----- Original Message -----
From: "CADW" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "'George Myers'" <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: "Yates, Mike (CADW)" <[log in to unmask]>; "Brown, Christopher
(CADW)" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 1:36 PM
Subject: RE: Medieval ship to be abandoned
Dear Mr Myers
Thank you very much for your e-mail.
The site and the vessel itself are primarily the responsibility of Newport
City Council. It may go some way to setting your mind at rest if you contact
them and let them explain exactly what they are doing in rather difficult
circumstances.
The main contact is Lucy Jackson (email -
<mailto:[log in to unmask])> [log in to unmask]). I think
you may find that some of your concerns arise from rather misleading
reporting.
From Cadw's point of view we are naturally concerned that this important
discovery should be properly excavated and recorded. Because of this we are
contributing to the cost of this vital work.
I hope this is of some help.
Best wishes
Chris Brown
Gwasanaethau Corfforaethol Cadw - Cadw Corporate Services
Rhif ffôn - Tel: 029 2082 6378
Ffacs - Fax: 029 2082 6375
E-bost - E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Wefan - Website: http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk
<http://www.cadw.wales.gov.uk/>
-----Original Message-----
From: George Myers [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 08 August 2002 17:05
To: CADW
Cc: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Subject: Medieval ship to be abandoned
Medieval Ship Found in Orchestra Pit in Newport, Wales?
As a US archaeologist/fieldworker I helped find a pre-1730 ship in the dated
landfill of New York City, in the middle of a consortium that became
National Westminster Bank's property, a former parking lot just on the
outside of the South Street Seaport Historic District. I and my fellow
worker, Bertram Herbert, an African American, were working with a backhoe
operartor, a West Point MP during the World War, in December with the
snowflakes flying. We asked the head of the then poorly endowed South Street
Seaport associates to corroborate our trench finding, the side of the ship
containing sacrificial planking ontop of horsehair/hemp and tar which
contained toredo worms or shipworms found later to have come from the
Carribean and North Atlantic according to the biologist. They had recently
extended funds on the purchase of a "Black Ball" clipper hull in the
Falkland Islands, the last thought in the world, that had originally sailed
out of New York harbor for Liverpool, England and back. It was suggested
that the pieces of it be slung in a cargo net over the side of wharf or
ship, but then, that would dissolve as toredo worms have made a comeback in
the NY harbor since the water quality has improved.
The ship alas could get no funding further than the first week of March as
it was then torn out and taken to the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island
after pintle inspection by the Mystic Seaport ship historian. Part of it had
been under a NYC street and its bottom lie 17 feet below the sidewalk. The
construction company thought nothing of steam pile driving while we worked
to remove the landfill, and removed sections of the ship for washup and
scaled photos in a wetlab by myself directed by two underwater
archaeologists Warren Reiss and Shelley Smith.
We used an "underwater" suspended grid to record three dimensional
measurements from three pulled tapes that were later run through a
calculator and printer to establish measurements into the very black
waterlogged wooden ship close to 100 feet long. The first ten feet of the
bow were taken out wrapped in burlap and placed in a dumpster full of water
before being transported to Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn and on to a three
sided barn in Massachusetts for full scale drawings, I was told. A model was
also going to be made at the Texas A&M Underwater Archaeology department
according to those brought in to supervise. Eventually it was said the bow
section, "dewatered" and preserved would be assembled at the Newport News
Mariners Museum in Virginia, a museum now in partnership with the South
Street Seaport Museum.
During this time period the Norse docks at Canary Wharf or Diamond wharf
were being politically discussed in demonstrations for preservation. Perhaps
that anything was done in New York City could be attributed to that
activism.
I hope appropriate tasks are completed on the ship there in Wales. I had the
pleasure of working with an exchange student from Penallt, Wales, near
Monmouth and hope that those tasks lead to better results than I anticipated
while working on the "Ronson" ship.
Sincerely,
George J. Myers, Jr.
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