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Friday 9 January – on the site of the Mermaid

Expedition team members from the ANMM, MTQ and Silentworld are all up at 0600 for breakfast and the regular morning dive briefing.

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Peter, Ed and Xanthe recording artefacts before recovery on HMCS Mermaid site.

Expedition team members from the ANMM, MTQ and Silentworld are all up at 0600 for breakfast and the regular morning dive briefing. The weather is continuingto deteriorate with strengthening south-easterlies predicted over the next four days due to the development of a deep monsoonal trough north of Cairns which is sucking up wind from the South.

As the developing weather pattern will make further work on the site increasingly difficult and the combination of low tides, strong winds and large seas would remove our survey tapes and marker I have decided to close down the site for the time being.

After discussion with Ed Slaughter from the Museum of Tropical Queensland, the State Government agency responsible for the management of shipwecks in Queensland waters and other team archaeologists I have also decided to remove several diagnostic artefacts from the site which may be damaged during the expected weather.

With an increasing sea from the South-east divers entered the water to start the work shutting down the site. Xanthe and Warren (MAAQld) entered the water to finalise the photomosaic, Nigel and Greg (Silentworld) completed plotting of artefacts whilst Lee and Steve (Silentworld) started to tidy up the site removing excess markers, lines and shotweights from the seabed.

The next teams in the water were Grant (DEWHA) and John (Silentworld) who photographed the exposed objects prior to their recovery.

The lifting team consisted of Peter (Oceania Maritime Pty. Ltd.) and Ed (Museum of tropical Queensland) who tagged and recovred the objects – they were assisted in the water by John and Lindsay (Silentworld Foundation) and on the boat by Paul and Dr. Lloyd. The whole process was photographed and videoed by Xanthe, despite the conditions everything went smoothly and the selected artefacts were quickly onboard Spoilsport.

Lee and I then completed a final inspection of the site removing the centreline and offset tapes, the swim line from the site to the kedge anchor and the two site bouys.

Silentworld Expedition vessel Nimrod in front of a squall west of Flora Reef site of HMCS Mermaid.

Silentworld Expedition vessel Nimrod in front of a squall west of Flora Reef site of HMCS Mermaid.

kieranhosty

Kieran Hosty

I started diving in Western Australia in 1976 and after a few years of mucking around on shipwrecks joined the Maritime Archaeological Association of Western Australia in order to try and make sense of what I saw on the seabed. My love of diving and maritime history made me pursue a graduate degree in history and anthropology from the Western Australian Institute of Technology followed a few years later by a post graduate diploma in maritime archaeology from Curtin University also in Western Australia. After 18 months as an archaeological field volunteer I took up a position with the Maritime Archaeology Unit at the Victoria Archaeological Survey. I was the Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Officer in Victoria for six years before coming to the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1994 to take up the position of Curator of Maritime Archaeology and Ship Technology. At the Museum I was responsible for the Museum’s maritime archaeology program as well as curating the Museum’s collection relating to convicts, 19th century migrants and ship technology. My expertise in convict related material was further enhanced, when I took up a temporary position as Curator / Manager of Hyde Park Barracks Museum for eighteen months in 2004 followed by a further 18 month contract at the Barracks where I curated an exhibition on the history and archaeology of convict hulks and another on the World Heritage listing of Australian convict sites. In 2012 my role at the Museum shifted focus when I became the Manager – Maritime Archaeology Program – reflecting an increased emphasis on the importance of the maritime archaeology program at the Museum. I have worked on many maritime archaeological projects both in Australia and overseas including the survey and excavation of the Sydney Cove (1797), HMS Pandora (1791) and HMCS Mermaid (1829), the Coral Sea Shipwrecks Project (sponsored by the SiILENTWORLD FOUNDATION and the ARC) and the hunt for Cook’s Endeavour in the USA. I'm the author of the book Dunbar 1857: Disaster on our doorstep, published by the Museum along with two books on Australian convicts and 19th century migrants published by McMillan.

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