On September 14, Hurricane Ophelia reached the North
Carolina coast near Cape Fear as an impressive Category 1 storm
with maximum sustained winds of 85-90 mph. The large eye of Ophelia
stayed offshore never crossing land, but as the storm turned slowly
east-northeast passing Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras on September
15, strong winds and rain from the eyewall caused significant damage
in coastal areas around Beaufort Inlet.
Just a few days after the storm, Sunday September
18, project director Mark Wilde-Ramsing made a brief visit to
the QAR with the assistance of Olympus Dive Center of Morehead
City. Conditions were extremely poor with current and no visibility,
but it appeared that there was scour south of the main ballast
pile further exposing the south cannon.
Tuesday
September 20, UAB/QAR staff members attempted a full reconnaissance
and inspection of the Queen Anne's Revenge shipwreck site
again with the assistance of Olympus Dive Center. Surface conditions
were fair with a southeast swell. Visibility dropped to zero as
divers neared the bottom, and a strong surge caused by the swells
prevented any effective work. Divers did confirm erosive scour
primarily to the south and southwest of the main ballast pile,
missing or damaged baseline stakes, and loose reference line and
sea grass tangled in areas of the site. Building swells/surge
and poor visibility caused researchers to terminate diving operations
and plan a multi-day return to the site under better conditions.
UAB/QAR staff returned to Morehead City, Monday October
3, for a planned 3-4 day cleanup, documentation, and recovery.
Deteriorating conditions limited operations to only two days,
Tuesday and Wednesday. Visibility the first day was 3-4 feet,
which allowed for cleaning up the fouled lines and good reconnaissance
of the site. Researchers also replaced baseline stakes, damaged
or lost by the storm. New elevations of the replacement stakes
will be taken to reference them to the datum and allow for continuity
of sand level monitoring.
The site area showed evidence of scour around the main pile.
Cannon C-1 was very exposed as were most all of the south cannon.
Cask hoops and rigging elements to the southwest side of the pile
were also exposed, similar to after Hurricane Isabel. Areas west
of the pile between cannon C-13 and anchor A-1 were also scoured
out. Anchor A-1 was exposed completely down to the ring and anchor
A-3 was exposed almost to the stock once again. Numerous small
to medium size concretions, most less than one foot, were newly
exposed southwest of the main pile and among the south cannon.
Some appear to be cannon balls, or possibly bar shot, along with
other indeterminate objects. One newly exposed item was carefully
trilaterated and mapped and left in situ for video documentation.
Videographer Rick Allen of Nautilus Productions, a frequent and
long-term volunteer contributor to the project, joined researchers
on Wednesday to video the object before recovery. Rapidly diminishing
visibility limited the effectiveness of video documentation of
other newly exposed areas of the site.
Shown below, the recovered object appears to be
a copper-alloy apothecary mortar. Detailed preliminary examination
in the conservation lab suggests recent physical trauma to the
artifact likely from storm tumbling and sand/wave action. There
are areas where the corrosion product and concretion, which offers
the object some protection from its environment once it builds
up, has been dislodged. The physical loss of this surface layer
can also take the original surface layer of the artifact with
it, often removing identifying features or marks. Corrosion can
develop quickly on freshly exposed surfaces continuing the degradation
of the artifact. The green patina shows areas of oxidation/corrosion.
The presence of only robust artifacts, like the
brass/bronze mortar and cannon balls and shot, in the scour areas
continues to reinforce archaeologists concerns over what "less
robust" and potentially significant artifacts are being lost
and scattered because of these storm events. What about the glass,
ceramics, wood, organics, and other small personal items that
could lend insight into the life of sailors, and potentially pirates
of the early eighteenth century?
With the postponement of the DiveDown program until
spring, researchers will return to the site in the weeks to come
to finish any necessary recovery and documentation and secure
the site for the winter season.
Dive Summary
Number of Days: 3
Number of Divers: 6
Number of Dives: 18
Dive Time: 17 hours 58 minutes
