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Iron And Steamship Archaeology »

Authors: Mike Mccarthy, Michael McCarthy
ISBN-13: 9780306463655, ISBN-10: 0306463652
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Date Published: January 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Mike Mccarthy

Book Synopsis

In the early 1980s the author was asked to investigate the newly discovered wreck of the Xantho, an iron screw steamship active off the Australian coast during the period 1848 to 1872, and to develop a strategy to stop the looting that was occurring at the site. This relatively straightforward assignment turned into a long-term research program for applying maritime archaeology to the conservation of iron-hulled wrecks.

Booknews

McCarthy, of the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle, headed a site management project begun in 1983 to protect the wrecked steamship (1848-72). This study represents a landmark in modern maritime archeology by linking underwater archaeologists, biologists, and corrosion specialists for site and lab analyses. The author, who wrote his master's thesis on Captain Broadhurst, provides context for the ship and its captain. Includes photos of ships and shipwrecks, diagrams of their equipment, 19th century charts of Western Australia, information on horsepower, and wages/salaries current in 1870. The extensive bibliography includes archival documents. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Chapter 1	Introduction
1.	Description, Analysis and Explanation at a Steam Ship Wreck	1
1.1	Description	1
1.2	Analysis and Explanation	3
Chapter 2	Xantho and Broadhurst in context
2.	The Context of the Find	7
2.1	Marine Engineering	8
2.1.1	The iron hull	8
2.1.2	Marine propulsion	11
2.1.3	Boilers, condensers, and other machinery	15
2.1.4	The advent of compounding	19
2.1.5	The "ideal" 1870s steamer	24
2.2	The Colonial Setting	24
2.2.1	Steamers in Western Australia	25
2.3	The Broadhursts in Context: An Inadequate Record	29
2.3.1	Victorian squatters	32
2.3.2	Northwest pastoralists	32
2.3.3	Pearlers in the northwest	36
2.4	Broadhurst and Xantho	40
2.4.1	Xantho: A transport for pearl divers	42
2.4.2	Xantho the tramp steamer: An indigenous record?	44
2.4.3	The last voyage	46
Chapter 3	Xantho-the transformations
3.	A Wealth of Information	48
3.1	The Specifications: Construction as a Paddle Steamer	48
3.2	The First Transformation	52
3.2.1	Xantho: A hybrid refugee from the scrap heap	52
3.3	The Loss of Xantho: The Second Transformation	54
3.3.1	Abandonment behavior and its effect on the material record	56
3.4	Breakup and Salvage: The Third Transformation	57
3.5	Another Contemporary Record of Xantho?	59
3.6	Xantho: A Navigational Hazard	61
Chapter 4	The wreck examined
4.	Processes in Wreck Site Analysis	65
4.1	The Discovery and Inspection of the Site	65
4.2	Early Iron and Steamship Archaeology Examined	67
4.3	A Predisturbance Study: New Direction in 1983	68
4.3.1	Natural transformation forces analyzed	70
4.3.2	Results of the predisturbance survey	73
4.4	Anomalous Features Identified	75
4.5	Site Survey and Test Excavation	77
4.6	Test Excavation Method	79
4.7	Results of the Survey and Test Excavation	81
4.8	The Application of Anodes	84
Chapter 5	Site formation processes
5.	Postdepositional Processes at an Iron Wreck	88
5.1	The Effect of Corrosion and Concretion	88
5.2	Muckelroy's Index Applied to Modern Sites	90
5.3	John Riley's Observations: The Waterline Theory	95
5.4	Other Commonalities Observed	97
5.5	The Formation of the Xantho Site	104
Chapter 6	The investigation continues in the archives
6.	The Archival and Material Records at Odds	108
6.1	The Material Record Incorrectly Read	110
6.2	Distortions in the Written Record	112
6.3	The Naval Origins of the Xantho Engine	113
6.4	Broadhurst Revisited	118
6.4.1	Pearling at Shark Bay	120
6.4.2	American influences	120
6.4.3	Broadhurst: A great success	121
6.4.4	Broadhurst: The consistent failure	122
6.4.5	Broadhurst's other enterprises	122
Chapter 7	Excavations at the site
7.	Excavation Processes	125
7.1	The Research Strategy	125
7.2	Preliminary Fieldwork	126
7.3	Further Site Assessments	127
7.4	The Engine Cut Free	129
7.5	Budgets and Rewards	130
7.6	The Iron and Steamship Wreck Seminar	131
7.7	The Excavation	132
7.8	The Engine Removed	134
7.9	The Excavation and Recording of the Stern	135
7.10	The Stern Cut Free	139
7.11	Subsequent On-Site Excavations	141
7.12	An Unsuccessful Attempt to Examine Nineteenth-Century Shipbuilding Method	143
7.13	A Clue to the Rapidity of Concretion Formation	144
7.14	Results of the 1984-1994 Excavations	145
Chapter 8	Excavation in the laboratory
8.	Deconcretion: Excavation and Experimentation	147
8.1	The Removal of Chlorides Explained	149
8.2	Deconcretion of the Outer Surfaces	149
8.3	Engineering Anomalies Identified	156
8.4	Further Deconcretion	158
8.5	Unexpected Conservation Problems	159
8.6	Further Evidence of Abandonment Behaviour	159
8.7	The Externals Totally Deconcreted	160
8.8	The Engine Model	161
8.9	Engine Markings: Broadhurst Reassessed	163
8.10	The Disassembly of the Engine	166
8.10.1	The direct flame method applied to the Xantho	167
8.11	A Concretion Formation Model Proposed	167
8.12	Further Experiments in Deconcretion	168
8.13	Analogy in Engine Excavation	169
8.14	Dismantling the Machinery	170
8.15	Entering the Cylinders	173
8.16	The British Standard Whitworth (BSW) Thread	174
8.17	Further Evidence of Poor Maintenance	175
8.18	A Setback in the Final Stages	177
Chapter 9	Conclusion
9.	Iron Wrecks as Archaeological Sites	180
9.1	Description and Analysis	181
9.2	Analysis and Explanation	185
9.3	The Xantho/Broadhurst Exhibition	194
	Appendices
10.	Appendix 1: Horsepower	196
10.1	Nominal Horsepower	197
10.2	Indicated Horse Power	198
11.	Appendix 2: Wages and Salaries in 1870	200
	Bibliography	201

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