Tag Archives: ship

Ship Building project utilises ancient building technologies

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A project in underway to recreate a sunken shipwreck using the techniques that would have been used by the original builders.

The project, called ShipWrEx, hopes to provide understanding of the development of ancient ship-building techniques through hands on discovery, with the team reconstructing part of the ship’s hull using different methods.

The hull’s design is based on a shipwreck found of the coast of Sicily, which dates back to around 500 B.C.

Paola Palma, Programme Leader for the MSc Maritime Archaeology course, and Project Leader, said, “This boat is extremely important as it shows two different shipbuilding technologies, the ‘laced hull’ technology and the ‘mortise and tenons’ technology. Usually, boats of this period only showed the laced hull technology and boats of a later period showed the mortise and tenons technology. This boat is very important as it shows both techniques used on the same ship. There is no manual so we are going to learn by doing!”

To understand why shipbuilders used both techniques to create the ship, the team from Bournemouth University set to work to recreate part of the ship, to better understand why both techniques were used, and which one is better.

Paola continued, “It’s extremely difficult to do it [build the ship] properly, in a fast way. Back then, shipbuilders were doing this every day so would have done it in a very fast fashion. We are experimenting so that we can further appreciate the archaeological remains that we find, and how these ships were built.”

The project is taking place at The Ancient Technology Centre (ATC) in Cranborne – with members of the ATC also taking part in the project. Other participants in the project include current BU students and staff members, keen to improve their knowledge by taking part.

Bertram Beanland, a student at BU studying BA Prehistoric and Roman Archaeology, is working as part of the team recreating the hull.  He said, “Bournemouth University is known for its hands on courses. We get a lot more hands on experience. [With this project] already we have found that there are three different techniques we could use to drill a hole in wood using traditional techniques, and all three methods look the same at the end. We have found that the quickest way to drill the hole is by going in through the edge, and we think it is definitely the technique they would have used. But it has taken us three tries to get it right. We wouldn’t have realised that through reading a book, we had to be hands on. You get real respect for ancient ship builders because everything has taken so long to do.”

Bertram is just one of a number of students taking part in the project – with undergraduate and postgraduate students from a variety of courses involved.

It is hoped that the project will continue so that the team can recreate the entire ship – and eventually sail it in water. Paola concludes, “For the moment we are building a portion of the boat, but one day we hope to take a completed boat out sailing.”

Major success with Swash Channel Wreck coverage

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The rudder from the Swash Channel Wreck was finally recovered from the sea bed after residing in Poole Harbour for four hundred years, provoking a wide range of media coverage.

What the ship was and how it came to be on the seabed in Poole Harbour remains a mystery and the 27 foot rudder that was uncovered yesterday could uncover the mysteries of the Swash Channel Wreck. Some say the ship was part of the Spanish Armada, but on closer inspection, the timber frame, found by a dredger in 1990, dates back to the 1600’s; after the Spanish Armada. The ship is most likely of Dutch or German origin.

Bournemouth University received sixty one pieces of coverage, ranging all across print and broadcast media. The list included:

  • South Today
  • BBC TV South
  • BBC Somerset, Solent, Stoke, Surry, Ulster, Shropshire, Scotland, Nottingham, Newcastle, Merseyside, Manchester, Leicester, Leeds, Kent, Humberside, Gloucestershire, Devon, Cumbria, Cambridgeshire, Bristol, Oxford, Lincolnshire and Jersey
  • BBC Radio 5 Live
  • The Times
  • This is Dorset
  • Daily Express
  • Scottish Daily Express
  • The Independent
  • The Independent Online
  • The Guardian
  • The Daily Echo
  • Bournemouth Daily Echo

Senior Lecturer at Bournemouth University and Project Leader of the Swash Channel Wreck Project, Dave Parham, featured in a number of the papers, giving quotes and information with the on-going project.

“The wreck is important because so much of it survives. It is the ship itself that is significant – there are only a few wrecks like this in the world, and it tells is more about the beginnings of large scale international trade”, Parham said to The Independent.

“It would have been a very big vessel for its day and the whole vessel would have been a spectacular work if art. It was making a statement, showing how great and wonderful the owners were. They would have needed a large Dutch conglomerate, similar to the East India Company”, he said in The Times.

“To see it in daylight in all its glory is quite spectacular, it is very large and impressive so you can imagine how spectacular this merchant vessel would have looked. It is an extremely find and has led to one of the largest ship wreck investigations in Britain. We this it was a Dutch trading ship and would have taken high quality European goods such as tweed to the Far East and traded them for things like exotic spices” explained Parham in the Daily Express.

“What would be nice would be to have a historical reference papers saying it was sailing from here to there. You don’t need that; from an archaeological perspective the really interesting thing is the study of the whole…” Dave added in the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

By Dean Eastmond

Dean is a student at Budmouth College in Weymouth, who is working at Bournemouth University in the Press and PR Department. He joined BU on a Sir Samuel Mico Scholarship, which provides 10 students from his college with essential work experience for four weeks over the summer.

Swash Channel Wreck Rudder raised from seabed after 400 years

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An elaborately carved rudder which has sat on the seabed near Poole for more than 400 years has been raised by marine archaeologists from Bournemouth University.

The rudder – which features a man’s face carved into the wood – is part of the Swash Channel Wreck, thought to have been a Dutch trading ship which sank in the early 17th century.

Very little is known about the ship, which was discovered on the bed of the English Channel near Poole Harbour, and a project has been led by marine archaeologists from Bournemouth University to protect, excavate and find out more about the wreck.

Project leader Dave Parham, a senior lecturer in marine archaeology at BU, said: “This is the first time this rudder has been seen above the surface in more than 400 years

“It’s a spectacular object, with a human head carved in one end.

“There are no others of this type that have been found in the UK, and it is unusual for one like this to be recovered in its entirety – it is eight and a half metres long and weighs around three and a half tonnes.”

The Swash Channel Wreck project has been running for the past seven years, and artefacts recovered from the wreck so far include cannons, leather shoes and wooden barrels.

Other parts of the ship – including wooden carvings and a canister of cannon shot – have already been raised.

The rudder is the last major part of the ship due to be raised, and the remaining parts of the wreck have been covered with sand to protect it from seawater.

The rudder will now go to York for two years for conservation before going on display in Poole Museum.

“We’ve only recovered around 4 per cent of the wreck and the rudder is the single largest object that we’ve raised,” said Dave.

“It’s the culmination of seven years of hard work and it was a very moving experience. It’s a pleasant relief that it has all gone well.”

“It is the ship itself that is significant – there are only a few wrecks like this in the world, and it tells us more about the beginnings of the large scale international trade.”

The Swash Channel Wreck project is a partnership between Bournemouth University and the Borough of Poole Museum Service and has been funded by a £141,200 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.