In Situ Preservation and Monitoring of the James Matthews Shipwreck Site

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the archaeological community has been moving away from the more traditional methods of excavation and recovery of underwater cultural heritage towards a less intrusive management approach, essentially involving the preservation of sites in situ. This trend has been politically galvanized in Article 2, point 5 of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (), which states that ‘The preservation in-situ of underwater cultural heritage shall be considered as the first option before allowing or engaging in any activities directed at this heritage’. Over the years, a number of different remediation strategies have been utilized in order to protect underwater cultural heritage sites in situ, and most of the techniques or combinations thereof involve reburial of sites. Reburial may be an appropriate means of stabilizing and decreasing the deterioration rate of a site, however, there needs to be a holistic approach to the study of the environment, before and after reburial, to gain a full understanding of the changes that are occurring on the site and determine the effectiveness of the technique.

In early 2000, the James Matthews, a copper-sheathed, wooden-hulled vessel wrecked in 1841 south of Fremantle, Western Australia, was identified as being under considerable threat from increased site exposure due to a combination of natural near-shore sedimentary processes and industrial activity in the immediate area. An extensive on-site conservation survey was carried out to establish the state of preservation of the wreck and provide information regarding the physico-chemical and biological nature of the environment prior to the implementation of any mitigation strategy. In 2003 it was confirmed that further exposure of the site was occurring and devising a management plan was of paramount importance.

Since this time a number of different reburial techniques have been trialled on the site and these include sand bags of differing material composition, polymeric shade cloth, artificial sea grass mats made from polyvinyl chloride bunting, and the use of interlocking medium density polyethylene ‘crash barrier’ units in a cofferdam arrangement to confine deposited sand. The geological, physico-chemical, and microbiological changes in the burial environments have been monitored over this time. Furthermore, the broader scale, near-shore sedimentary processes affecting the site are being assessed in order to establish the reasons behind the continuing sediment loss. In situ preservation of the iron fittings by cathodic protection has also been included in these field trials. In this paper the results from these experiments will be summarized. This information will be used to finalize the design of the full-scale in situ preservation strategy for the site and assist in establishing a post-reburial monitoring programme that will measure the success of the adopted remediation technique.

Keywords:

• in situ preservation
• reburial
• shipwrecks
• marine environment
• monitoring
• sediment

The author would like to thank every staff member from the Department of Materials Conservation and the Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum who have been involved in this project from its inception. However, the author would especially like to acknowledge Jon Carpenter, Senior Conservator, Materials Conservation Department, Western Australian Museum, Michael McCarthy, Senior Maritime Archaeologist, Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Museum and David Gregory, Senior Scientist, Conservation Department of the National Museum of Denmark, whom without their unwavering support this important project would not have been possible.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Vicki Richards

Vicki Richards has a B.App.Sci (Hons) (Curtin University) and an MPhil in Chemistry (Murdoch University). She has been a Conservation Scientist in the Materials Conservation Department of the Western Australian Museum for the past twenty-four years. One of her primary research areas is investigating deterioration mechanisms of metals and organic materials on shipwreck sites and devising and implementing appropriate on-site management plans for the long-term in situ preservation of these sites.

Correspondence to: Vicki Richards, Department of Materials Conservation, Western Australian Museum, Shipwreck Galleries, 45–47 Cliff St, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. Email: [email protected]