We hope you have enjoyed the third run of the Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds course. We are very pleased that you spent some time with us learning about maritime heritage. The Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) is a wonderful experience for us as well as it not only gives us the chance to explore areas of maritime archaeology that we don’t always see in our day to day work but allows us the chance to talk to you!

It would be very useful if you could take a few minutes to complete the exit survey for the course. It will help us continue to improve the MOOC and give us valuable information on how education can change public perception of maritime heritage. We want to see how how your thoughts have changed over the four weeks you’ve spent learning with us!

There are only ten questions in this survey. Please feel free to fill in as much or as little of the survey as you wish – and to let us know exactly what you think!

To take survey simply follow this link: https://www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk/18736

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Transcript

Hello! My name is Dani. I’m a student at the University of Southampton and I’m a facilitator on the course. My favourite shipwreck is the SS City of Medicine Hat. It was found in a city called Saskatoon, which is in central Canada – that makes it about three days’ drive from the nearest ocean. It was a paddle steamer used to ferry passengers up and down the river. It sank in 1909 when it hit some underwater telegraph cables. It was found a few years ago, and they found about a thousand artefacts with it. It’s my favourite shipwreck because three days from the ocean and we still find maritime archaeology and that’s pretty exciting!

Further reading about SS City of Medicine Hat:

• Wikipedia article
• Globe and Mail Article on discovery of the wreck

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Our friends at the Mary Rose Museum have a wonderful collection of paper craft Tudor era artefacts that you can make at home.  All you need is a printer, scissors, glue and a bit of patience! The flagon took about 10 minutes and Henry VIII was at least 30 minutes to make.

Check out this link for a full list of the crafts available! Mary Rose Museum Papercraft Artefacts.

If you make any crafts, please post a photo on Twitter using the hashtag #FLShipwrecks.  We’d love to see them!

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The best part is, they both float! This is because the weight of the amount of water both boats displace is greater than the weight of the vessel itself. In effect, the water pushes up against the boat with more force than the boat pushes down.  This creates buoyancy.

Check out the following links for more detailed instructions on how to make these crafts: Wax Boats & Origami Sampan.

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As part of ongoing research at the Centre for Maritime Archaeology Research Group (CMARG) on public perception of maritime heritage, we hope that you might take ten minutes or so to complete the following survey: 10 minute pre-course survey on maritime heritage.

This information helps the MOOC team better understand how to improve the course and tailor both it and blog posts to your interests.  As well, it helps several doctoral students better understand how people around the world relate to the sea and their maritime heritage.  Your participation is much appreciated!

Here is that link again: 10 minute pre-course survey on maritime heritage

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Mahabalipuram, a UNESCO World Heritage site located on the Tamil Nadu coast of India, is world-renowned for its cave temples, Pallava era art and architecture (8th century AD) & shore temple. Local myth was that the shore temple was once part of a much larger temple structure which featured seven pagodas. Anecdotal evidence supported this: early mariners referred to the site as “Seven Pagodas” and 18th and 19th century European visitors recorded elderly locals as saying in years prior they had been able to see the glinting copper tops of the pagodas out at sea.

Myth abruptly turned to reality in the wake of the devastating December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean.  As the water pulled out over 500m immediately before the tsunami, locals and visitors reported seeing long rows of straight stones before they were swiftly recovered. However, the tsunami had removed centuries of silt from the sites and uncovered several small statues and temples on the shoreline.

As a result of the eye witness reports, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Indian Navy conducted a survey of the site.  This revealed a large series of buildings, walls and platforms that have been interpreted as forming a large complex.  Based on the style of carving, coins found at the site and the historical evidence, archaeologists believe that the site does date to the Pallava era.  Although Mahabalipuram was a port city during this time, the specific layout and proximity to the remaining shore temple suggests that this may be the location of the lost six pagodas.

There are two theories as to what destroyed the site.  Some archaeologists believe that the majority of the temple complex was likely destroyed in a previous tsunami in the 13th century.  Others point to the severe coastal fluctuation in the area over the last 5000 years and suggest that the site eroded away.

Work continues on the site, with the hope of identifying more structures and their purpose as well as better understanding the history of the city as a whole.  The myth of the Seven Pagodas may be coming to life before our very eyes.

Further reading:

• Underwater investigations off Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India in CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 86, NO. 9, 10 MAY 2004
• Marine Archaeological Investigations on Tamil Nadu Coast, India: An Overview
• Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram

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We hope you have enjoyed the second run of the Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds course. We are very pleased that you spent some time with us learning about maritime heritage. The MOOC is a wonderful experience for us as well as it not only gives us the chance to explore areas of maritime archaeology that we don’t always see in our day to day work but allows us the chance to talk to you!

It would be very useful if you could take a few minutes to complete the exit survey for the course, which will help us continue to improve the MOOC and give us valuable information on how education can change public perception of maritime heritage. We want to see how how your thoughts have changed over the four weeks you’ve spent learning with us!

There are only ten questions in this survey. Please feel free to fill in as much or as little of the survey as you wish – and to let us know exactly what you think!

To take survey simply follow this link: https://www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk/16423

The post After course short survey on your views of maritime heritage appeared first on Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds.

Tom Sukanen and the Sontiainen

Tom Sukanen was born in Finland, where he trained as a shipwright before immigrating to Canada in 1911 to work as a farmer.  In the 1929, during the height of the great depression he travelled back to Finland for a brief visit.  It was after his return that he hatched a plan to sail back to Finland on vessel he built himself.   His plan was to build a hull that was 13.1 metres long and three metres high with a 2.7-metre beam. The keel was 9.1 metres long at the waterline and 2.7 metres deep.  He built the ship in several parts and intended to drag it to the South Saskatchewan River, there he intended not to sail the ship down the river but rather to put the deck cabins on a raft, mount his old car engine on the raft with a propeller, and pull the watertight keel and hull on their sides behind him.  Once he had reached Hudson Bay, he would bolt his ship together and sail away.

He began moving sections of the boat towards the river in 1938, but by 1939 his health had failed.  Regarded by many local people as mad, he had completely dismantled his home and barns for material to build his ship of dreams.  Sadly, he was removed from his ship and lived out the rest of his days in a mental institution in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  The ship itself was vandalised shortly after his departure from it, and his tool, equipment and bit of the vessel itself were strewn across local fields for decades.

The vessel was eventually salvaged and reassembled at the Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village and Museum just south of Moose Jaw.  The story  continues to resonate with Western Canadians and Sukanen’s ship has become symbolic  of the strength, resilience, and, sometimes, madness it took to live in this landscape during the Great Depression.

The SS City of Medicine Hat

On June 7th, 1908, The SS City of Medicine Hat, a 130ft river steamer,  hit telegraph wires that had been submerged by spring runoff on the South Saskatchewan River.  The ship’s steering was disabled and it drifted into the column of the Victoria Bride in Saskatoon.   Thankfully, the passengers had already disembarked and the captain and crew climbed onto the bridge to escape.  The ship’s engineer jumped overboard and swam ashore.

At the time, it was considered the “greatest nautical disaster in Prairie history.”  The SS City of Medicine Hat was the last steamship ever to sail on the waters of the South Saskatchewan River.

In 2010, archaeologists re-discovered the remains of the SS City of Medicine Hat during construction work on the bridge.  1,000 artifacts including ceramics, metal parts, tableware and clothing were discovered.  There is some evidence that remains of the hull may have survived, submerged in the sandy bottom of the river…work for future maritime archaeologists of the prairies!

Further Reading/Watching:

Dreams in the Dust: The Story of Tom Sukanen

National Film Board of Canada: Shipbuilder

Mysteries of Canada

Globe and Mail: Shipwreck from 1908 found in South Saskatchewan

The post Between the Seas: Shipwrecks of Saskatchewan, Canada appeared first on Shipwrecks and Submerged Worlds.

One of the most exciting parts of the MOOC for the team at Southampton is the opportunity to hear more about people’s experience of and views about maritime archaeology and maritime heritage around the world.

Between us we work on quite a few continents, but we’re aware that overall our research – and our personal experience of maritime archaeology – tends to have a European focus. So we’re looking forward to discussions over the next four weeks with the 3000+ people around the world who are doing the course.

As a first step, we’ve put a short survey together. We’re hoping the results can help us tailor our blogposts and our discussions better over the course of the MOOC.  The information you give us will also help graduate research on public perceptions of maritime heritage.  Please do come back at the end of your four weeks with us and fill out an exit survey (don’t worry, we’ll remind you!) so we can see how your option has changed.

There are 14  questions in the survey. Please feel free to fill in as much or as little of the survey as you wish – and to let us know exactly what you think!

To take survey simply follow this link: https://www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk/16254

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Key Note Abstract: “Beyond the Sea: people, practice and priorities in maritime archaeology”
If Rip Van Winkle was an archaeologist and slept for a mere five years, so rapid has the pace of change in the discipline been recently, he would awake to a bewilderment of new ideas, dramatic developments in technology, methodology, publication formats, and of course interminable updates in computer software and ever more rapid obsolescence of the computers on which it is used. In short, he’d be woefully out of date on all fronts. Arguably, things are even more dynamic in maritime archaeology.
This paper looks at the pace of change as manifested in the subject’s demographic, the breadth of its current concerns and the range of theory and technology available to address them. On these bases the future looks bright but, as well as potentials, there remain some major challenges that demand new strategies and greater coherence in international heritage management and research frameworks.

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