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Books > Humanities > Archaeology > Underwater archaeology
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Shipwrecks and Global 'Worming' (Paperback)
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Shipwrecks and Global 'Worming' (Paperback)
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Marine borers, particularly the shipworms, as destroyers of timber,
par excellence, are well known from very ancient times. They
attacked the wooden hulls of ships with such intensity that the
weakened bottom planks broke up even due to a mild impact caused by
hitting a rock or any floating objects inducing shipwrecks. Even
the survival of sunken ships as wrecks depends on the mercy of
wood-destroying organisms, which may turn these 'port-holes' to
history into meaningless junks. The silent saboteurs, involved in
several early shipwrecks, are the molluscan and crustacean borers,
aided by bacteria and fungi. This paper presents an account of the
marine wood-borers, together with a historical review of literature
on their depredation on wooden ships, and on protective methods
adopted from antiquity to modern times. The seriousness with which
early mariners faced the problem of bio-deterioration and the fear
the wood-borers created in their minds have been brought to light
with, in some cases, excerpts from their journals and books. The
anxiety and concern for protecting the ships from the ravages of
wood-borers and for their own safety, as evidenced from their
accounts, are discussed. Classification of various groups of marine
wood-borers with notes on characters of systematic value and a
complete list of species so far recorded in literature have been
included under Appendix I and II. Methods employed to prevent
damage to the boats included deep-charring, coating with pitch,
coal-tar, whale oil and mustard oil with lime; scupper nailing
('filling'); sheathing with animal skin, hair, tarred paper, wooden
boards (untreated or soaked in coal tar, Ferrous sulphate, Copper
sulphate or Lead monoxide); sheathing with metals (Lead or Copper
sheets); plastic, neoprene coated ply-woods; and painting with
Copper oxide, Pentachlorophenol or phenylarsenious oxide. None of
these imparts complete protection. Recent archaeological
investigations carried out in British waters, especially on 'Mary
Rose', are also summarised. It is suggested that, though borers are
instrumental in inducing ship-wrecks thereby enriching the
materials for archaeological studies, excavations at known
ship-wreck sites should be augmented to unearth valuable historical
data, before they are lost to satisfy the insatiable appetite of
these pests.
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