Archaeology of Ship Maintenance

One often understudied aspect of maritime history is the regular cleaning and maintenance of ship's hulls. The act of careening was a complicated and necessary process to keep hulls effective both during and between long voyages. There are numerous accounts of ships careening while away at sea, however these are usually footnotes within larger narratives.

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My research into careening and maintaining wooden sailing vessels began when I examined the lead sheathing and waterproofing artifacts found on the shipwreck of Blackbeard's flagship, Queen Anne's Revenge (read more here). Also, while working at ECU, we participated in an archaeological field school at the Royal Naval Dockyard in Antigua and this gave me new insight into formalized processes that were utilized by the British Royal Navy to augment their increasingly global scale of maritime activity.

 

I am interested in the various processes by which sailors and carpenters onboard wooden sailing ships careened or maintained the integrity of the vessel's hull in the 18th and 19th centuries. This line of inquiry includes the documentation and analysis of any material culture or archaeological remains utilized for that purpose. What infrastructure was built on the waterfront or careenage to facilitate the process? How did ship maintenance technology and procedures change over time? Who were the sailors and waterfront laborers, free or enslaved, who completed these tasks?