dry powder extinguisher – I don’t think I need to elaborate on the foolishness of this endeavour, not even a PADI diver would be so remiss). But while we’re on the subject – PADI divers, the grey and blue thing covering our intrepid hero is called a dry suit – handy for keeping warm when you’re not diving in the Caribbean on holiday. But, whilst we marvel at this diving machine, lets remember our key word – balance.

Today some less “balanced” divers returned the recovered artefacts to trench 2 and covered them with protective sand bags, they then attempted to back fill our two excavated trenches using the exhaust of the dredge. A few hours later and the beaches of the Morvern peninsula (down current of our site) having been raised a couple of feet we decide to call a halt to this activity. Poor preparation meant that all but one of them had left their bucket and collapsible scuba shovel on the beach. Team spirited bunch that we are, we considered it unfair to expect our NAS prepared diver to do all the work, so we agreed to return tomorrow morning and fill the remains of the trenches with sandbags. A valuable lesson learned we returned to shore.

June 29 - The best laid plans....

Today began with two idiots getting the bright idea that while dry suits are necessary in the freezing cold waters fo the Sound, a swim off the boat would not result in hypothermia. But more on that later.

The goal of the day was to draw plans of both trenches and finish all the survey and photos for features. We got off to a great start, the first wave of divers hit the water before 9 and the planning frames were positioned quickly. By lunchtime both plans were nearly done. Several finds were discovered while drawing, including a pulley, originally thought to be an oddly shaped rock and two bottles lurking under the slate.

While waiting for the last pair to surface before lunch, Dan P. and I grabbed our 'swim trunks and flippy floppies' and dove off the side of the Sound Diver. 5 seconds later we were scrabbling at the stern hoping the lift would go fater. Lesson learned, at least until tomorrow.

After lunch we finished off the trenches and photos in one round of diving for each buddy pair. Next task was raising the frames which somehow required me to stand on the lift in thigh high water to retrieve the scaffolding. Having waited till now to post due to numb fingers, I'd say it was a great, albeit cold, day. All that's left now is back filling the trenches and paper work. 

Publication Course

Today was Paula's turn to teach a Part III course and this one was a lot more broad and stimulating than the title might imply at first glance. As well as the actual process of writing up in a thorough, structured and referenced way (that is consistent!), we looked at some other considerations to be made. This is where my humanities degree got left behind...

We looked at the author - editor and author - publisher relationships (it's not that boring, honest!). The practicalities of page layout were also quite interesting as was as our introduction to issues relating to copyright. It seems that as with reporting finds to the Receiver of Wreck, as long as you make a reasonable effort to be honest and do what you are supposed to (ie not steal someone else's property!), it's actually fairly straighforward...

Publication also complemented the photography course as we thought about some of the different ways of processing and using images - I had never thought that you could "use" a scanner creatively! We looked at why photographs are framed as they are with a view to how the images may be used or manipulated later - until now, I'd only really considered composing the actual photograph without any thought to how it may be used subsequently - unless by me in person.

We also spent some time with some newspaper clippings and some leaflets to analyse how a publication should be written with its' intended or likely readers in mind - something which I have often wished more authors gave some thought to!

Apart from being a very coherent and comprehensive introduction to the publication process, and to preparing for publication, this course particularly interested me for some personal reasons as well: my family background is in journalism (print and broadcast), publishing and libaries.

Also, one of the things that has really struck me about archaeology is that it offers the opportunity to really see a project through all the way from start to finish rather than just being a link in a chain. This course has made it clear to me how project planning, surveying, excavation, recording, illustration, publication etc are all different stages of one process and not simply different specialisms. This is something I found really appealing; especially in constrast to many other areas of contempory life.

Right, that's quite enough of my babble. After another fantastic 13 and a half hour day I'm off to the pub...

Richard.

Just a few pictures...

It has come to my attention that the blog has been a bit sparse on the old photographic front so below i have included a selection of pics from the last couple of weeks....

 

Divers head to site for excavtion and survey work - don't panic we haven't time travelled but that really is an ABLJ!

After an illustration course the proud artists display their work on the house fridge...

The end of another day on site...

Back to work today after a well earned day off with another NAS Part III course. Unfortunately, maritime archaeology does not end with the diving of sites and retrieving of artifacts, as these must also be recorded. However, Dr Colin kindly offered his expertise to elucidate us on the finer points of Archaeological Illustration

There had been murmurings for several days as several of us expressed our doubt in our artistic ability, however some very good sketches were produced by all as we practiced on bottles, pots and sherds. We learned it is actually easier to produce a good cross section from broken pottery or glassware, though ironically many artifacts retrieved from maritime sites are often intact. However, the idea of “accidently” breaking a bottle to obtain a good cross section would not be considered good archaeological practice.

After lunch it was time to illustrate and photograph our six “finds” from the John Preston. Beautiful sketches were produced while we waited for the fickle Scottish sun to appear to aid our photography. Suitable photographs were produced, though there was some snickering from the back of the group at the antics of Dr Colin and our expert Russian photographer as they disappeared under the drop sheet to record the plate sherd on the light box.

A “fun” dive on the Thesis was offered for the afternoon, with the hardcore Brits/Russian all eagerly taking up the offer. However, the cowardly Americans/Australian opted out, bleating about “cold” “rain” and “wind”, as our idea of “fun” diving may more encompass say, the Caribbean or South-East Asia.

Though for UK diving conditions it would be hard to beat the Sound of Mull with its relatively protected waters and good visibility. And the spacious dive boat the Sound Diver is the best ever (especially its stern lift – particularly useful for hauling nautical archaeologists and all there gear out of the water!). And even as I write, the sun is shining brightly….oops, no its gone again.

So all up, another educational and entertaining day in the NAS fieldschool – Michelle

You can skip this entry if you want to and go on to the next one...

At this point the days have started blending into each other so I'm not entirely sure why it was a good idea to appoint me as blog-writer! If it weren't for the fact that breakfast and lunch are the same each day I wouldn't have been able to remember what I'd had for either. Anyway, I'll try.

The official day started with the all important eagerly anticipated briefing where we were told what we'd be doing. As were towards the end of the project the schedule for the day included finishing off various tasks. We then happily set off to meet the boat and start the day's diving related activities.

I think that it was today that my buddy and I were diving in the first wave but I might be mistaken. At least I remember what we were tasked with for this dive and this meant spending our time surveying a couple of the metal objects that were found around the wreck. The rest of the group were engaged in such tasks as dredging, photographing and surveying.

We returned to Lochaline for lunch and a quick turn-around ensured that we were back on the site with the aim of carrying out three or four dive waves.

The busy schedule meant that the rest of the day passed quite quickly. Once we returned we went through what had been achieved for the day and set out what was required to wrap up the project for the year.

The End.

A long way for fish and chips...

My turn to Blog again – not sure how that happened so fast. Mary refuses to take her turn so I guess I’d better write something.

Waiting at the quayside in Lochaline for the boat to arrive in the drizzle – anyone would think we were in Scotland.

Today we are informed that our dive boat Sound Diver will run out of fuel – not a good idea in the Sound of Mull – so an afternoon’s excursion to Oban is suggested. Diving operations on the John Preston will end at 3pm and we will head south to Oban for fuel before the garage closes at 5pm.

In order for us to achieve all the archaeological dives before 3pm we will had to be slick. Mary becomes ‘mother’ for the day and chivvies everyone along so that divers are ready as soon as we are on site, and 2nd wave divers are ready for the water as soon as the first wave are back on the boat. Mother did well – we had 3 waves of diving and were back at the Dive Centre for lunch before 1pm.

Visibility on the John Preston has generally been exceptional with a slight tide running most of the time helping to keep the site clear. Unfortunately the tide has been predominantly from east to west and our two trenches are at the eastern end of the site. At times during dredging operations I have been reminded of conditions in the Solent, where wreck diving if frequently done by brail. When the dredge is running it has been hard to even locate some of the features which we are trying to survey as the spoil cloud covers the site and visibility can reduce to nil. This is the excuse that Dan and I used today when we were unable to carry out all our assigned tasks – sorry Mary – couldn’t find it, let alone measure it!

Soup and sandwiches devoured and we are off again for a final dive on the John Preston before heading for Oban. Having refuelled at Oban we were all offered the chance of a fun dive on the wreck of the SS Breda.

The SS Breda was requisitioned for war duties in WWII from her owners the Royal Netherlands Steamship Co. She left London for Oban on 12 December 1940 with a crew of 42 and a valuable cargo including 3 Hawker Biplanes, 30 De Havillard Moths, military vehicles, cement and a huge range of other general cargo. She was at anchor in Oban waiting to join a convoy when, on 23rd December a German Heinkel III bomber dropped its load over the ship. The bombs missed the ship but caused serious damage to a water inlet pipe. Captain Fooy managed to ground his vessel in shallow water in Ardmucknish Bay just 600 yards from the shore. The following day, as salvage was being attempted, she slipped off the shallow bank and sank. She lay undisturbed until the 1960’s when she was heavily salvaged and swept. She now lies with her bow in 24 metres, facing the shore, her stern in 30 metres and she stands some 6 – 8 metres tall.

Five of us had a great, relaxing dive on this wreck, but I felt quite ‘naked’ without my tape measure, ruler and slate!

After the dive we returned to Oban where we had to spend half an hour in the pub whilst waiting for our fish and chips to be cooked – shame.

Back to the boat – refreshed in every way – we head back to Lochaline.

Another perfect NAS Fieldschool day.


Sara Hasan

Seventh-Day Heroes

Day Seven

The morning began with the fact that the Head of the kitchen has decided not to torment us by question what we want today for breakfast, and gave to all Chef's choice. The set of dishes was successful, and we mustered the strength to deliver our items to the boat.

John Preston greeted us cold and overcast, but we are not embarrassed and continued to explore his rich inner world. Some of us were assigned to search protruding metal warts and give them names, others hoovered the bottom deeper and deeper to find firewood, kindle a fire, and to get warm at last.

For giving the full appearance, that everything going is «sound science», sometimes one of us measured distances between the metal warts and firewoods.

The outcome of the Day: we improved our bottom cleaner and well-vacuumed 4 sq.m, drew a few firewood in situ, found a lot of distances and fairly enlarged our knowledge of John Preston…

Sergey

Day six in the NAS house got off to a bit of a shaky start with the controversial suggestion that the beer fridge might be used to safely store finds at a suitable temperature. The democratic process swiftly dealt with this outlandish idea – an essentially unanimous decision that the beer must be kept cold and that finds would have to survive as best they could somewhere round the back by the bins. Order restored we headed to the dive boat.

Not long after arriving on site the next major problem of the day presented itself - with an individual in the dingy minding the pump and communication line for the water dredge how best to keep the good people at the Health and Safety Executive happy – specifically how does one tan evenly whilst wearing a life jacket? More research is required in this area, but rest assured readers I will get back to you with an update (weather permitting) as soon as possible.

The remainder of the day was spent getting to grips with the process of controlling a water dredge 20m underwater at the end of 200 feet of fire hose under a reasonable amount of pressure. Regular viewers of Tom and Jerry familiar with any episode in which Tom attempts to use a garden hose will require no further clarification.

Initial excitement over and flying dive gear retrieved from the surrounding coastline, on the second dive both trench 1 and 2 had sufficient sand removed to reveal the initial signs of some timbers, leaving tomorrow to dredge a little more and begin sketching both trenches.

Monday 21 June 2010

The morning dawned cloudy, which was a relief for our sunburned faces after the last couple of sunny days. After a mass loading of kit, which happily doesn't need to be unloaded till Friday, we puzzled out the scaffolding frames for the two excavation trenches and tagged their corners. Once the mooring system of the small boat we'll be using for the dredge was operational we headed out to the site to set it in place. After a few cups of tea and some juggling, the frames were finally lowered down to the site and Mary dove down to make sure they were positioned alright.

After lunch we returned to the site and began diving in earnest. Two groups of buddies descended to measure the trench frames against several control points while two other groups collected important data. One of these buddy pairs finished the necessary measurements which we didn't get on Saturday and the other collected all the depths from the new points.

Back on dry land, with the necessary restorative tea, we finished our dive logs and plugged the new data into Site Recorder. All that's left now is to see how many lines turn green indicating a job well measured.

Sunday 20 June 2010 - Boys with Toys

Another lovely day in Lochaline with some fantastic, kit-related fun; today we looked at excavation in preparation for our work on the John Preston next week. Colin gave us a presentation on the practical considerations to be made and the uses of underwater excavation before taking us to his back garden for a look at some of the tools of his trade.

Essentially we learned about some ways of processing finds recovered through excavation. What really appealed to me was the use of all kinds of bits and pieces of domestic or trade materials which had been adapted (or combined) to be used for other, quite different purposes. As a diver, I've always enjoyed having my own "custom" kit and I saw this as a part of nautical archaeology with similar opportunities to adapt or build your own gear with a specific task in mind.

After lunch we helped drag an inflatable tender onto a trailer and headed on down to the beach to play with a dredger: an underwater vacuum cleaner! Again this had been constructed from things like a firehose and a U-bend - both designed with quite different uses in mind... We loaded it into the tender then set out to assemble it and fire up the engine before having a go on the sandy seabed.

After some difficulties and frustrations with the dredger's engine (in the end we overcame, of course!) we all got to use the dredger and redistribute some sand... I can see what a useful tool a dredger could be for an archaeological project but to be perfectly honest I also quite enjoyed messing around with all the gear...

Now we have a week of diving on the John Preston to put into practice what we have been learning about - so I suppose now the training's over and the gloves are off... though not in my case as I'm not hard enough to dive without them in 11 degrees water!

Thanks to everyone,

Richard.

PS If you're reading this blog James, sorry you had to leave so early and hope things work themselves out soon. Take care buddy!

On yet another bright and sunny day in Lochaline the group participated in a NAS Part III in Photography, led by the delightful Drs Paula and Colin.
We began with a morning chat about the principles of photography and a reminder that "we are in control of our camera".  What?  But I only use auto on my SLR.  You mean those other functions do something?
We split into two groups for the day, our group first went with Paula to photograph archaeological features, starting with a picturesque boathouse belonging to the Estate.  We shot the boathouse from all angles, though with too much sun in Scotland today (?!) this was sometimes challenging.  One dedicated soul got the perfect perspective by wading into the loch as we watched from the comfort of the shore.  After much searching, we found the obscure boathouse construction date of 1853. 
We then moved on to an old Estate weighbridge, though the perfect photo was again thwarted by the ever present midday sunshine shining though the trees, creating a pretty, but distracting, dappling effect.  An impromtu excavation showed the site to be more extensive than first obvious, though without permission to tear up the tarmac road we left it for another time.
We concluded with a short walk to the Estate barn, then returned to review and critique our photographic attempts, and were quite happy with the results.
After lunch, we joined Colin to learn the fine art of finds photography.  He showed us some clever tricks of lighting and background to display the objects to their best advantage and produce the perfect finds photograph.  Fortuantly we are in the digital age, and after several experiments, some impressive images were produced.
Once again, we learned a great deal from the extensive knowledge and experience of Drs Paula and Colin.
Gotta go get ready for another recon dive on the site of the J.P  yee-hah.

Rubbing the sleep out of our eyes, we woke up to another bright blue beautiful morning, the sun beaming down and the only sounds being the quiet lap of waves on the shore and the buzz of a million insects amongst the flowers. What a gorgeous part of the country, and not one of us with a trace of hangover. Wierd.


The morning started with an interesting lecture  from Colin and Paula Martin on the recording and interpretation of wreck sites (with too many interesting stories to cover here), followed by a quick shimmie down the road to have a look at an old beached boat, where Colin  took us through the basic tools and techniques of measuring and surveying, a practical approach to the common difficulties encountered and possible solutions.

Paula also had much to tell us about the intricate  history of piers and keys in the western isles and how their construction was and still is intimately related to ever shifting, far reaching economic and technological changes.

 A long lunch break saw us refreshed and setting off for a ride down the coast to the site of a nineteenth century stone boat house, built by the local toffs for mucking around.

Although this site had  been previously surveyed by Paula and Colin as part of a wider project looking at boat houses and general coastal  features, it made a perfect starting point for us to get stuck in and have a go ourselves.

Most of us had nt used a plain table and laser level before but, being an unusually sharp group of intellects, we soon had a frankly sublime sketch of the boathouse. The team work was a wonder to behold and considering we were walking on the most uneven, cow ploughed, tufty rock-strewn field in Argyll, the fact nobody went over on their ankle was a testiment to the groups'  balancing skills. Impressive.





Everybody came away enthusiatic with the skills we picked up and looking forward to putting them into practice. A cup of tea back at the post office ended a pretty tough day in the field...

Thursday 17th June

Yesterday was a busy day, finishing off the NAS Part I course, new folks arriving during the afternoon, and an evening lecture from Colin Martin about his work on the ‘Swan’ wreck off Duart Point in the Sound of Mull. Inspiration for us all!


The NAS Introduction and Part I courses are now complete. This morning the Field School began in earnest and Mary started the day with an introduction to the John Preston; the aims and objectives of the Field School; the programme of events for the next two and a half weeks; including all the Part III courses we will be able to achieve.


We then began today’s Part III course, learning how to use ‘Site Recorder’, a powerful computer programme that we will be using to record and log all data from the John Preston. All the Field School participants need to be able to use the programme to add data and ultimately enhance the site archive.


After what seemed like a long day carrying out exercises on our laptops we were all a bit ‘glazed’ and needed some light relief – a dive on the John Preston would do!

We all met at the boat at 7pm and made the very short journey round the corner to the bay and the site of the John Preston. Safety briefs, BAR checks, and we were off. We all enjoyed our first visit to the site. There was a slight tide crossing the site but visibility was brilliant. We all saw the keel and most of us managed to locate and identify some features from the site plan. 40 minutes was over all too soon and we were all back on the boat.

Returned to the Café at the Dive Centre for coffee and cake and ‘blog’ writing before we head home – via the pub of course.

June 15, 2010

Today was an action-packed day that included a practice dive and several fascinating lectures on various topics of maritime archaeology .

This morning after breakfast we got our first chance to get into the water so we could practice 2D measuring techniques such as the offset method and trilateration.  This practical session allowed students to build on these same measuring techniques that we learned yesterday in the comfort of the parking lot where communication and buoyancy were not a problem.  After completing our measurements we were then asked to draw artefacts using a planning frame.  Overall, this dive session gave me a deeper appreciation for the difficulty of operating under water while needing to be efficient and accurate.  I was happy with our results but I would definitely benefit from more practice.

After a quick turnaround that included a shower and a cup of tea we had the opportunity to learn a great deal about the capabilities and benefits that remote sensing can offer the discipline of maritime archaeology courtesy of Mark Lawrence.  Some of the technologies that Mark covered included side scan sonar, magnetometer, sub-bottom profiler, and the different ways of position fixing that make all the data more useful.

We again recharged our batteries with tea, coffee, and biscuits and then got settled in to hear from Sara Hasan about the vitally important issue of safety and logistics while planning archaeological projects. This phase of planning can make or break a project if sufficient time is not devoted to ensuring the safety of the team and the types of equipment needed to achieve the project goals.

Mary Harvey then gave us a thorough talk about conducting 3D surveys underwater.  Determining the number, placement, and depths of control points is best handled after an assessment dive over the site.  We practiced this technique on shore to make sure we understood the concept and could put it into practice underwater.

Next, Mary gave us an overview of how to deal with artefacts on a site and the questions that need to be answered before an artifact is raised up from the seafloor.  She described the methods to be used to provide first-aid to artefacts before they reach a conservator.

We covered a lot of ground today and it was all interesting and informative.  I would highly recommend attending an NAS fieldschool.  The instruction is fun and excellently delivered.

Dan Hudson

We arrived at Lochaline early Sunday evening to bright sunshine and blue skies, which were at that time, still MIDGY free. What a perfect way to begin the 2010 NAS field school.

After meeting the NAS Staff and Mark and Annabel Laurence, we all has some dinner cooked by Lee's fair hands, and interacted with the fellow students for the remainder of the evening. A variety of geographic locations are already being represented on the Intro and Part 1, from as far afield as Russia and USA as well as a few of us Brits and many more are due to join in the subsequent days ahead.

The following morning after breakfast, once all us 'students' had has an opportunity to get fully fuelled on coffee and biscuits, we sat down in the Old Post Office to listen to Mary and Sara brief us on the plan for the forth coming days/weeks training and the educational schedule.

The first lecture was a gradual slip into the principles of Archaeology and the roles of the NAS and how we divers will be able to aid future research while having fun with a shared interest. A series of subsequent lectures covered the legislations and four distinct types of artefacts associated with maritime archaeology.

We were shown various recoveries from the shipwreck of the ....XXXX and asked by Sara in true CSI fashion, to identify from physical clues what these artefacts were and would have been used for. No untra violet lights or dramatic theme music was required however! The finds varied from copper alloy pins to coins, musket butt plates and several small percussion flints.

After a hearty lunch and lecture by Mark on 2D surveying it was time to tear us unwillingly away from the PowerPoint presentations and venture out into the sunny car park to then begin practical exercises using tape measures, control/datum points, proformer sheets and various positioned artefacts. It was interesting trying to co-ordinate, in our small groups, how best to record the finds laid out in front of us. We then copied this up into scaled drawings. It turned out tougher than first thought and I can only imagine how the extra elements of reduced visibility, swell and lack of communication will have on tomorrow’s archaeological escapades as we take to the depths (of 3 metres).

Ali Robertson.

You will soon be able to follow what we get up to during the 2010 Sound of Mull Fieldschool, where we will be undertaking NAS Training courses and carrying out survey and excavation work on the site of the John Preston. In the meantime, check out what we got up to during the 2009 project at www.mullproject2009.blogspot.com!