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The Hunstanton Wreck
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NAS - UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS BRONZE AGE ANCHORAGE PROJECT
Stop press - a meeting with our University of Cyprus partners took place on 3 January 2012 and outline plans were laid for the 2012 programme which is now scheduled for September/October. NAS members are invited to express an interest in taking part - contact NAS HQ.
Model of Bronze Age Ship 1350 BC.
Copyright: Martin Bahmann - GNU Commons
Four NAS members took part in the Cyprus programme in September 2011. The project continues to exceed expectations with a total of 30 major items recorded. The University of Cyprus, our partner organisation, is currently preparing a report for the Department of Antiquities in Cyprus.
Boat hire was funded by a Joan du Plat Taylor award
EAST ANGLIA WEEKEND
An excellent weekend (13-14 August) was spent on three intertidal wrecks in Norfolk: the Vina, the Vicuna and an unnamed 19C fishing vessel. The Group also discovered the remains of a third wooden vessel which seems to have been missed in the Rapid Coastal Zone Survey, commissioned by English Heritage. We now have to collate the survey data and plot hull lines with the possibility of a first Winter meeting - a mini-conference for East Anglia - to present the findings.
Briefing session on the first day
A drainage channel to allow the tide to flow out from the scour around the unnamed wreck
Survey measurements of the unidentified wooden fishing vessel
Stern Section - unidentified wooden fishing vessel
Stern section
The new wreck - what lies beneath !?
The Vina - with the steam boiler clearly visible
The wreck of the Vicuna, a barque stranded in 1883
A well earned rest?
Cyprus 13-20 September 2011
Following the discovery by NAS members of two Bronze Age single-hole anchors together with other artefacts, a return trip is planned in September. This reconnaissance stage, in advance of establishing a project with the relevant authorities in Cyprus, is likely to require a team of six divers. NAS members, who must have completed at least Part I of the NAS training programme and be at least PADI Advanced Open Water or equivalent are invited to express an interest in taking part.
THE CYPRUS UNDERWATER SITE
Rob White and Simon Draper, NAS East Anglia members, located two single-hole Bronze Age anchors and pottery artefacts in an exploratory survey in Cyprus, May 2010. In the photo' above an SMB is being released to alert the accompanying boat to take a GPS fix on a large stone anchor. A report has been submitted to the Cyprus Department of Antiquities.
Worked stone, possibly from an adjacent abandoned quarry was also found (below).
Below: pottery wedged tightly in a crevice in the rocks.
In September 2010 a return visit was made and a Byzantine anchor was located.
FINAL RESULTS FROM THE SURVEY OF THE STEAM TRAWLER SHERATON
Two further NAS Part II surveys have been completed by Robert White and Mark Hammond respectively. These reports complete survey measurements of the stern portion of the wreck, tracing out the fine underwater profile which characterises this type of vessel and creating an archive record, especially valuable as no builder's drawings exist of the Sheraton. Meanwhile Jezz Davies has obtained further information on the ST Viola, a stranded vessel located in South Georgia that we had thought was to the Sheraton's design. It now appears that while from the same yard the Viola is smaller in LOA. Despite this difference measurements made on the Viola's mast have helped interpret the mast section excavated at Hunstanton.
Mast of the Viola (below) shows the iron collar similar to that seen on the the Sheraton's mast?
MYSTERY WRECKAGE LOCATED ON GREAT ABACO , OUTER BAHAMAS
Metal wreckage (c 0.45 m diameter) has been located on Great Abaco by a NAS East Anglia member sailing in the area and we would like to identify its function - most likely suggestion so far is that it is associated with a spar - comments welcome!
