Barbara Brooks Retiring?? Say it ain't so!

All of us in the QAR Shipwreck Project are in a blue mood since Barbara Brooks, Office Administrator, supreme assistant, all-around handywoman, solver of problems, general fixer-upper, and counselor to all, announced her retirement on February 28 from the Underwater Archaeology Branch. Barbara has been with the UAB for twenty-seven years. Located at Fort Fisher on Kure Beach, it is central headquarters for all QAR operations: the office at Morehead City, the shipwreck site at Beaufort Inlet, and the Conservation Lab at East Carolina University in Greenville. There are ten full-time and six to seven temporary employees. Richard Lawrence, Head of the UAB says that Barbara is an employee that can operate independently and that she will be sorely missed for the network she has created that keeps things functioning among all their widespread operations and state offices. "Barbara can always get an answer to a question or find a solution to a problem."

Although she is retiring from her state job, she is not quitting work. She plans to be a sales associate at Coldwater Creek Clothing in Wilmington. She has two daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren and says that one of the greatest thrills in her life was to be present at the births of all seven of the grandchildren. We asked her what she thought was the most memorable thing about her work. She hesitated a few seconds and replied,"Being able to wear a bikini to work when I could still wear a bikini." What she would do was wear the bikini under her office clothes, then undress and sit on the beach during her lunch break. We promised not to quote her on that, but she said it didn't matter because the staff had pictures to prove it.

In her letter announcing her retirement, Barbara said: "I will be around to help with a new employee so I am sure we will run into each other from time to time. My best to you all." And our best to you, Barbara. And here's hoping we see you often.

Director's Report

A major accomplishment for the project was the daylong session consisting of 18 papers the staff and associates presented on Saturday January 13, 2007 at the Society for Historical Archaeology conference held in Williamsburg, VA. This annual conference is recognized as the principle annual gathering of historical and underwater archaeologists from all over the world.

Our session entitled "Contributions to Historical Archaeology Stemming from Multidisciplinary Examinations of a Unique North Carolina Proprietary Period Shipwreck Site" began with Chris Southerly presenting a summary of the archaeological investigations conducted at the QAR site and a general interpretation of what the remains and their distribution tell us. The next three papers written by Dave Moore, Lee Newsom, and Bill Miller all brought to bear both cultural and scientific analysis on the hull structure and ballast. During the rest of the morning session, presenters examined the site's artifactual evidence through a mixture of science and cultural analysis. These included Jim Craig's summary of scientific techniques on a range of inorganic and organic materials, Lisa Scheicher's study of ceramic shards and David Clark's report on the faunal assemblage. Classes of artifacts examined for their cultural aspects included personal gear by Linda Carnes-McNaughton, galley goods by Sarah Watkins-Kenney and another by Linda and Nathan Henry's ship armament.

The afternoon session dealt with the management issues surrounding the QAR shipwreck site. Wendy Welsh kicked off this segment with an examination of how X-radiography is being used to catalogue and analyze the large volume of concretions, which contain any number of artifacts. I then presented an overview of how and why archaeologists proceeded as they have, and where they are looking to go with regard to overall investigations at the site. Lindley Butler and Richard Lawrence followed by each providing historical context for the QAR site, in terms of the demography and politics during the early 18th century and of shipping patterns and NC shipwreck losses during this period. John Wells presented the environmental context for the site and implications for site preservation. His paper segued into a discussion led by Chris concerning a sand berm that was placed near the site to study its effectiveness as a potential tool to relieve scour in and around the site caused by seabed currents. The session ended with an examination of the various ways various interest groups, such as recreational divers, view the shipwreck as a public resource beyond an its archaeological aspects.

Of course, any QAR venture wouldn't be complete without the Blackbeard curse that manifested with the breaking of one computer screen and the complete crashing of a second as various staff presentations were being finalizing. This made for some frantic times and very late nights, but in the end everything went quite well from beginning to end. Throughout the day, the session was well attended and at times there was an overflowing audience in the 100+ seat auditorium. Discussants Charles Ewen and Dave Conlin did a great job summarizing the presentations and collectively supported our work as being thorough, exciting, and providing a major contribution to our profession.

These presentations culminate over eight years of work and pave the way for major recovery in the coming years. One outcome will be the launching of the QAR Technical Report and Bulletin series that will provide on-line access to professional research being conducted in association with the project. Stay tuned throughout this spring and early summer as we use this website as an important venue for disseminating the details of our findings.

… And at the Conservation Laboratory

Sarah and Wendy's crew are hard at work cataloguing, collecting essential data, making preliminary assessments, and placing into storage artifacts and objects recovered last fall. Keeping this pace could not have been possible withoutthe support of their growing staff - archaeological conservator technicians: Franklin Price and Myron Rolston; ECU graduate assistants: Valerie Grussing (CRM), Jim Parker (ANTH), Molley Brisendine (HIST), Adria Focht (ANTH) and Chelsea Quinn Baker (ANTH) and volunteer Jim Craig at the Morehead City office. What have they accomplished since November?

 

 

800 artifact groups (including 272 concretions) recovered in Fall 2006 excavations transferred from site to lab and post recovery processing completed: measured, weighed, photographed and all placed into appropriate stable storage for the type of material.
800 lab sheets and database records for artifacts and materials were completed.
1,000 documentary digital images of artifacts and 700 field images were taken, and are in process of being cleaned and added to artifact image database.
12 artifact illustrations of ceramics, bricks, apothecary weight, buckle, Cu fitting were drawn and scanned.
32 concretions were x-rayed, including the new bell, during 2 sessions at NC Museum of Art.
14 buckets of dredge sediments were panned, producing large numbers of lead shot (c. 80,000) and gold flakes (c. 1,700).
Approximately 60,000 lead shot so far sorted by size, and weighed to determine count, cleaned and dried.
Approximately 1,700 grains of gold (total weight less than 5.0 grams) cleaned, dried, counted and weighed.
32 pieces of glass and ceramic - desalination started.
50 lead artifacts (e.g. tacks, lead patches and strips, small weights): cleaned and dried.
3 copper alloy items were partially cleaned - the bell, apothecary weight, and a buckle.

Of course, as with any operation, this is only part of what goes on at the conservation facility. Equipment was received (2 large artifact tanks), computer security updated, the trailer overhauled, and an additional room (formerly a large garage space within the main building) was added to the QAR Lab. Twenty-four people visited the lab including folks coming from as far away as Australia (Flinders University), Sweden (the Vasa Museum), and Northern Ireland (the Centre for Maritime Archaeology). Laboratory staff completed papers on major artifact types (casks and pewterware) and x-radiography and assisted many other staff members with their part in presenting a daylong symposium on the project at the Society of Historical Archaeology Annual Conference, this year in Williamsburg, VA.

One of the most important accomplishments in recent days has been the renegotiation of the Memorandum of Agreement between our Department and East Carolina University. The new agreement extends the working relationship through 2017 and provides for additional space. This includes the additional room referred to above, which will be used as a staging area both for initial cataloguing and documentation as artifacts come into the lab and for preparation of artifacts, such as cannon, for display and curation. A second room will provide much needed areas for photography, x-radiography, microscopy and small artifact storage. Finally, after a lengthy application and interview process the conservation laboratory has hired Shanna Daniel to fill the assistant conservator position. Shanna will arrive later this spring after completing her studies at Texas A & M University and be featured in our next Queen's Report.

The operations of the conservation lab are so very essential for the success of all marine archaeology projects. Well done everyone! Carry on, carry on!

Reflecting on our National Geographic Article

Senior Editor Joel K. Bourne has a well-written and interesting article, "Blackbeard Lives," in the July 2006 issue of National Geographic. The photography by Robert Clark is terrific. Especially good are the artifact shots, and the picture of a piece of driftwood with a schooner on Beaufort Inlet in the background is a work of art. The article's subtitle reads: "Three centuries after the pirate lost his head, archaeologists search a wreck off North Carolina for clues to the man behind the myth". Well,….yes and no. The article is largely about the fact and fancy in the life and death of the notorious outlaw and pirate. The truth is that as more and more artifacts come up from the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge its significance rises in value, not so much as a pirate ship or whether or not it was Blackbeard's, but as a source of historical, social, and cultural information about marine life in the early 1700's.

 

Checking in with Blackbeard's Ghost up North

From time to time we have reported on the efforts of Michael Manerchia and his wife to renovate an old house of theirs near the Delaware River in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. The house dates back to the early 1700's and rumors are that it was once the home of a woman who was Blackbeard's mistress. The Manerchias had plans for remodeling until they found pieces of pottery and other items that suggested a better use for the house. The June 2006 issue of That Old House reported that the Manerchias have "donated the property to a nonprofit group set up to restore the house as a museum and field school for budding archaeologists". Michael, not a trained archaeologist, has, with professional advice, done most of the recovery and preservation of the artifacts he has found. We have two things in common with the Manerchia's: (1) we both applied to be named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's "11 Most Endangered Historic Places" (neither of us received), and (2) they haven't found any evidence to support the Blackbeard mistress story yet, and we have not found any evidence behind the rumor that Blackbeard had a hidden treasure stashed away somewhere on the outer banks of North Carolina. If we find anything to the contrary, we will be the first to let you know.

 

 Donations

Sometimes it's the little things that make such a huge difference. One such piece of equipment is the plastic crate, not just any old milk or soft drink crates but the durable, stackable crates used to ship bulbs and plants. They are the perfect size and height for holding our many small artifact concretions - everything from the size of a golf ball to a loaf of bread. Since they stack, the crates increase the holding capacity of our storage tanks three-fold! And since artifacts are catalogued by crate, there is much less chance of artifacts being confused when an ID tag comes loose. The problem is that bulb crates are not easy to come by. Distributors often won't deliver them in batches of less than ten thousand and those that do, charge exorbitant prices.

 

To the rescue: Steve and Dixie Wyant of Wilde Oaks Nursery in Garner and Robert Logan of Logan Trading Company at Seaboard Station in downtown Raleigh. The Wyant's donated 80 crates to the project, and the Logan's provided their lot of 80 at a much reduced price. What a difference they have made! Thank you so very much!!

 

New Queen's Crew Member!
Seamen William White

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Check out previous Newsletters:

Volume 1, No. 1
Volume 1, No. 2
Volume 1, No. 3
Volume 2, No. 2
Volume 3, No. 1
Volume 3, No. 2
Volume 3, No. 3
Volume 4, No. 1
Volume 4, No. 2
Volume 4, No. 3
Volume 5, No. 1
Volume 5, No. 3
Volume 6, No. 1
Volume 6, No. 2
Volume 6, No. 3
Volume 7, No. 1

 

© 2002-2007 NC Dept. of Cultural Resources, unless otherwise noted

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