Working to Save DeBraak's Hull

If you have visited here, even occasionally, you know I love stories like this and this one is especially dear because it's happening in my own back yard, so to say.  This was published yesterday in one of our local weeklies, The Delaware Coast Press:

LEWES -- The musket balls, once at the ready for an 18th century sea battle, are vacuum packed in the same plastic bags home cooks use to store leftovers.
The socks, a little stained, but otherwise perfect -- are spread out in acid-free boxes.
And the bilge pump rests in a specially built roller cart.
But the one piece of the 18th century HMS DeBraak -- raised from the sea floor off Lewes in the summer of 1986 -- that hasn't been carefully conserved and preserved is the largest of some 20,000 artifacts: the giant section of the 85-foot long vessel's hull.
For more than two decades, the hull section, about 30 percent of the original ship, has been stored in a warehouse near Lewes. A steady stream of fresh water keeps the wood -- which dates to pre-1798 -- wet. And over time, it has washed away salt deposits, tiny bits of debris, mud and sand.
Now, state archaeologists are beginning to tackle their biggest conservation challenge yet with the DeBraak collection, considered world class by researchers and historians.
"There is no other vessel like this," said Charles H. Fithian, the state curator of archaeology, who has worked on the DeBraak since thousands of artifacts and the hull were raised from the sea floor in summers of 1984, 1985 and 1986.
Now, he said, they must develop a conservation plan for the hull remains.
"We could make a serious mistake and ruin it," he said.

The components

The DeBraak hull remains are made from oak, held together with copper fasteners. Copper sheets protected the hull from destructive wood parasites.
A critical step now is to figure out the chemistry of the hull remains -- how much sea salt is left in the wood and what chemical reactions have occurred since the section has been in storage under the freshwater spray system, he said.
Once that is understood, state officials will be able to come up with a plan to preserve the hull and protect it from chemical breakdown, Fithian said.

The rest of this story is HERE.

More on the history of the DeBraak can be found HERE.

More later.
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