Successful KAS Conference on 'Nautical Archaeology'
At Strood on 9th October 1993, the KAS President, Kenneth Gravett, in his introduction spoke about the changes to the coastal maritime trade brought about by the coal railway from Canterbury to Whitstable in 1830, and the more recent changes to the Kent brick-making industry since flammable ashes from pre-Clean Air Act London were no longer available to mix with the local brickearths.
He then introduced Paul Bennett, Director of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, who spoke about the administration and complications arising from the exposure of the Bronze Age Dover Boat under Town Wall Street, Dover, illustrating the theme with pictures of the other 'monuments' destroyed in the construction of the M20 into Dover, viz: World War II coastal batteries which overlay more ancient defences, medieval undercrofts which overlay Roman harbour installations, until 'the boat' was found during work to construct a pump sump to drain water from a pedestrian underpass to the M20. Paul claimed to have little first-hand knowledge of the boat, being more involved with the organisational aspects, but incidentally fully explained the boat's construction, though further research is continuing into the final details of tool technique, etc.
The high quality of the craftsmanship and the design ingenuity were very sophisticated and indicated a considerable prior ship building experience. The main timbers of the bottom were made from two halves of a single split oak tree about 50ft long, which were butted together with complex joints involving tenonned wedges holding moss caulking in place; locking cleats fastened the two halves together while side planks were sewn in place with twisted yew withies. It was probably propelled by paddlers, with space for twenty, as no evidence for sails was seen. She was large enough to cross the Channel, quite apart from more local coastal trips. The hull was probably deliberately dumped on the early shoreline, with stone and bronze artifacts nearby and a squashed salmon underneath. Dover Museum, Town Council, Harbour Board, the contractors, Maritime Museum, etc. were all involved in the extraction of the boat and plans are afoot to establish a Trust and Fund, to ultimately house the restored boat in Dover Museum.
Paul was followed by Valerie Fenwick of the Maritime Museum who described the Late Saxon Ferriby Boat and then the Sutton Hoo ship burial - with side trips to Sweden and Denmark to see parallel ancient ship exhibitions, before explaining her involvement with the Graveney boat (which is fully published elsewhere and was well covered by the 'Chronicle' TV programmes of the period). Again her brief was to detail the complications arising from rescue archaeology when unexpected remains are uncovered in industrial activities - which in this case were remote marshland and exposed to adverse weather conditions.
After lunch, Gustav Milne of the London Institute of Archaeology detailed his work in recording the derelict barge hulks in the Whitehall Creek on the Medway prior to their destruction by the Western approach to the Medway Tunnel. Over 30 ships were left to rot in Whitehall Creek including World War II concrete barges and a minesweeper and numerous varieties of 'Thames' spritsail barges which were once so common on the SE rivers. All hulks which could be examined within a two-week period were measured, photographed and recorded. It is assumed that there are as many layers of ships under the mud as were seen above but which will be largely lost in the excavations to come. A plea was made for information regarding similar derelict ships to be forwarded before they are lost for record purposes.
The final speaker was Brian Ferrari from the Royal Commission on Historic and Ancient Monuments who explained his remit 'To extend the RCHAM records to include sites within the coastal territorial waters which date prior to 1945' and which are regrettably not covered by present PPG16 regulations, although PPG20 does apply to give some limited protection. He explained the range of material sought for record purposes which might be uncovered by the tides or seen by divers and fishermen, including ancient forests, town and harbour sites as well as shipwrecks. What was needed was the 'Wet equivalent of field walking' in these areas which are equal in area to the present land surface of the British Isles. Problems arise from lack of regulation or restriction on extractors such as gravel diggers, sludge dumpers, bottom scraping fishermen, etc. Changes in the Government's attitudes toward coastal defence could result in the loss of many coastal features.
Questioners brought out many side issues, particularly the need for proper funding and time for advance archaeological examination of major construction sites such as Chatham Dockyard and Whitehall Creek and the consequent need for local activists to liaise with central bodies when sites are seen to be 'at risk'. All speakers were warmly applauded by the audience who through their rapt attention and pertinent questioning obviously enjoyed the event, for which the organising committee was also thanked. Reported by:
Peter Dawson