Ship-Wrecks in the Deep: Discovery, Archaeology, and Technology in the 21st Century

The seabed, along with the many lake and river beds of the world are the resting place for as many as two million shipwrecks. Most of these date to the last two centuries, a time of industrial growth, and the creation of large fleets that created a global economy.

Many were lost in battle, while many met their fate battling the elements, but all reveal hallmarks of our past.

By the end of the twentieth century, and now as we near the close of the first quarter of the twenty-first, technology has literally and virtually opened the door to more thorough and concentrated ocean exploration and discovery. It has also done the same for naval archaeology.

Discovery is not necessarily archaeology, nor is archaeology always about the act of finding something once lost. Archaeologists are usually not the ones making oceanic discoveries. However, the two are not mutually exclusive either; archaeology can only happen after something is discovered. Nor should discovery always immediately lead to archaeology if archaeology is defined as excavation—that is, digging it up. Here’s where the latest ocean technologies are making discovery and archaeology natural partners as we increasingly explore the world’s greatest subsea museums.

HEADLINE DISCOVERIES IN 2022

Ocean science and technology headlines in the first half of 2022 have been dominated by a long list of discoveries, of new insights based on exploration, and of shipwreck archaeology: Archaeologists recovered a massive marble head of Hercules from an ancient Roman wreck; Israeli archaeologists revealed the results of their excavation of a 1,400-year-old early Islamic period wreck off their coast at Ma’agan Michael; The results of years of study determined that a wreck off the British coast proved to be a famous wreck, that of HMS Gloucester, in which the former King James II nearly died in 1654; Excavation inside the wreck of Clotilda, the last ship known to have brought captives from Africa to enslave them, in 1860, revealed new physical evidence from its voyage; Archaeologists excavated a 4th century BC Greek wreck in the Nile Delta; Spanish archaeologists excavated a 1,700-year-old Roman wreck just off the beach in six feet of water, once buried by sand, off Mallorca, Spain; Researchers also identified a wreck off Greece as the 1891 wreck of an Italian steamship, Taormina, after an extensive survey by remote operated vehicle.

Discoveries also included a 1,500-year old Byzantine wreck found off Greece’s Fourni archipelago, a 13th century wreck off Britain’s Dorset coast; Ernest Shackleton’s fabled Endurance; a deep water site in the Gulf of Mexico that is possibly the 1836 wreck of the whaling brig Industry; two World War II destroyer wrecks at extreme depths of the Pacific, USS Johnston, just over three and half miles down and USS Samuel B. Roberts, four miles deep, the world’s oldest shipwrecks discovered to date; and the schooner barge Atlanta, lost in 1891, in 650 feet of water in Lake Superior.

And archaeologists are currently working with first responders rescued timbers from a 1693 wreck, the Spanish galleon, Santo Christo de Burgos, from sea caves and tide pools on the Oregon coast from a fabled wreck that served as the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s movie The Goonies. SEARCH Inc. has taken the lead on or had involvement in four of these projects—Clotilda, Santo Christo de Burgos, the possible Industry, and Endurance—and have watched the others with approbation and respect.

TECHNOLOGY SPURS COLLABORATION

From that more recent perspective, as well as over four decades of work in the field, from wrecks in shallows to the deep, and as a participant in many expeditions, what is clear is that, just as the James Webb Space Telescope, civilian spacecraft, and the on the ground exploration of Mars has shown in space, inner space is also being opened by human interest, ingenuity, and technology at an unprecedented scale.

Part of this is from the international collaborative effort to map the global sea floor with great accuracy. Another key aspect is the growth of private and philanthropic investment and result-driven project focus. The ongoing role of governments—as represented in the United States by organizations such as NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration, the U.S. Navy, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—works alongside the work of state and local governments and cultural resource management and survey firms in advance of development in marine environments.

What this means is that more evidence of the past will be found, and the potential is there, with comprehensive seafloor mapping, perhaps many of the sea’s mysteries will be solved. Solving a mystery, especially the fate of specific ships, is a publicly fascinating goal, and one well suited to media and documentary films. As an archaeologist who works in both of these arenas, I argue that there is more to discovery than this. What comes from discovery is more than headlines. There is closure for families, reminders of service and sacrifice, and in that, occasionally rewriting history. But what archaeology brings is also its ability to add to history—the human story. The physical remains speak powerfully to and about what we build, what we do—as opposed to what we say we do—and how we live and die.

Moving forward, what many hope to see is a focus on ongoing integration with not only seabed mapping, but other aspects of ocean science. Multiple platforms, multiple areas of inquiry, and interdisciplinary cooperation during and after missions are all key. Discovery paired with science, data collection, and ongoing analysis and publication of the results is much more than simply being cost-effective. Using discovery to engage the public, and to educate, is also paramount. Open, freely shared exploration and discovery, by agencies like NOAA, helps maintain public trust when what is being done is accessible, unfiltered, and unhindered by a paywall.

As the world is in a period of dramatic climate change, and the oceans face new stresses and peril, exploration and science, as well as evidence from the past, are as critical as our quest into space. As all mariners know, if as explorers, discoverers, and ocean scientists, we are through our work serving as beacons as we open the depths to human inquiry and understanding. Let us all be beacons, cooperative and collaborative. Lighthouses don’t compete; they work together toward common goals.

For more information, visit: www.searchinc.com.

To read the full article, which was featured in ON&T August 2022, click here.