Lynn Harris

Maritime Heritage on Display: Underwater Examples from South Carolina

Two recently created interpretive paddling and diving trails on the Ashley and Cooper Rivers near Charleston, South Carolina, allow both the diver and non-diver access to remnants of the state’s riverine and coastal maritime heritage. Located in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, the trails meander through swamps and marshlands inhabited by an array of wildlife including ospreys, bald eagles, ducks, alligators, and fish, especially large catfish. Archaeological sites on the trails include the remains of sailing ships, steamboats, and ferry and plantation landings. These sites are situated in a culturally modified landscape altered from a prehistoric environment of hardwood swamps to one conducive to colonial rice agriculture, and to modern water-control devices including a dam. These sites range in age from the early English colonial period to the beginning of the twentieth century. The purpose of each trail is to communicate to the visitor the historical and archaeological significance of these vestiges of the state’s maritime heritage and surrounding maritime cultural landscape. In a more utilitarian sense, the trails also are intended to help stimulate historical tourism to the area.

Maritime Heritage Outreach and Education: East Carolina University’s Engagement with International Public Communities in Africa and the Caribbean

How will academic institutions prepare new generations of maritime archaeology students for the unique challenges of a profession that frequently operates collaboratively in foreign arenas? International study programs and maritime archaeology field schools, above or below the water, offer unique but often complex teachable moments in cultural resource management. A central focus is consideration of tapping into other sustainable popular tourism packages to include maritime heritage education and outreach initiatives. Collaborations in Namibia, South Africa, and Dominican Republic are examined as case studies associated with different problems, perceptions, and challenges.

“A Gulf Between the Mountains”: Slavers, Whalers, and Fishers in False Bay, Cape Colony

False Bay, described by Bartolomeu Dias as a “gulf between the mountains,” is well known for manifestations of British and Dutch naval heritage. This study focuses on Simon’s town, a small seaport in the Bay that represents the continued presence of the South African Navy for the past 200 years. Cultural connections to other parts of Africa and the Far East are an equally important, but a more ephemeral part of the historical narrative and naval identity of the False Bay. Kroomen from West Africa who served on British naval vessels often retired in the town and surrounds. Slaves, fishers, whalers, and port workers, who supported the naval community, were deserters from American ships or originated from the Indonesian and the Swahili coastline. Drawing upon an array of data sets including interviews with Kroomen descendants and traditional fishermen, naval gravestone markers, and architectural heritage, this chapter examines the maritime cultural landscape and legacy of this maritime landscape.