In-situ containment of sediment for shipwreck
Abstract
A new site management approach to enable reburial of underwater archaeological sites is described for shallow coastal wrecks. The concept proposed has been developed for the James Matthews wreck site after extensive assessment of site-related coastal processes and in-situ conservation studies of the physical and microenvironments. The approach has been developed independently of, but is fully consistent with Oxley’s (1998) call to the profession to fully understand the environment and factors governing the stability of the site so that successful in-situ preservation strategies can be site-specifically developed.
In the last few years, the James Matthews, wrecked in 1841 on Woodman Point, south of Fremantle, Western Australia
has been identified as being under considerable threat from increased site exposure due to natural near-shore sedimentary processes and industrial activity in the immediate area. After a series of interim protective measures were applied to the site, a visit in 2003 confirmed that further exposure of the site was indeed occurring and devising an insitu management plan was of paramount importance. An innovative reburial solution has been proposed utilising chemically and environmentally inert interlocking plastic ‘crash barrier’ units as a cofferdam, which can then be filled with sand to the required depth. An assessment of the stability of the site leading to this innovative solution is outlined in this paper, together with the results of a two year field trial at a nearby site.