Page 116 - Kennemerland VOC ship, 1664 - Published Reports

The International Journal ofNautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration (1979), 8.4: 31 1-320 The Kennemerland site
The fifth season, 1978. An interim report Richard Price
Heath House, Bollington Cross, Macclesfield, Cheshire
and Keith Muckelroy
Jesus College, Cambridge
Introduction
The remains of any large post-medieval vessel are likely to be very extensive on all but the most inhospitable of coasts, and any serious investigation of them will be a long-term venture. This is well illustrated by the case of the Kennemerland, a Dutch East Indiaman wrecked on the Out Skerries, Shetland, in 1664, and relocated by divers from Aston University in 1971 (Forster & Higgs, 1973; AUSAC, 1974). Since then, four seasons of excavation have been organized and directed by Richard Price, with Keith Muckelroy as project archaeologist (Price, 1975; Price & Muckelroy, 1974, 19771, and further work remains to be done. The present interim report summarizes the findings of the most recent season, which ran from June to September 1978.
The operating system was the same as that used in 1974 and 1976, involving a total of 16 volunteer divers; considerably less than normal was achieved, however, due to un- usually poor weather. Extensive use was made of an underwater metal detector, with which we attempted to delimit the full extent of the site. Dr Ian Morrison also experimented on site with the production of photographic stereo mosaics as an aid to mapping and recording.
As in previous years, the work was carried out in close consultation with the curators of the Shetland County Museum in Lerwick, both Mr Tom Henderson, the first curator of that museum, who retired during the summer of 1978, and Mr Andrew Williamson, his successor. Long before the potential of this new field of archaeological research was gener-
ally appreciated, Mr Henderson had established a tradition of concern for maritime archaeology by arranging for the Shetland Island Council to secure sea-bed leases on all the major wreck sites in the islands in order to afford them some protection. The Kennemerland is one o f these sites, and the work since 1971 has been carried out with the prior approval of the Council. However, early in 1978 it was decided to seek the added security of designation under the Protection of Wrecks Act, 1973; this was granted before the start of the season, and a licence to survey and excavate was issued jointly to the present authors. As in previous years, all finds recovered have been conserved in the museum at Lerwick, and will join the rest of the Kennemerland material in the per- manent collections there.
Site observations
The strategy during the 1978 season was to investigate some features and areas left un- touched or not completed during previous visits, and undertake wide-ranging visual and metal-detector searches to try to establish the limits of the site. Under the former heading, excavations were carried out at the northern ends of sites A and F and to the south of site G (see Price & Muckelroy, 1977: fig. l), and in the areas around anchor 1, cannon 3, and Stoura Stack (see Price & Muckelroy, 1974: fig. 3). These excavations revealed no contextual or stratigraphic data which might call for major modifications to previous interpretations, and are principally important for the finds re- covered (see below). Several timbers were
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o1979The Nautical Archaeology Trust Ltd.