18th March 2004

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Ultra-modern underwater detection technology is helping University of Ulster experts uncover the secrets of the deep - and predict the future.

Once the preserve of powerful navies and exploration firms, state-of-the-art sonar technology is now in the armoury of the University’s Centre for Maritime Archaeology (CMA).

Based at the University’s Coleraine campus, the Centre plays a vital role in finding out more about ancient shipwrecks and shifting sands.

“Many old shipwreck sites and archaeological landscapes currently lie in deep water, or in areas where effective diver-investigations are limited by poor visibility. The science of maritime archaeology greatly benefits from the availability of sonar technology to relocate and map these shipwrecks and former occupation sites,” said Dr Rory Quinn, a lecturer at the CMA.

“Recent developments in computing and low cost linear electronics now mean that marine sonar technology is available to universities and government agencies,” explained his colleague, maritime archaeology lecturer Colin Breen.

“The Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Ulster is equipped with state-of -the-art sonar survey suites that are used in conjunction with satellite navigation systems to relocate and investigate submerged and buried sites,” Breen said.

CMA researchers are currently assessing data from recent surveys - including detection work at the site of the Spanish Armada ship Girona which went down off the north Antrim coast in 1588 and on La Surveillante which sank in Bantry Bay in 1797. More projects are planned for the summer.

Among British wrecks which CAM has worked on are the Mary Rose and Invincible, as well as in East Africa where the wrecks have been 16th century Portuguese vessels.

The thousands of shipwrecks which litter the coasts of Britain and Ireland are at the mercy of the elements and marine archaeologists are in a race against time to record their location, log their current state of preservation, and try to predict how long they will survive.

The Girona yielded a rich bounty of artefacts but pounding seas and squalls in the exposed area where it sank have taken a severe toll. The remains of La Surveillante, a warship with 32 guns - twenty-six 12-pounders and six-6 pounders - ,have fared better.

“There is very little of the Girona left. It has basically disappeared at this stage,” says Dr Quinn.

“ But La Surveillante, which was part of a French invasion fleet, went down in a sheltered environment in Bantry Bay in 1797. Its preservation potential is much higher. It lies in 34 metres of water and is not exposed to big Atlantic storms. When it went down, it sank into mud, which preserves wood.”

The French frigate had more than 200 crew and was captained by General Lazare Hoche.

Currently under examination by CMA are the results of a project which it carried out last year for Duchas, the Irish heritage agency, on a shipwreck thought to date to the Cromwellian era in Waterford Harbour. Also being assessed is data from a survey on a site in Clew Bay, Co Mayo, which it conducted in conjunction with researchers from Queen’s University Belfast and National University of Ireland, Galway.

“In addition to shipwreck surveys, the application of sonar systems can provide data allowing archaeologists to reconstruct palaeo-landscapes and use predictive modelling techniques to highlight areas on the seafloor where man may have lived and exploited marine resources such as fish, shellfish, seaweed in the past,” said Breen.

“Furthermore, an understanding of past sea-level changes can aid environmental scientists to predict the scale and possible consequences of future sea-level changes using knowledge of the past to predict the future.”

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk