The Persistence of Sail in the Age of Steam: Underwater Archaeological Evidence from the Dry Tortugas

196 Pages·1998·19.94 MB·English

by  Donna J. Souza (auth.)

The Persistence of Sail in the
Age of Steam
Underwater Archaeological Evidence
from the Dry Tortugas
The Plenum Series in Underwater Archaeology
Series Editor:
J.
Barto Arnold III
Institute of Nautical Archaeology
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas
Maritime Archaeology: A Reader of Substantive and Theoretical
Contributions
Edited by Lawrence E. Babits and Hans Van Tilburg
The Persistence of Sail in the Age of Steam: Underwater
Archaeological Evidence from the Dry Tortugas
Donna J. Souza
A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring
delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only
upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.
The Persistence of Sail in the
Age of Steam
Underwater Archaeological Evidence
from the Dry T ortugas
J.
Donna Souza
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
On file
ISBN 978-1-4899-0141-5 ISBN 978-1-4899-0139-2 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-0139-2
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1998
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998
http://www.plenum.com
10 98765432 1
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
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without written permission from the Publisher
Foreword
In Archaeology Under Water (1966: 19), pioneer nautical archaeologist George
Bass pointed out how much easier it is to train someone who is already an
archaeologist to become a diver than to take trained divers and teach them to do
archaeology. While this is 'generally true, there have also been occasions when
well-trained and enthusiastic sport-divers have been willing to accept the train
ing and discipline necessary to conduct good archaeological science, becoming
first-rate scholars in the process. Dr. Donna Souza's book is the product of just
such a transition. It shows how a sport-diver and volunteer fieldworker can
proceed through a rigorous graduate program to achieve research results that are
convincing in their own right and point toward new directions in the discipline
as a whole.
What is new in this book for maritime archaeology? Perhaps the most
obvious and important feature of Dr. Souza's archaeological and historical
analysis of the wreck at Pulaski Reef and its contemporaries in the Dry Tortugas
National Park, Florida, is the way it serves as a means to a larger end---namely
an understanding of the social history of the transition from sail to steam in late
nineteenth century maritime commerce in America. The relationship between
changes in technology and culture is a classic theme in anthropology, and this
study extends ~t theme into the domain of underwater archaeology. The entire
study is grounded in the recognition that the invention of steam propulsion did
not lead to its immediate and universal adoption in maritime commerce, even
after most technical problems with steam engineering had been resolved. While
navies were fairly quick to embrace steam propulsion for warships from the
1860s onward, they tended to ignore or' devalue the use of steam-powered
machinery for other purposes aboard ship. Naval vessels tended to be heavily
manned, especially during the period when combined sail-and-steam propulsion
was dominant. Seagoing commercial ships, on the other hand, were operated
with smaller crews and much higher ratios of tons per seaman, mainly to reduce
v
vi Foreword
operating costs. In this context of mercantile costcutting, it was common for
ships in the bulk-carrier trades to continue to operate under sail alone and to rely
increasingly upon steam-powered deck machiinery to augment the labor of
ever-shrinking crews. With possibly the most comprehensive collection of asso
ciated steam deck machinery and related gear (cables, anchors, hand tools, etc.)
of any extant shipwreck of this period, the Pula.ski Reef vessel affords a direct
glimpse into the way such costcutting affecte:d material associations in the
archaeological record.
Beyond such proximate factors as steam technology, elements of ship
construction, and the immediate circumstances of the ship's loss, Souza's analy
sis ventures into the broader social and economic implications of risktaking as
a part of late nineteenth century maritime commerce. Her book offers insights
into why shipowners were willing to ply hazardous routes using less than optimal
technologies and under less than ideal conditions, with the infamous Dry Tor
tugas ship trap, set in the middle of the heavily traveled Florida Strait, as the
arena for such behavior. While it may still be difficult to prove this in a
statistically definitive way, there are compelling reasons to accept, at least
provisionally, the hypothesis that the Pulaski Reefwreck and other, comparable
shipwrecks in the Dry Tortugas are representative of the mercantile-capitalist
culture that produced them. In other words, Souza's book provides an analytical,
social scientific approach to cultural processes that hitherto have generally been
viewed by maritime archaeologists as historically unique events.
Another important new direction in this book is the willingness to examine
shipwrecks of ordinary, everyday vessels of trade. None of the shipwrecks
discussed in this study could be called famous. This is not a book about celebrity
shipwrecks like those of the Titanic, the Vasa, or the Mary Rose. As Souza's
discussion of the Pulaski Reef vessel's identification makes clear, we cannot
even be certain sometimes about the identities of these ships. They were not
associated with any notable historical events like battles or colorful personalities.
Yet such relatively anonymous shipwrecks can be expected to be more repre
sentative of their parent culture than famomr--and sometimes atypical and
idiosyncratic--ships of the past. Those ships are of interest, of course, but so,
too, are more mundane vessels of the sort adldressed in this study. Souza's
approach in this book foreshadows a better balance between the study of
historically famous shipwrecks and those less famous wrecks that form the
mainstream of long-term cultural-historical processes. Her work in the Dry
Tortugas suggests a role for nautical archaeology in relating the archaeological
record to the kind of historical investigation of maritime historical longue duree
epitomized by French historian Femand Braudel in The Mediterranean and the
Mediterranean World in the Age ofP hilip 11(1966).
Finally, Souza's approach to the archaeology of the Pulaski Reef wreck
was entirely nondestructive. The level of detail and controls used in this study,
Foreword vii
however, went considerably beyond what maritime archaeologists usually mean
by a predisturbance survey. In keeping with the policy and practices of the
National Park Service----and with their very generous support--her project relied
upon detailed in situ recording that showed how much archaeologists can learn
from a shipwreck site without having to excavate. In some cases, artifacts were
brought to the surface for study and photography and then returned to their
original location on the seabed. Perhaps one could learn more about this and
other shipwrecks by means of excavation, but not without paying a heavy cost
in physical damage to the site and financial commitments connected to conser
vation, storage, and display of objects following excavations. From a manage
ment perspective, nondestructive preservation of shipwrecks and other
submerged cultural remains is a high priority that must be balanced against such
costs whenever archaeology is attempted. Souza's book shows what can be done
by well-designed and carefully controlled research that is less intrusive than
conventional excavation and recovery of objects. It serves as a model of the
preservationist approach to underwater archaeology.
It is always deeply satisfying for a scholar and teacher to see a former
student perform brilliantly and achieve worthwhile results. Souza presents
findings that sparkle with original thought and retain the original enthusiasm she
brought to her studies as a sport-diver and underwater volunteer. Her book points
the way to the use of underwater archaeology to address major themes in social
and cultural history in a manner that can be expected to see wider emulation
within the discipline as well as interest by sport-divers who are seriously
concerned with underwater archaeology.
Richard A. Gould
Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island
Preface
Sail still persists today. Though a rare sight in North America and much of
Europe, "tall ships" can be seen occasionally off the coasts and on navigable
lakes. A few times each year tall ships from around the world form regattas and
sail majestically into large city ports such as New York and Boston or arrive as
part of a celebration in areas with rich seafaring traditions such as Newport,
Rhode Island, and Bermuda. These vessels do not, of course, participate in the
merchant trade, at least not in the sense that they transport cargo, but they have
become an integral part oftwo industries. One ofthese has been called the "living
history" industry. In living history attractions, which are generally associated
with museums, a community of the past comes to life with actors in period
costume and, for a fee, the public can learn through observation what life was
like way back when. Jamestown and Williamsburg in Virginia, and Plymouth,
Massachusetts, where a replica of the Mayflower can be seen, have a high
visitation rate and are extremely successful tourist attractions. The other industry
is relatively new and can be called the "adventure" industry. In these experiences,
paying customers actively participate in the activity whether it be a research
project digging for fossils (under the watchful eye of a trained paleontologist),
climbing to the summit of a challenging mountain (under the watchful eye of a
trained guide), or literally learning the ropes by climbing the rigging of a tall
ship (with the benefit ofa safety harness).
Though many things have changed from the great age of sail to today, some
things have not. These ships, frequently owned by organizations or consortia,
are expensive to operate and maintain. The fees paid by modern-day adventurers
provide most of the capital necessary to keep them sailing. It is not the first time
that sailing ships have adapted to the economy in which they operate by finding
a rather specialized niche. Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited to serve
as a trainee onboard the tall ship "HMS" Rose, a replica of an eighteenth century
British warship certified by the U.S. Coast Guard as a Class A size sailing school
ix
x Preface
vessel. I learned first hand that another aspect of operating these vessels that has
not changed over the centuries is that sailing them is extremely hard work. When
I was onboard, the Rose had a complement of 13 trainees who had paid for the
experience of a one-week trip that had begun in New York harbor, sailed north
to Newport, Rhode Island, and then south to Bridgeport, Connecticut. It also had
onboard 15 full-time, experienced crew members. For them, this week marked
the last of a 13-month transatlantic, transcaribbean voyage. In an age of high
technology these people and others who serve on vessels like the Rose have
chosen to dedicate themselves to keeping alive the skills and traditions of sailing
large ocean-going vessels.
This volume presents results of an archaeological investigation of ship
wreck sites that explored these two aspects of merchant sailing: the need to
generate capital and the desire to maintain skills and traditions that had devel
oped over centuries. It has been noted by some maritime historians that sailing
vessels continued to operate for many decades after the introduction of steam
propulsion. Some researchers have asked why this was the case and point to a
myriad of problems associated with early steam technology and present evidence
from the perspective of the development of steam propulsion. None, however,
have explored how merchant sailing vessels were able to eke out a living once
the steamships became efficient and profitable. The changes brought about
through the development and eventual refinement of steam propulsion affected
the merchant sailing industry in ways that are observable in the archaeological
record and, as we shall see, the study of cultural materials located at shipwreck
sites can help to explain the persistence of sail in the age of steam.
This work represents one component of an overall project conducted in the
Dry Tortugas National Park by the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit of the
National Park Service. Since 1990 faculty and students from Brown University
have assisted the Park Service in documenting shipwreck sites and establishing
an inventory of submerged cultural resources within the park boundaries. In 1993
the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit began a multiyear remote-sensing
survey of the Dry Tortugas National Park. The survey is part of the National Park
initiative System-wide Archaeological Inventory Program (SAIP) currently be
ing conducted in order to survey, inventory, and evaluate cultural resources
within National Park Service jurisdiction. Toward this end and to develop a
cost-effective and nondestructive technique of archaeological management field
operations for the park, the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit has developed
a general approach to remote-sensing surveys: a Global Positioning Satellite
based (GPS) Archaeological Data Acquisition Platform (ADAP).
The primary objective of ADAP is to enhance remote-sensing surveys by
automating and integrating the collection of field data. From the field data,
archaeologists use geographic information systems (GIS) to chart and document
the resources at National Park sites. The ADAP system was deployed in the Dry