James P. Delgado

Memory in the maritime museum: objects, narratives, identities

Maritime museums constitute an individual interdisciplinary chapter in the museum studies and heritage studies literature. Broadly speaking, on an academic level, maritime museums have been researched by few researchers (Hicks 2001, Witcomb 2003). In contrast, maritime museum congresses are providing fresh perspectives on a variety of practical and managerial issues on the subject and indicating the challenges and the promises maritime museums face in dealing with maritime heritage. The 16th Forum of Maritime Heritage of the Mediterranean, which took place in 2010 in Spain, focused on making a reflection on how to find ways so that museums tackle new challenges related to maritime affairs with a new heritage approach. The focus is no longer strictly on collections, that is, in integral conservation, documentation, study and diffusion of tangible and intangible heritage in general but, also, on the importance and the extraordinary cultural value of floating heritage; of formerly floating and now submerged cultural heritage; of traditional know-how and knowledge on maritime topics; of working and navigation objects; or of buildings and spaces related. And, what seems to be in question is: what is the role of maritime museums in the creation of identities? As a particular type of a history museum, the maritime museum is bounded by heritage issues worth further exploring in the light of new concepts related to local and national identity. This type of museum is traditionally linked to making ideological choices and presenting an introvert-decontextualised-message that fails to be communicated to the visitor. Usually an underpinning hagiography and antiquarian tendency interferes with the museological narration resulting in a museum exhibition that resembles a sanctuary of past national glories. As Hicks (2001) has well pointed out, maritime museums deliberately stimulate memory through nostalgia, an understandable – if not scholarly – apprehension of the past; and thus enable visitors to interact with a personal past tinged with nostalgia in a contextualised academic environment. Maritime collections are inscribed with meanings that are embedded in historical circumstances and, consequently, should be treated as having numerous layers upon them, each one with a different interpretation. But, what can these collections tell us about the stories of past seafarers and their communities? Are collections and exhibitions of geographically-spread maritime cultures able to support the understanding of challenging concepts, such as that of insularity, or the

The Search for the 1871 Whaling Fleet of the Western Arctic: writing the final chapter

During 2015, the NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries led a systematic seabed mapping survey along the Arctic coast of Alaska in search of whaling ships abandoned in 1871. The purpose of the expedition was to determine if wreckage from these abandoned ships was still present in the survey area, and, if so, to assess and document its location, status and condition. The project mapped approximately 50 km2 of seabed using sidescan sonar and magnetometry and identified six sites that contained wreckage from at least two whaling ships. Magnetometry data also suggested that additional wreckage may be buried in the seabed.

A Means to Streamline Historic and Cultural Resource Consultation and Compliance for Pollution Assessment and Recovery Activities on Shipwrecks

ABSTRACT In May 2013, per Congressional direction and to support a better understanding of pollution sources in the U. S. waters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) provided...

Triangulating Archaeological Landscapes: The U.S. Coast Survey in California, 1850–1895

The slim size of this volume gives little indication of its significance; recognition of the impact of this study comes as and after one reads it. The significance of Byram’s research,asonestudiesTriangulatingArchaeological Landscapes: The U.S. Coast Survey in California, 1850–1895, is in its links to the archaeology of landscapes. It is also an introduction to a set of archival resources that are, depending on where one works, either underor unutilized. The overall contribution of this volume is to historical archaeology in coastal communities, not only in California, but by extension much of the littoral United States. The focal point of the volume are the archival records of the United States Coast Survey (later the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey), America’s oldest scientific agency. As Byram notes, the Coast Survey was established in 1807 under the direction of President Thomas Jefferson. The Coast Survey

Pacific Graveyard: Adaptive Reuse, Recycling, and Abandonment in San Francisco’s Maritime Graveyards, 1849–1959

California’s San Francisco Bay encompasses one of the largest collections of ship graveyards in North America. These graveyards include ships buried beneath subsequent urban development in downtown San Francisco, as well as ships situated along estuarine bay shores in Sausalito, Belvedere, South San Francisco, Oakland, and Benicia. As a large estuary, other shores on the bay also served as a repository for smaller numbers of laid-up craft and individual vessels. Among the more unique of these graveyards are those in and around San Francisco, which now lie buried beneath urban landfill. The majority of these vessels date to the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). They comprise a unique assemblage of vessels that were either purposely beached or surrounded by pilings or filled and recycled into buildings to fill the need for structures during the Gold Rush population boom. After the rush, a number of vessels were further recycled by ship-breakers, whereas others were sunk to establish title to submerged lands. Other craft, either buried or exposed on mudflats, date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Archaeological excavation and study of these vessels has provided insights into the role of recycled ships in the economic and physical geographical study of San Francisco, as well as documenting the characteristics of nineteenth and early twentieth century craft, including previously undocumented examples of regional vernacular craft as well as ships adaptively reused.

The “Richest River in the World”: The Maritime Cultural Landscape of the Mouth of the Río Chagres, Republica de Panamá

The Rio Chagres (Chagres River) emerges from the isthmian jungle to drain into the Caribbean side of the Isthmus of Panama, in the center of the country and approximately seven nautical miles (9 km) from Colon and the entrance to the Panama Canal (Fig. 13.1). Now a nearly forgotten byway, overshadowed by the busy Canal, the Chagres was a significant waterway for both the prehistoric and the historic period inhabitants of the isthmus. Recently (2008) surveyed as part of a joint project of the Waitt Institute for Discovery and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA/WID), the mouth of the Rio Chagres is the location of a collective group of sites and remains that form a significant maritime cultural landscape that includes the site of the seventeenth century village of Chagres and the remains of various fortifications from the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, including the Castillo de San Lorenzo, a World Heritage Site. This maritime cultural landscape also includes the natural resources of the area, such as the cliff on which the Castillo rests, the sandbars and beaches at the river’s entrance, Lajas Reef, and the river channel itself – all of which influenced and were impacted by the human activities that have occurred here over the last 500 years. As far as we know, this assessment is the first time the concept of a maritime cultural landscape has been applied in Central America.

Nautical and Maritime Archaeology, 2006-2007 Seasons

This newsletter presents short reports on Old World nautical and maritime projects and excavations. Some of these projects involve underwater work; others are on dry land. Some discuss sites other than shipwrecks. Harbors, cargoes, and maritime landscapes reported here reflect the significant contributions of nautical and maritime archaeology to the study of all aspects of humanitys interaction with the marine environment.