Wreck exposed

Footnote 1 Page 16. The Royal George sunk at Spithead on The 29th of August, 1782. Colonel Pasley commenced operations for the removal of the wreck by the explosion of gunpowder, in August, 1839. The candle which Professor Faraday exhibited must therefore have been exposed to the action of salt water for upwards of fifty-seven years.]... 

The Taconic mountains rose 480 million years ago, wrinkled under pressure like the hood of a wrecked car, from Maryland to the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec. The compressed rocks from this mountain-building event are exposed in the Taconic Range of New York, and in eastern Pennsylvania. But by 410 million years ago the peaks that had towered over the east coast had been eroded away, and the sea washed over their exposed roots and covered them with level deposits of limestone. As these mountains wore down, the resulting sediment filled a shallow sea basin running from New York southward to Alabama, in layers up to 1,000 ft (300 m) thick. 

Loose timbers that were swept away from this wreck soon after exposure in 1984 were attacked by gribble and in 12 months all surface detail was lost. After 24 months exposed loose timbers had lost 50% of their bulk and were virtually unrecognisable (see Figure 4). 

The natural degradation of wooden shipwrecks in-situ can be slowed down, or even eliminated, by covering the site with a physical barrier such as polyethylene or polypropylene textile (Figure 15). This method is very effective because it uses the wrecked environment to create an overlying mound of sediment, which becomes part of the site. It also physically prevents colonisation of any subsequently exposed wreck timbers by wood-boring animals, like shipworm. 

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