2005 Diving Season - Page 1 of 7

25th September

The dive support vessel ‘Terschelling’ arrived on site bringing brilliant sunshine and fine conditions on Saturday 24th September, ready to begin the 22 day diving programme. The culmination of this will be the raising of the 10m long stem timber of the Mary Rose, exposed during two seasons of work onsite funded by the MoD in 2003 and 2004. A five metre long wrought iron anchor, associated with the stem timber, will also be raised. Following exploration beneath these features, the area will be covered with a membrane, weighted with sandbags and covered by 100 tons of sand to protect any remains for future generations.

The first task was to deploy the 10 x 2 metre steel platform built to support the stem during the lift to the surface. This was lowered to the seabed north of the site, onto flat seabed.

On Sunday the system to operate the airlifts used to remove backfill and modern sediments overlying the archaeological remains was installed, and we began to remove the protective coverings placed over the stem and anchor at the end of the 2004 dive. As we complete diving tonight (22.30), this has been achieved, and the archaeological excavation to enlarge the trench around the stem to provide access for the raising has begun in earnest. The stem is much finer at its top end and was not exposed to any depth during 2004. It is important to fully expose this as soon as possible in order to ascertain any possible points of weakness and support it accordingly.

Alex Hildred and the excavation team.

 

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