It is to laugh . . .
The crew of a half-sized replica of a 3,500-year-old Bronze Age boat had to abort the vessel's maiden voyage after it sank as soon as it entered the water.
The boat was lowered into Dover Harbour, Kent, at 1pm but immediately began to take on water, a spokeswoman for Canterbury Christ Church University, which is helping to co-ordinate the project, said.
A team of specialist archaeologists built the vessel over three months on the Roman Lawns at Dover Museum.
The replica was built just metres away from the underpass where the original 3,500-year-old Bronze Age Boat was discovered in 1992, the spokeswoman said.
She added: "It didn't go to plan so we had a bit of a naming ceremony instead."
There's more at the link.
Might one recommend that next time, the archaeologists concerned place a slightly greater emphasis on the study of Bronze Age caulking materials and techniques?
Peter
7 comments:
umm, oopsie?
The way to properly do it is to build the boat, sink it underwater for a week or so until the wood soaks up enough water to expand and close the cracks enough to greatly reduce the intake of water.
This style of boat building produces a boat that will always leak some and will need to be continually bailed but the leakage can be controlled by using the above method.
This group tried to take a shortcut and it, of course, didn't work well.
"specialist archeologists" built the boat- that would be like having a team of architects build your house-
"Didn't go to plan" - that's actually quite a good example of English understatement ...
What proof is there that the original boat ever sailed? Wouldn't it be funny if this is the same fate that befell the original and the reenactment was actually accurate in every detail? ;-p
I have to agree that you need to let the boat swell before calling it a failure.
I had a coworker buy an old wooden cabin cruiser for a very cheap price. It had been out of the water for years.
He put in the water and motored down the Delaware Bay and turned towards the ocean. As soon as he slowed down it sunk like a stone.
Gerry
As far as I know, they don't regularly let shipwrights do Archaeology, either. There might be a reason for that, 'ya think?
Heh.
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