Volunteers help archaeological dig

Also this week Allison Fox, Curator of Archaeology at Manx National Heritage, has been supervising volunteers from the Friends of Manx National Heritage. The volunteers have been cleaning artifacts from the archaeological dig.

and it didn't rain......

We are very lucky with our Friends organisation. They include many talented and energetic people are they are ably organised by Nicola Pemberton. If you'd like to join them, why not contact Nicola by clicking here?

Wierd science

Yesterday I finally finished separating the objects fused together in the dock. It hasn't been a pleasant job; physically exhausting and very, very smelly (my wife threw up when I walked into the kitchen after one particularly difficult day).

These photos will show you how I progressed:

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Ta-da!

BUT.... what is that machine, and how did it get there? Any suggestions would be more than welcome.

Hearts of Oak

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to visit the Morecambe Bay shrimper Hearts of Oak (1912) as she lay moored in Douglas harbour here on the Isle of Man. Tony, Ray and Brian were there to welcome us, and told us a bit about her restoration, which has taken a good number of years, as such projects do.
Hearts of Oak is the last vessel built in and sailed from Ulverston, a small town in south west Cumbria, otherwise famous as the birth place of Stan Laurel. In sailing to the island from Ulverston overnight, the crew re-created a crossing well-known to George Quayle and described by him in his 1796 correspondence. Just like George they suffered a choppy voyage; unlike his party, thankfully, they were not reduced to bailing out with a hat box to avoid sinking. In fact Hearts of Oak sails very fast and sweetly too, and she is very elegant to boot. Well worth a skeet, as they say over here.

Hearts of Oak, moored at Douglas breakwater

The crew of Hearts of Oak: L to R, Ray, Tony and Brian

Hearts of Oak on Facebook

The Nobby Owners Association

Hearts of Oak is also inscribed on the National Small Boats Register. 

Night soil, night soil

This week I have been working in Quayle's dock in 15cm of water with the Bee Gees Night Fever running through my head as I chip, chisel and scrub away the mud and concrete from the mass of fused machinery lying there. The black, night soil mud is hard and sticky and full of broken glass - nice! It's also very fine and gets everywhere. It ruined my pneumatic hammer in the space of three hours, forcing me to buy a new one.
This time I am taking no chances. As you can see, I have tied polythene bags on to the chisels so the hammer (top) can be protected from the mud while I work.

Pneumatic hammer and chisels

I did, finally, manage to get a piece of the mass off. It's this very nice 18th century winding handle....

18th century winding handle

The dock in 3D and mystery objects

Please bear with me if you find you are unable to download and open the linked documents in this post. I am sailing uncharted waters here!

I have been hard at work this week in the recently excavated 1802 dock at the Nautical Museum in Castletown. At the bottom of the dock the archaeologists were obliged to leave, as found, a tangled mass of machinery and timbers stuck together under a heap of concrete (see my previous post entitled 'End of the dock dig'). It falls to me now to record, separate and remove from the dock the various parts of this concretion. To do this I have each day to drain the dock with a pump at low tide. Then I am using a compressed air chisel to remove the concrete bit by bit. It is a very laborious process and I've only just begun.
To record the stages of this work I am using close-range photogrammetry, otherwise understood as 3D modelling from photographs. Here is a link to a 3D scan in pdf format. The file is very large so you will have to DOWNLOAD THEN SAVE it before you can view it. Those of you with more basic computers may not be able to view the file even then. If this is you, I apologise.

3d Model: download me!
Meanwhile, here are two photographs of a mystery, unidentified object extracted from the mass in the dock, yesterday. 

The photographs show a pair of bevelled brass collars, two concentric brass tubes and a coiled, steel spring. At the top of the photos is mounted a kind of latch. We are very interested to hear from you if you think you might know what this is..... 

Conservation Plan

Last week an invited audience of historians, curators, conservators and Manx National Heritage staff attended seminars at the Castle Rushen in Castletown to discuss Paul Drury's Conservation Management Plan for the Nautical Museum. The two days were very stimulating and absolutely fascinating. The focus was primarily upon the eighteenth century buildings, their purpose and significance. 

Delegates assemble for the conservation seminar

Wendy Thirkettle (archivist), Edmund Southworth (Director) & Paul Drury

There was a great deal of discussion about Peggy by the by, and I particularly valued the contributions of John Kearon, Master Shipwright and historic vessel conservator, and Andy Wyke, Boat Collection Manager, National Maritime Museum, Cornwall in that regard. We discussed my proposals for the conservation of Peggy in some detail. John and Andy stressed that drying her out, however carefully it is done, will result in considerable shrinkage. This is just something we are going to have to manage and monitor. We also discussed the desirability of a meeting devoted to Peggy and comparable conservation projects, possibly in a year's time.

Archaeological dig: time lapse

Click here to see the time-lapse footage of Oxford Archaeology North's recent excavation of the Peggy dock. Don't miss the bit near the end of the tide racing in - small wonder the boat cellar floods occasionally....