MARITIME EDUCATION INITIATIVE •'
Marine Archaeology Experts Bring their Science to Schools
instill an appreciation for lifestyles dependent on the sea; to explain technologies that have made the ocean accessible to humankind; and to introduce underSEA HISTORY Profiles Three Innovative Projects water archaeology as a means of discovering and protecting our maritime past. by Mark Wilde-Ramsing A variety of activities is presented to campers, aged twelve to sixteen. Video presentations, such as the popular movie An annual project, called "Baker's Kids" students had fo und an historic treasure! During the fo ll owing three years, new "The Deep" and a slide show called after its energetic instructor, Charlie Baker, is a key part of the North Carolina groups of youths studied the remains of "Paddles, Sails and Propellors," serve to Underwater Archaeology Unit's (UAU) two derelicts and a marine rai lway along interest and instruct the campers in marieducational efforts. Each year, ten to the Wilmington waterfront. While these time tenninology and concepts. Field acfourteen 8th-graders from a rural public sites were not as glamoro us as the tivities reinforce classroom learning. For school system are introduced to under- Waccamaw wreck, the students were instance, after the lecture "Where in the water archaeological methods and re- ex posed to a well -rounded program in World Are We?" which includes exersearch techniques , presented a previ- underwater archaeology and actually pro- cises using maps and navigational instruously unexamined shoreline site, and vided a more realistic view of hi storical ments, campers find themselves in a cataught how to learn as much as they can and archaeological research, which is noe on a local lake testing their ability to navigate with a compass. about it. Over the course of the school often tedious and frustrating . Much of the week is spent focusyear, the students spend four days ing on hi storic shipwrecks: what away from the classroom: one day of they look like, how they are found, instruction , one in the field , one doand how they are studied. The proing hi storical research and a final gram relies heav ily on Florida' s unday of analysis and conclusion s. derwater archaeology program , both The UAU 's commitment to this their personnel and faci lities. At the project has been due, in large part, to state 's Research and Conservation the great success of the first year's Laboratory , students learn about the project, which focused on the wreck handling and treatment of waterof a wooden steamboat, the identity logged artifacts. A visit to the state 's of which had puzzled state archaerepository of underwater archaeoologists for years. In the field , staff logical data instill s the importance members' uncertainties as to what the students could do, how they North Carolina eighth graders examine an unknown of record keeping. The high li ght of wreck on the shoreline. They were later able to identify the week is the examination and would adapt, and what could be ac- it as the steamer Waccamaw. recording of two shallow water sites: complished seemed to melt away as the day progressed. In the end, prethe steamboat Madison near the cise measurements were recorded, Suwannee River and a late 19thcentury fishing boat, Pricilla, in the and everyone coped well with the stinky, muddy shoreline environment. tidal zone of a nearby island. On the other side of the country, Success continued during the hi san innovative program tackles the torical research phase as the stuproblem of locating a shipwreck that dents visited the local libra ry and museum in search of clues to the sludents can see and feel, as well as one that is reachable and in a safe wreck 's name. By first di stingui shenvironment. Marco Meniketti, ining poss ible candidates and then , searching through newspaper acstructor at the California Academy of counts, they positi ve ly identified In Florida , students record the remains ofthe steamboat Sciences in San Francisco, decided their wreck. The students not onl y Madi son in the Suwannee River. the answer was to create his own found out that it was the steamer shipwrec k- in the classroom! Furnishing an experience fo r pre-col- Meniketti describes the initial stages of Waccamaw , which had twenty years of active service in the Wilmington area, legiate students in underwater archaeol- his program: but also that it was originally built as the ogy is not unique to North Carolina; as a "Students arrived on the first class day to see a large aquarium tank in the Nuestra Senora de Reg/a fo r use as a matter of fact, there are several we!Iferryboat in Havana, Cuba. On its maiden established programs around the country. front of the room , and beside it, a ship voyage from New York to Cuba in 1861, A prime example is a summer promodel. Following preliminary disthe vessel was first captured by the Con- gram offered by the Museum of Florida cuss ion , the ship was picked up and federate Anny in Georgetown, South History entitled "From Dugouts to Doulowered into the tank. There she Carolina, released, and then detained and bloons: The Maritime Heritage of floated for a gloriou s 40 seconds, and confiscated by Union forces for use as a Florida." In the words of program super-then began to li st steeply to starboard. US Navy gunboat. Considering that der- visor KC Smith, the objectives of the There was a shudder, and then in a elicts are seldom positively identified, the week-long "Dugouts" program are to blink she sank. The resounding squeal ~
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SEA HISTORY 67, AUTUMN 1993
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