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Dive in and explore the history of humans at sea. From sea monsters to ghost ships and curious superstitions in between, join Renee and Kate for a spooky season on the high seas of Australia and the Pacific.
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The collection comprises over 2,000 original objects including maps, paintings, manuscripts, shipwreck material, ephemera, coins and medallions, militaria and historical artefacts.
Happy #FindsFriday!
In 2009 our expedition team #spotted this pulley wheel on the #HMCSMermaid 🧜♀️⛵️ wrecksite at Flora Reef.The government broad arrow can be seen at the top of the wheel.
This project is undertaken in partnership with @sea.museum.
📸: Xanthe Rivett/Silentworld Foundation.
#Shipwrecks #Archaeology #Archaeologyfieldwork #Copper #Diving #Wreck #Sand #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #GreatBarrierReef #Artifacts ...
Huh, I expected more anchors in our #Top9 for 2020 😆⚓.
No expeditions for the Silentworld team in 2020, due to the pandemic (the story of 2020...), but we have some exciting adventures and projects on the horizon for 2021. Plus many more #conservation posts and #behindthescenes for #BarangarooBoat...and perhaps another boat or two needing some EDTA and PEG. Seriously, prepare for many posts of tanks, bits of timber, 3D scanning and lab coats!
Welcome, and thank you, to our new followers who joined us in 2020. You're awesome.
#Top9of2020 #BestNine2020 #Best9of2020 #Anchors #Archaeology #MaritimeArchaeologist #MaritimeHistory #Shipwrecks #ArchaeologyFieldwork #Diving #Wreck #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #Reef #DivingLife #MaritimePhotography #MaritimeArchaeology #OzArch #InstaArchaeology #Sea #Ocean #ArchaeologyLife #ThrowbackThursday ...
This ship bell is chiming for a #FindsFriday post 😃🔔🎵.
Dr James Hunter (@sea.museum) #spotted this copper bell during the collaborative #KennReefs expedition in 2017. It was laying on its side, with approximately one-half of its circumference exposed among chunks of broken limestone and coral rubble. It's over 40cm in diameter and weighs approximately 40kg.
The bell was deemed a diagnostic artefact and, in accordance with the expedition's permit, was raised by the team after careful insitu documentation. It has since been conserved and we're currently running some scientific tests on it to determine its origin and the ship to which it once belonged.
📸: @seajewlz /Silentworld Foundation.
#Bell #Copper #Shipwrecks #Archaeology #ArchaeologyFieldwork #ShipBell #Diving #Wreck #Coral #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #Reef #DivingLife #MaritimeHistory #MaritimePhotography #MaritimeArchaeology #OzArch #InstaArchaeology #Waves #Sea #Ocean #UnderwaterPhotography #GreatBarrierReef #Artifacts ...
It's a bountiful #FindsFriday! #Throwback to October 2017, when the team visited the #PitcairnIslands. Although settled in the past by Polynesian groups, Pitcairn Island is mostly known as the final destination and new home of the mutinous members of #HMSBounty’s crew.
The vessel was acquired by the Royal Navy in 1787 and refitted specifically for a mission to Tahiti to acquire breadfruit plants and transport them back to the West Indies.
However, before the voyage and mission were complete, some of the crew mutinied – they were led by the first mate, Fletcher Christian. They set the ship’s master, #WilliamBligh, an officer of the Royal Navy, adrift on a small boat along with those of the crew that remained loyal to the captain.
After some time the mutineers came to settle on Pitcairn with a number of Tahitian men and women. There they stripped the #Bounty of material they might need for their new home and then burned the vessel to the waterline so that they may not be discovered. Pitcairn Island is, to this day, still inhabited by many of the crew’s direct descendants.
The Silentworld team visited and assessed the condition of HMS Bounty wreck site and other wrecks around Pitcairn Island. They also saw artefacts from HMS Bounty, held at the local museum on Pitcairn.
📸: @seajewlz /Silentworld Foundation.
#Shipwrecks #Archaeology #ArchaeologyFieldwork #Diving #Wreck #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #Artefacts #Reef #DivingLife #MaritimeHistory #MaritimePhotography #MaritimeArchaeology #OzArch #InstaArchaeology #Sea #Ocean #ArchaeologyLife #UnderwaterPhotography #FlashbackFriday ...
How do you conserve one of the oldest Australian-built boats ever found?
Step one: Assemble a team of specialists.
Step two: Have them pose for a photo with the boat...which was excavated and stored in the refrigerated shipping container by the time the team gathered to plan the next stage of post-excavation conservation of the vessel (which is, naturally, Step three). The vessel, discovered partially intact in #Barangaroo, Sydney, during excavations for the Sydney Metro station. It's discovery brought together the Australian and international archaeological community, including our maritime archaeologists, to advise and assist Cosmos Archaeology and Casey & Lowe in the excavation process.
Now we are proud to be working with Sydney Metro, @sea.museum, @yatnews_ , Ubi3D and other specialists, on the complex and fascinating process of conserving a boat made with Australian timber.
Hold on to your hats as we learn more about the character and nature of this boat, its life and times, and the hands that built it. Follow us because we simply cannot wait to share this exciting journey with you!
To learn more about this project and discern the significance of this little boat visit: silentworldfoundation.org.au/projects/barangaroo-boat/ 📸: Sydney Metro
#brooboat #conservation #maritimearchaeology #pandaeyes #fridayfinds #SydneyHistory #MaritimeArchaeology #Archaeology #Shipwreck #Conservation #ConservationPhotography #Timber #Artefacts #ArchaeologyLovers #InstaHeritage #HistoryNerd #OzArchaeology #BoatBuilding #woodenboats #teamwork ...
Happy #FindsFriday! In 2013 Silentworld Foundation and the Australian National Maritime Museum set out to find not one, but TWO shipwrecks at Ferguson Reef ⛵️⛵️.
Carrying the Queen’s own 50th Regiment of Foot from Sydney bound for battles in India, Fergusson, a three-masted armed vessel of 555 tonnes, wrecked in the Coral Sea in 1841. All were rescued by accompanying vessels. The reef upon which it struck is now known as Ferguson Reef.
The opium trader, Morning Star 🌠, is reported to have been lost in 1814 about 10 nautical miles inshore of Ferguson Reef. Some survivors set off in a boat to reach help – those stranded were rescued by a passing vessel. Of the boat crew, only one survived a capsizing event.
📸: Xanthe Rivett / © Silentworld Foundation.
#artefacts #sitework #archaeologylovers #historynerd #instaheritage #shipwreck #anchor #reef #coral #diving #divinglife #archaeology #maritimehistory #maritimephotography #maritimearchaeology #OzArch #archaeologyfieldwork #InstaArchaeology #anchor #waves #sea #ocean #flipper ...
Hooray for #FindsFriday! 🤿⚓️🌊 Time for a throwback to December 2009, when the team visited the aptly named Wreck Reefs in search of the wrecks of #HMSPorpoise and #Cato, as well as the survivor camp, where over 80 men spent 8 weeks awaiting rescue. Here is Toni Massey, inspecting an old Admiralty long-shank anchor, one of three bower anchors carried by Porpoise.
Both Porpoise and Cato wrecked in 1803, during celebrated navigator Matthew Flinder's first attempted journey to return to England. Yes, Flinders named the site 'Wreck Reefs' because of the incident.
Flinders was on board Porpoise with his precious - and unpublished - charts of the Australian coast. Porpoise was in company with two other vessels, Cato, an English armed merchant of 430 tonnes and Bridgewater, a 32 gun East India company vessel of 750 tonnes.
When Porpoise struck the rocks the two other vessels tacked to avoid the same fate but unfortunately, they tacked towards each other. Cato changed course to avoid collision and consequently also hit the reef. Bridgewater escaped the rocks and seemed to make an attempt to return and provide assistance but subsequently departed and left them to their fate.
This project is undertaken in partnership with @sea.museum, and with support from @flindersuniversity and the Sydney Insitute Marine of Science (SIMS).
📸: Xanthe Rivett/Silentworld Foundation.
#Shipwrecks #Archaeology #ArchaeologyFieldwork #Anchor #Diving #Wreck #Coral #MatthewFlinders #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #Artefacts #Reef #DivingLife #MaritimeHistory #MaritimePhotography #MaritimeArchaeology #OzArch #InstaArchaeology #Waves #Sea #Ocean #Snorkeling #ArchaeologyLife #UnderwaterPhotography ...
We're pleased to be working with Sydney Metro and @sea.museum to conserve the rare remains of a colonial-era clinker boat. The #BarangarooBoat is one of the oldest vessels ever found, fully excavated and raised in Australia.
Archaeological salvage of the hull was undertaken in late 2018 and the timbers are now in the process of being conserved. Each timber was photographed insitu before being raised and recorded. After this, the timbers were individually wrapped before being refrigerated.
Pictured here are Silentworld and @sea.museum teams recording and cleaning the timbers before moving them into their current home for the next stage of conservation - desalination and pre-treatment. Find out more through the link in our bio. 📸: Silentworld Foundation/Sydney Metro © Sydney Metro.
#SydneyHistory #MaritimeArchaeology #Archaeology #Shipwreck #Conservation #ConservationPhotography #Timber #Artefacts #ArchaeologyLovers #InstaHeritage #HistoryNerd #OzArchaeology ...
Time for a hands on #FindsFriday post! Dr James Hunter, from @sea.museum, spotted this copper bell during the collaborative #KennReefs expedition in 2017.
It was laying on its side, with approximately one-half of its circumference exposed among chunks of broken limestone and coral rubble. It's over 40cm in diameter and weighs approximately 40kg.
The bell was deemed a diagnostic artefact and, in accordance with the expedition's permit, was raised by the team after careful insitu documentation.
It has since been conserved and we're currently running some scientific tests on it to determine its origin and the ship to which it once belonged.
Find out more about our expeditions at the link in bio.
📸: @seajewlz /Silentworld Foundation.
#Bell #Copper #Shipwrecks #Archaeology #ArchaeologyFieldwork #ShipBell #Diving #Wreck #Coral #Artefacts #Sitework #ArchaeologyLovers #HistoryNerd #InstaHeritage #Reef #DivingLife #MaritimeHistory #MaritimePhotography #MaritimeArchaeology #OzArch #InstaArchaeology #Waves #Sea #Ocean #UnderwaterPhotography #GreatBarrierReef #Artifacts ...
It's cannons💣, comets☄️ and anchors⚓ this #FindsFriday 🕵️♀️.
Many ships have foundered in the dangerous waters of the #GreatBarrierReef. In 2015, the team located iron carronades, anchor cables, two anchors, and other artefacts, at the isolated #AshmoreReef, part of the Outer Route traditionally used by trade vessels.
So began the search to identify the wreck. It was a challenge, given was that between 1817 and 1923, some 35 vessels were reported to have wrecked on the largely uncharted reef.
These short stubby cannons – or more precisely, carronades – were first developed in the mid-1770s. They were known for being easy to load, reliable and so great was their muzzle velocity that they were quickly nicknamed ‘smashers’. But the additional loops on the sides of the carronades actually, helpfully, dated to the artefacts to post-1820s.
Elsewhere on the site, the unique style of anchors indicated the wreck of a vessel built after 1820 - but lost before 1840.
This evidence, combined with historical records, helped identify the wreck as the 314-ton Canadian-built wooden brig Comet, which wrecked on a voyage from Sydney to Batavia (now Jakarta) on an unknown reef south of Boot Reef in May 1829.
This expedition was conducted with @sea.museum, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment.
📸: Xanthe Rivett/Silentworld Foundation.
#artefacts #sitework #archaeologylovers #historynerd #instaheritage #shipwreck #anchor #reef #coral #diving #divinglife #archaeology #maritimehistory #maritimephotography #maritimearchaeology #OzArch #archaeologyfieldwork #InstaArchaeology #anchor #waves #sea #ocean #flipper #cannon #corrande ...
It's #FindsFriday! #Spotted this door latch in the sand at the wreck of the South Australian, aka South Australia's oldest known shipwreck.
This project is undertaken in partnership with @sa_maritime_museum, @sea.museum, South Australian Department for Environment and Water, MaP Fund @flindersmap and @flindersuniversity. 📸: @rae.malliaros / Silentworld Foundation.
#shipwrecks #archaeology #archaeologyfieldwork #copper #diving #wreck #southaustralia #southaustralianbeaches #door #artefacts #sitework #archaeologylovers #historynerd #instaheritage ...
How well do you know your ⚓️? Many ships have foundered in the dangerous waters of the Great Barrier Reef.
In 2015, the team located two Pering-Patent anchors, anchor cables, carronades and other artefacts at Ashmore Reef which indicated the wreck of a vessel built after 1820 - but lost before 1840, when the Pering-Improved anchor come into style.
Historical records helped identify the wreck as the 314-ton Canadian-built wooden brig Comet, which wrecked on a voyage from Sydney to Batavia (now Jakarta) on an unknown reef south of Boot Reef in May 1829.
Three other vessels were reported as wrecking on the Great Barrier Reef at the same time: the Governor Ready, the Swiftsure and HMCS Mermaid.
This expedition was conducted with @sea.museum, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Department of the Environment. 📸: Xanthe Rivett/Silentworld Foundation.
#artefacts #sitework #archaeologylovers #historynerd #instaheritage #shipwreck #anchor #reef #coral #diving #divinglife #archaeology #maritimehistory #maritimephotography #OzArch #archaeologyfieldwork #InstaArchaeology @sea.museum ...