Page 11 - TVH 2000 Anniversary Shipwreck Project

The VOC Anniversary Shipwreck Project Alex Hildred Archaeological Objectives The objectives of this project were: • To attempt ascertain the full extent of the structure and to delineate the extreme parameters of the site • To attempt to understand the existing structure and the processes which resulted in the site as it is at present • To collect data concerning the state of preservation of the vessel • To provide practical evidence for ship construction in this period • To understand the relationships of the artefacts to each other, and to the extant structure • To make an attempt to understand how the artefacts functioned within the ship as a coherent system before wrecking • To provide information on the material remains of the trade goods of the VOC and the living conditions and activities carried out in specific areas of the ship through a study of the artefacts. To provide archaeological objects for museum exhibitions together with the maximum amount of information about their context as is possible • To make the information gained from the excavation widely available in an accessible format • To add to our knowledge about the VOC and the lives of those who serviced the Company in the first half of the eighteenth century • To stimulate ongoing research, both historical and archaeological To achieve these aims the following were required: • Location and positioning of the wreck • Survey of the extent of the visible structure • Controlled excavation of specific areas of structure • Trial excavation in areas to test for continuity of structure • A professional multi-skilled team • Logistic and technical facilities • A suitable diving platform and the appropriate equipment These were our goals as the sixteen of us left Plymouth on Terschelling on July 20th 2000. We arrived in the area of the site at 14.00 on 22 July, having stopped off to inspect the Historic Wreck buoy marking the site of the Mary Rose en route. At 14.20 we began a magnetometer search and located an anomaly of appropriate size by 14.40. The anchors for the mooring system were deployed by 18.45 and were secure by 20.49. This was how our adventure began. -9-