Welcome to the blog of the Sharpness Hulks Archaeological Survey Project

This project aims to survey and identify the remains of four hulks located in the half pound of the Sharpness old dock on the Gloucester and Sharpness canal. The results of this project will be used as part fulfilment for the Nautical Archaeological Society's part 2 Certificate in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology.

The four hulks are the Mary, the Society, and two unknown barges and are part of the Purton Hulks used to prevent erosion of the banks of the river Severn throughout the 20th century.

Sunday, 5 October 2008

Conclusions from Weekend One

Having undertaken quite a bit of survey work it was possible to see that UH1 was "canoe" shaped at both the bow and the stern while the Hastings was a Droitwich barge that had a "D" shaped stern, furthermore there was no evidence of any fire, let alone a fierce explosion that was said to have occured upon the Hastings. Therefore it is probable that UH1 is not the hulk of the Hastings. e

So what is UH1? observations of bollards and towing eyes currently point to UH1 being a dumb barge, a barge that has no propulsion of its own and needs to be towed (either by a vessel with propulsion or by horse).

And the other hulks? there wasn't a lot of surveying undertaken on the three other hulks though it was observed that UH2 (the possible Stroudwater barge) was considerably smaller and different in design to the Society, but very similar to UH1. It is therefore probable that UH1 and UH2 are both dumb barges, though more investigation is needed.

Further survey work is required on all hulks and will be undertaken in the near future.

The teams thanks are extended to British Waterways (BW) and John York for giving permission to enter the water, Paul Barnett for his information, time, and liasing with BW, and Ian Cundy for all the help.
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