From Airplanes... to Pirate Ships?

My name is Dominic Bush and I am a graduate student intern at the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR) Conservation Lab in Greenville, NC. I am currently in the final years of my PhD in Coastal Resource Management at East Carolina University. The program is an interdisciplinary one, though my specific focus is maritime archaeology. My dissertation project is spread across four World War II aircraft wrecks off the coast of Hawaiʻi, my home state. While the study of aviation in the WWII Pacific Theatre may seem unconnected to the history of North Carolina’s most notorious pirate, there is a shared appreciation of chemical and biological methods between the conservation goals of the QAR Conservation Lab and my own research.

My dissertation research explores the influence that microorganisms may have on the corrosion of submerged historic planes, particularly as it relates to the deterioration of the main construction material: aluminum. This work is not all that different from what I have found myself doing, at least conceptually, at the QAR Lab. In both cases, historical resources have been significantly altered by exposure to seawater. Though these resources are fundamentally the concern of archaeologists, their conservation cannot be achieved by archaeological methods alone.

There is, however, one major difference between the approach I have used in Hawaiʻi versus the tack taken here. My research is in support of in situ preservation, where a site and the associated artifacts are left in place on the seafloor. This method of site management is intended to increase public access, while preserving the context in which the aircraft wrecked. The individual planes are located in places where there is not an immediate threat of destruction due to the areas’ physical conditions (waves, tides, etc.). The Queen Anne’s Revenge site is not afforded the same luxury. Furthermore, the temptation and payoffs of illegally looting artifacts from history’s most infamous pirate ship are considerably stronger than those related to a wrecked aircraft. And, there is only one Queen Anne’s Revenge, while over 1200 WWII plane wrecks are estimated for Hawaiian waters alone.

As a result in this philosophical difference, much of my dissertation work has taken place in the field. This has entailed SCUBA diving on each of the four aircraft for the purposes of taking photographs and collecting biological samples for DNA analysis. The latter will help identify which microorganisms are present on a wreck and how their presence may be increasing corrosion rates. The photographs are used for both site documentation and the construction of 3D digital models. These models help members of the public to still see submerged aircraft without having travel to Hawaiʻi and SCUBA dive. To this end, the goals of the QAR Lab and my own research objectives share much common ground. Archaeological sites and artifacts are finite resources, and ultimately, their continued protection and preservation, are meant to allow current and future generations to experience history’s material remains.

Images:

-WWII Aircraft Wrecks in Hawaiʻi (my dissertation sites): A) Curtiss SB2C Helldiver (Maui), B) Grumman F6F Hellcat (Maui), C) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (Oʻahu), D) Vought F4U Corsair (Oʻahu). Image by Dominic Bush. Used with permission.

-Collecting Biofilm samples from a WWII aircraft wreck (F6F Hellcat). Image by Dominic Bush. Used with permission.

-3D Model of SB2C Helldiver. Image by Dominic Bush. Used with permission.