| :: EDS helps preserve shipwreck
from 1986 |
 |
| |
|
Engineering
and Design Services is assisting Texas A&M's Nautical
Archaeology Program with a very special preservation
effort. Since April 1997, Nautical Archaeology (housed
at the Riverside campus) has been home to French explorer
La Salle’s ship, the Belle, which sank to the bottom
of Matagorda Bay in 1686 in a violent storm. The ship
was headed for the mouth of the Mississippi River. Over
time, half of the ship became encased in mud, which
functioned as a preservative and prevented the invasion
of microorganisms. |
| It is essential
that the wood structure be preserved, so a vat has been
designed and constructed for the purpose of conservation.
The reinforced concrete structure is 60 feet by 20 feet
and has a depth of 12 feet. It will serve as a holding
tank for the solution in which the ship will be submerged.
The hull will be reconstructed on a metal platform that
will be raised and lowered with the use of four winches.
During the day the platform will be raised so that reconstruction
can take place; at night the winches will lower the
ship back into the vat. Once the ship is reconstructed,
the water will have polyethylene glycol gradually introduced
in increments until a specific percentage is achieved.
The ship must soak for approximately five years in the
solution to force the water out of the wood’s cellular
structure, thereby essentially curing the wood before
its removal from the vat. |
|
|
Project
manager Bob Cochrane (l) and Gary White of EDS survey
construction of the vat from a nearby rooftop. |
| EDS’s
Project Manager, Bob Cochrane, has worked alongside
Dr. Donny Hamilton and Jim Jobling, of the Nautical
Archaeology Program’s Conservation Research Lab,
on this design-build project. “I really appreciate
the time and effort that Bob has put into this project
ensuring that we have a conservation tank that will
facilitate the reconstruction and conservation of the
Belle. This is a little bit of Texas history that belongs
to us all,” Mr. Jobling said. |
|
|
EDS's
Sam Cohen (r) listens as Nautical Archaeology's Jim
Jobling describes conservation of one of the Belle's
ornate bronze cannons. The darker cannon is made of
iron. |
|
Many recovered artifacts are on display at the Brazos
Valley Museum of Natural History until January 4,
1999. Archaeological finds including three bronze
cannons, glass beads, pewter plates, and more can
also be viewed on the Texas Historical Commission
website, as well as the Nautical Archaeology and the
Conservation Research Lab website http://nautarch.tamu.edu/napcrl.htm.
Once preservation efforts are complete, the Belle
will make her permanent home at the new Texas History
Museum in Austin.
|
