Posted by J. moore on January 23, 19102 at 10:08:15:
In Reply to: Hamilton&Scourge Update posted by David Gilchrist on May 03, 19101 at 11:51:09:
: Some had expressed interest in an update on the status of these wrecks. The Niagara Divers Association had Bob Clarke of Aquatic Science in St. Catharines Ontario as a guest speaker on Tuesday last. Mr. Clarke outlined current project status. Aquatic Science has been awarded a contract on the condition of raising $1.8 million dollars, which will be matched by the federal government in a grant to the City of Hamilton. Aquatic Science, in co-operation with Parks Canada Marine Archaeological Unit, will undertake a multi-phase assessment of the condition of the wrecks with efforts to determine what can actually be done with them. Documentation, in the form of video and slides, has to be examined from previous trips to the site.( A lot of this stuff has never been really looked at since it was taken) Then, a plan to conduct a hitech survey of the sites using the latest equipment will be developed. He also mentioned that diving at the site may occur at some stage in the project with divers in 1 atmosphere suits.
: More information will probably come out in the future.
: Personal note- This could go on for ever.:)
The Hamilton and Scourge shipwrecks are interesting but not much could be learned from
these shipwrecks that we don't already know.
They were small ships that were converted for
war by putting cannons on them. This would make
them top heavy. It was an accident waiting to
happen. I am sure that if they did get into battle a few shots would have sent them to the
bottom anyway. The recovery project would be broken into sections. First comes the study of how to get them up. Slings or a support cradle for lifting plus a nightmare of other logistics to overcome. NOW WHAT DO YOU DO???
Where do you put them? They have to be treated
to preserve the wood. This would cost a lot of
money and take a lot of time. After this hurdle
you have to put them on display somewhere. This
means a building and people to look after the
wrecks and building. The cost of raising them
and preserving them would eat millions. How
about the following. Use the money to build
replicas. If you want to raise the wrecks then
do so but only bring them into shallow water for scientific study and research. Then return them to the deep water. All the information could be shared and used on producing the replicas. The
one big difference is that the replicas could sail and imagine the Hamilton and Scourge again
sailing the lakes. What a sight that would be.