The Sharpness Hulks Archaeological Survey Project

Break...

2009-11-24T09:40:00.002Z

Due to unforseen circumstances we have had to put this project into a hiatus period.

The project is by no means over and I shall update the blog as soon as we are able to recommence.

First Weekend Report Published

2009-02-04T13:18:00.004Z

The report of the first weekend's activities at Sharpness has been published in the Nautical Archaeological Society's quaterly journal 'Nautical Archaeology'.
Sharpness Hulks Under Scrutiny Nautical Archaeology 2009.1, pg13

Conclusions from Weekend One

2008-10-05T20:06:00.000+01:00

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.

Sunday 5th October 2008

2008-10-05T20:00:00.000+01:00

Sunday morning and the weather had certainly changed for the worse, the rain lashed down and the wind was causing a choppy swell on the water of the pound, yet we intrepidly carried on.

The first task of the day was to sketch, photograph, and survey an unidentified object lying just off the stern of UH1. Unfortunately visibility was in the minus numbers and by feel only we tentatively "identified" a possible rudder assembly. An offset survey of the hull of UH1 was then conducted.

Being hampered by the bad visibility surrounding UH1 it was decided to take a look at the other 3 hulks within the pound. Video surveys, and stem & stern surveys undertaken using the total station were carried out.

By now the rain and wind were picking up again and it was decided to call it a day.

Saturday 4th October 2008 - 1st Day on site

2008-10-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

Early on Saturday morning the wind decided to blow but thankfully the rain held off. We met up with Paul Barnett (he of Purton Hulks fame) to discuss the hulks submerged and half submerged within the pound, glean as much useful information from him as possible, and decide on some project aims.

The hulks are the Mary, from Truro, the very first of the Mary barges; the Society, a Stroudwater barge; and two unknown barges, one possibly being the Hastings, a Droitwich barge initially beached near to the entrance of the pound and which subsequently suffered from an explosion in the 1930's; and one possibly being a second Stroudwater barge.

As the water in the pound is relatively shallow and the bottom composition silty it was decided that Matt would conduct a video survey of the closest hulk (unkown hulk no. 1: UH1) before visibility dropped too much. This was followed up by a measured outline survey, using a total station and prism, basic dimension measurements (length and breadth), and visual observations.

Mary and Sue were then tasked with conducting visual surveys on the remaining 3 hulks (all located together on the far side of the pound) to identify any possible hazards and pertinent features.

The day ended with a trip to the local pub and a quick walk by some of the Purton Hulks to look for any similar hulks.