Underwater Recording - Page 2 of 2

 

Even if the lack of light could be resolved with lamps, suspended sediment tended to get in the way. Despite these problems, a great many useful pictures were obtained, particularly of structural features in close-up. The advantage of video was that by using panning and tracking shots it could show relationships between timbers that couldn't be seen in a single frame. In total, seventy hours of video footage was taken.

Some of the most useful information came from the divers and supervisors notes, drawings and sketches. The divers and supervisors logs and site-book entries fill approximately 31,500 A4 sheets. In many cases, a drawing of a feature or even a rough sketch possibly combined with a written description has proved invaluable in understanding it. At the end of each diving season the archaeological supervisors wrote reports on the areas of the ship they had been responsible for, summarising it while the information was still fresh.

The incomplete nature of the hull and the disintegration of some of the iron fastenings holding the deck structures in place made it imperative that all the internal structure, barring the main and orlop deck beams, some of the stanchions and carlings, and most of the knees, be removed before the ship was raised. Before this was done, each timber was given a unique number and tagged with a plastic label. The timbers were then removed and stored off-site to be lifted later.

Bolt holes in the ship - the bolts have totally corroded away.

 

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