The 2009 Northeast Florida Symposium on Maritime Archaeology will be held at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum in America's oldest port, St. Augustine, Florida, from March 25 to March 27, 2009.
Happy New Year's from the LAMP gang! Left to right, 19th century versions of Brendan Burke, Sam Turner, Chuck Meide, Christine Mavrick, and Robin Moore. Lest old acquaintances be forgot . . . have a great 2009!
Sunset is refracted through the 1st order fresnel lens at the end of a long work day.
Last fall work started to treat some corrosion issues in our lantern. Anyone who has ever worked in historic preservation knows that maintenance on historic structures is on-going and the same is true here. The following photos will bring you up to speed on our progress.
Continue reading "Lantern Restoration at the St. Augustine Lighthouse" »
The 2009 Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) Field School will be held June 8-26, 2009 at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum. This comprehensive 3-week field practicum will focus on the testing of an unidentified ballast pile to make a determination whether it represents the remains of the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis, lost on the St. Augustine bar in August 1861 after the most successful cruise of the entire war. Alternate inshore sites will be investigated depending on conditions offshore.
Continue reading "6/8-6/26/2009: LAMP 2009 Summer Field School" »
The Alligator as she appeared in her final configuration.
This past Tuesday, December 9th, LAMP took a second look at a wreck in Crescent Lake. The lake, a tributary of the St. Johns river and about an hour and a half southwest of St. Augustine, and it’s eastern shore is reputed to be the resting place of the steamboat Alligator. Our work with this wreck began earlier this fall and began through an interesting series of events.
In September, I got a phone call from Dr. Roger Smith, Florida's state underwater archaeologist. He asked if we could go take a look at a recently reported wreck site, and put us in touch with retired meteorologist and avocational historian Dan Smith (no relation). Mr. Smith has conducted an immense amount of research related to a late 19th century steamboat called the Alligator, which indicates the sternwheeler was lost on the east side of Crescent Lake, south of us in Flagler County. A trip to the wreck site proved that it was a very interesting wreck, not only to us but to several news agencies.
Taking a picture of the seafloor is a complicated business. In some industries it is a multi-billion dollar business. Acoustic technology, however, has allowed us to do amazing things and very quickly the mysteries of the sea are becoming fewer and fewer. It does not come without a price nor investment in training. I recently attended a workshop and training conference in Seattle, Washington to hone my skills in collecting and processing sonar data.
Continue reading "Chesapeake Technology Sonar Seminar in Seattle" »
It’s Pocahontas Number Three coal, from the famous seam in Tazewell County, Virginia, and according to Brendan Burke it is great for blacksmithing.
After Burke moved the coal from the edges of the forge into the firepot, he labored at the blower churning air through the tuyere and into the fire. Green smoke rose from the coals as Burke fed the flames. “The smoke is just weakness leaving the fire,” said Burke. More precisely, impurities, like sulfur, burning off of the coal as it smolders create the green smoke and turn it into coke that is very different from the kind you would drink with your value meal. To a blacksmith, coke is the very high quality source of heat left once the “weakness,” or impurities, burn away.
Burke turns the blower to heat the steel
What: Blacksmithing demonstration with a traditional forge. Items to be made include boat fasteners (spikes, nails, etc.), chain, oyster knives, etc.
Where: St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, by the LAMP Boatworks boatbuilding station
When: Thursday and Friday, November 13-14, 2008, 10 am - 4 pm
Who: Sam Turner, LAMP Director of Archaeology, and Brendan Burke, LAMP Archaeologist & Logistical Coordinator
For more information click here
Continue reading "11/13-14/2008 Blacksmithing Demonstration at the Lighthouse" »
 |
 |
 |
 |
Enter your e-mail address below to receive notifications when the blog is updated.
