Seafarer’s Quest is requesting a renewal of the
Post# of 7802
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Posted On: 08/07/2017 5:14:03 AM
Seafarer’s Quest is requesting a renewal of the current exploration permit with dig and identify addendum for the purpose of continued research in this area. The work on the Melbourne area site(s) has continued through the three year period that the current permit covers. The debris is wide spread throughout both areas 1 and 2. While it would be very satisfying to report that the identity of the scattered wreckage has been positively identified this has not been the case. Seafarers Quest is very mindful of the fact that any recoveries under the dig and identify amendment that was granted by the State requires us to recover only diagnostic artifacts that will assist in the explication of the wreck, i.e. the nationality and time period. Iron fasteners, scattered and highly degraded wooden components, while compelling have been less than diagnostic for the identification of this wreckage. The analysis that was done by Dr. Alden on the wood identified two species of wood that provide some insight. One was the European derived sample and the other was the tropical hardwood, indicative of at least some interaction of the vessel in those latitudes. The one object that was recovered that helps define this wreckage and was recovered was the brass buckle that seems to date to the colonial period. Other than this, to date evidence of this sort has been lacking. We do however have materials that provide a direction of debris scatter that lead to area 1. Seafarers Quest is requesting that the current permit for area two be renewed so that further magnetometer survey can be carried out and the continued investigation of targets be allowed. It is only through the continued investigation of these highly scattered anomalies that we may discern the trajectory of the initial wrecking process. No objects will be recovered unless they are highly diagnostic in nature, otherwise, they will documented and left in-situ as has been done over the course of the permit. It is hoped that, when permitted, investigation in area one will reveal a more complete picture the wrecking process of this vessel and more importantly if this wreckage does indeed represent the remains of an early 18th Century mercantile vessel associated with ship losses in the hurricane event of July 31 1715.
Historical Results and Conclusions.
At this time there are not enough coherent archaeological remains to determine with any degree of certainty the nationality or type of vessel or vessels contained within the permit area. Before a conclusion and historical perpective can be reached a shipwreck context has to be found and analyzed. Although artifacs previously discovered on this site seem to point to a shipwreck of the Nueva España Flota that was part of the 1715 Plate Fleet, so far the artifacts are only part of a scatter and a clear dispersion pattern has not been established.
Historical Results and Conclusions.
At this time there are not enough coherent archaeological remains to determine with any degree of certainty the nationality or type of vessel or vessels contained within the permit area. Before a conclusion and historical perpective can be reached a shipwreck context has to be found and analyzed. Although artifacs previously discovered on this site seem to point to a shipwreck of the Nueva España Flota that was part of the 1715 Plate Fleet, so far the artifacts are only part of a scatter and a clear dispersion pattern has not been established.
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