Mardi Gras Shipwreck

Daily Log

June 2, 2007, Saturday

Update by Della Scott-Ireton, FPAN, and Chris Horrell, MMS

Last night the ship’s stove, which may be a rare Brodie stove, was placed in a cargo net ready to be lifted to the surface. Although seemingly sturdy, it actually is very fragile and several of the panels separated during the move. The entire stove in its net was placed in the large red lifting basket and will be brought up as soon as the seas are very calm.

In addition to large artifacts like the cannon and stove, we continue to recover small artifacts which likely will provide us with more information about the shipwreck than will the big items. A small glass inkwell was recovered from the stern area; the black substance inside likely is sulfide from the chemical reaction of the glass to seawater. A delicate ceramic shaker was found in the stern as well. Made of creamware like the rest of the ceramics we’ve found, it probably was used for salt or other spice. As the small artifacts are brought on-board Toisa Vigilant, they are tagged with individual artifact numbers and immediately wrapped in padding material such as foam rubber and towels, then are placed in plastic containers. All of the small artifacts are being kept immersed in fresh water to prevent their drying out and cracking after their long soak in seawater. They will remain wrapped and wet during transport to Texas A&M’s conservation lab, where the long process of removing dissolved salts and stabilization will begin.