dave’s blog

divers hit pay dirt: the hull

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 08:16:20 -0400

After two years of speculation, divers today found larger portions of the Cara Merchant...still intact after 300 years...under the main cannon pile off Catalina Island.

The team spent two days moving hundreds of pounds of coral, rock, and sand. They are rewarded by the discovery of the outer wood planks of the ship’s hull. I took the Underwater Science Office’s class in underwater archaeology last semester and know that these are called strakes. The strakes look and feel like wood and their joinery is still tight. There is still caulking sealing some of the joints. There is a remnant of a cross member...either a floor beam or a rib of the ship called a futtock, that was crushed by the weight of the cannon pile and rotted away before the hull was covered up.

Even though the portion revealed is small, it displays construction techniques that are not common on ships from western Europe from the 18th century. Charlie Beeker says this further supports the likelihood that this ship was manufactured elsewhere, almost surely in east Asia and very likely in the port mentioned by Captain Kidd, himself, Surat, India. Ship builders there used more sophisticated carpentry so ships would last longer. This longevity was possible because of the durability of teak wood and the conditions of the Indian Ocean. Western Europe ships were usually clad in oak and were considered a little more disposable...especially when deployed in the Caribbean, where the warm-water parasites would wreak havoc below the waterline.

Discovering the lower structure of the Cara Merchant was the primary objective of this Spring’s expedition. As we leave the site, I expect a bit of celebration afterwards, but the divers are low-key. It’s been a long journey and they are tired. The initial excitement is replaced by a kind of relief. But the conversation picks up at the dinner table as everyone speculates on how to interpret the details of their find.

Details noted, so far:
Strong strakes with angled edges...may be the “rabited” joints Kidd observed in his notes.

Sophisticated scarf joints connecting ends of long-board strakes. These joints are pegged tight together before begin attached to the timber below. Western Europe simply blunt cut boards and joined the ends at an underlying frame timber.

An unusual kind of caulk that may be made with seashells and a kind of cement. Europeans usually used pine pitch and tar.

Visual inspection suggests the wood hull is made of teak, just as the keel was determined to be fashioned from in tests last year. Samples taken today will be compared with keel samples under high magnification to be sure.

no ordinary tour

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 13:37:27 -0400

No museum exhibit can match this one. Island officials trekked to the hills above Bayhibe to participate in a rare video tour through one of the island’s underwater aquifers. Charlie’s dive team wears special communication masks and explains underwater features to the audience above.

Most of the visitors have never seen an underwater cave from inside. A few tell me they had no idea how valuable these spaces were until this live presentation. Everybody is entertained by the diver’s informal descriptions.

The divers explain that these caves were dry at one time...filling with water perhaps 5000 years ago. IU researchers were surprised to find remains of several giant sloths there, still preserved by the cool fresh water. The animals are extinct now and scientists want to find out if they died off before humans arrived...or because humans arrived. In the centuries since, native humans have carved artwork into the caves’ entrances and left broken water containers in their depths...leaving clues to these ancient societies.

Despite being laden with special equipment and navigating the hazardous environment, John, Jessica, and Fritz seem strangely at home explaining its features. The tour lasts 25 minutes. You can see three minutes of highlights in the movie above.

The audience includes Dominican officials from Environment, Parks, and Cultural Affairs, as well as representatives from USAID. Charlie is sure that this first-hand experience will convince the government to declare these aquifers off limits to most visitors and set them aside as protected areas. If they do, Indiana University will play a role in their management and any subsequent research efforts.

Thanks to Kenny for the excellent production design. He’s a California Parks Ranger and experienced at putting on underwater presentations. We have three cameras producing the coverage and audio feeds from above and below. Since there’s no production truck to integrate it all, I save complete recordings from each so they can be edited together later (finished the movie above on June 22).

international interests gather at embassy

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 15:07:46 -0400

IU Dean of the School of Public Health, Robert Goodman, address an international audience of two hundred, gathered at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo to learn more about IU’s Office of Underwater Science and its work in the Dominican Republic. The Dean also introduces director Charlie Beeker (r) and his graduate assistant researcher, Fritz Hanselmann (l), who screens an excerpt from the National Geographic TV special, “Shipwreck! Captain Kidd,” and takes everyone through a step by step progress report.

The event is put together by USAID, the US Embassy, and Indiana University. Dora Plavitic is an official from USAID organization. She is a terrific advocate for IU’s projects and has joined us for evening drinks on one of our last nights in the DR. She is anxious to convey her enthusiasm for this new partnership and wants me to make sure that I help convey the significance of this unusual event. That’s because the whole affair is a rare opportunity to bring this international crowd up to date on the Cara Merchant research, propose ideas on how to protect many of the Dominican Republic’s underwater resources and, in some cases, make these sites economically productive for the island.

Of the audience, the diplomatic corp alone is comprised of officials from India, Italy, Britain, France, USA, and the Dominican Republic.

The real business of the night takes place before and after this academic session. Informal huddles of special interests, lubricated by cocktails and finger food, circulate among one another, sometimes concealing real agendas behind affable smiles and courtesies. Imagine a savvy group of DR dive shop owners, reef protection proponents, hotel owners, the DR Ministry of Environment, resort association execs, DR conservatory officials, DR military representatives, USAID, US Navy, US Marines, and Peace Corp volunteers...all exchanging pleasantries and trying to figure out how the plan proposed by Indiana University and supported by the DR federal government will affect their livelihoods.

But I’ll stop painting this double-O-seven scene because Dora is giving me the furrowed brow. She’s accusing me of being a little cynical. That’s not my aim.

After all, it’s true that all of these folks wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the magnetic draw of IU dive team leader Charlie Beeker...and a growing awareness that his vision of coordinating efforts to preserve the DR’s underwater resources in a fashion that protects them, and also generates economic activity, is a worthy idea. The audience gives him undivided attention and parts with hugs and kisses.

But you can’t convince everyone to join the party. I talk to a few “smiling” folks scattered about who are convinced his plan is just another failed initiative in the making. Organizers here disagree...

(note: Indiana University Dean of the School of Public Health, Bob Goodman, asked me to tape a message for his blog. You can see a little more of the embassy event, too)

bio team measures undersea vitality

Sat, 30 May 2009 18:19:46 -0400

While Fritz and his team continue to chisel away under the cannon pile, I shadow Mylana, Andrew, Ryan and Claudia as they record the kind of life forms surrounding the Cara Merchant remains. They plot a large triangle around the area and note exactly what kind of living things live along these three legs. Claudia watches her students closely, but they do all the work. Valuable experience for these undergraduates.

The data will serve as a kind of benchmark, allowing researchers to repeat the exercise every year, or so, and see if there is any change. Scientists have already determined that 10% of the world’s reefs have disappeared in the past few years. 90% show significant signs of stress. Students and faculty from IU’s Office of Underwater Science want to watch this area closely.

Ania has joined the dive team from AWARE, an organization concerned with the health of the world’s reefs. She says that damage to these underwater ecologies is mostly caused by global climate change...but that humans do their share to upset these fragile regions. Ania’s organization spends considerable effort to educate divers how to appreciate and protect these natural environments.

Now that the Cara Merchant site is officially designated as a national park for divers, researchers and Dominican officials want to make sure it doesn’t also become a biological tragedy. This is also a nature preserve, and, if necessary, officials may limit human access if the area develops signs of ill-health.

drilling for historic marker

Thu, 28 May 2009 17:58:11 -0400

Rains have moved on and the ocean is slowly clearing up. Good to be back in salt water. I’m shooting a team drilling holes in the limestone bedrock that will hold an underwater plaque explaining to future diver tourists what they are seeing. It's fitting that the plaque base was fashioned from a block of Indiana Limestone. In fact, the drill was made just for our application by a company in Bloomington that makes mining tools. A retired compressor-company owner made the plumbing and regulation gear that allows the rig to work with SCUBA tanks instead of hydraulic fluid (safer for the environment). His name is Bill...and he went down himself to drill the first shift. The drill is LOUD! It appears that reef limestone is harder than our own. The drill was able to drill a foot through Indiana Limestone in a few seconds, but it took a half-hour under the sea, in part because an operator can't apply his body weight. We ended up draping every spare weight we could find on the tool.

Visibility was only about five feet, but I was able to get my camera in close.

Unfortunately, I swam a half mile out to the site earlier in the day (boat was too laden with equipment), suited up in the water, shot video down below, trying to rest in between dives on the little boat, but instead getting sea-sick (yep...lost my lunch), shoot some more, and then swim back to shore near sundown. After unloading everything, I made the mistake of drinking half a long island ice tea on my purged stomach. It was metabolized within minutes and I was getting to the point I couldn't talk clearly! I quickly ate a power bar and drank a bottle of water and sobered back up within minutes. Felt fine a little later and had a nice dinner of mostly vegetables and fruit.

geo team disproves lagoon theory

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:01:54 -0400

Following the geo crew inland on Catalina. The boat delivers us to the downwind side of the island and we hike a quarter mile up the way carrying lots of testing gear.

Some historians have tried to suggest that the Cara Merchant was once hidden in an inland lagoon. We find the lagoon and the crew wades right in, taking measurements and pounding probes. They also gathered core samples of the sediment for more comprehensive analysis back at the lab.

The lagoon is perhaps a half-mile long by a quarter of a mile wide. It is hot and the air is still...full of mosquitos. I make my way past the ba-jillion land crabs and wade in to shoot lots of video...and then fell asleep against a palm tree while the team finishes up (staying up too late)...I'm covered in bites.

The team discovers the lagoon is only 16" deep, has another several inches of sediment, and then rests on bedrock that is two or three feet above sea level. So, these researchers’ conclusions will be cited as proof that the lagoon was never any deeper and the Cara Merchant was never in the lagoon (the ship drew 12 feet).

Unfortunately, this determiniation will conflict with Kidd author Richard Zack's assertion made on our recent Nat Geo special. He's a terrific historian and one of my Facebook friends!