In this blog Adam Bolton, the 2019 recipient of the MSDS Marine Grant Award to support maritime archaeology students shares how he has spent his award.
I was lucky enough to be awarded the MSDS Student Grant for diving equipment as I finished my MSc in Maritime Archaeology at Bournemouth University in 2019. Although the small team of volunteers undertaking the monitoring of the Erme Estuary Wreck sites were experienced divers we were lacking access to larger capacity aluminium cylinders needed to utilise the handheld magnetometers required to pinpoint the magnetic anomalies that had been discovered during the previous 2 years of geophysical surveys in the estuary. These investigations had formed the basis of my MSc Thesis at Bournemouth University and I was keen to continue the project and identify all the new material that had been found.
Winning the grant allowed for the purchase of the aluminium cylinders and with the kind loan of an Aquascan DX200 from 3H Consulting we were able to locate and identify a lot of the unrecorded material in the Estuary including 3 previously unknown large anchors. The Erme Estuary sites are now frequently monitored with the help of the equipment purchased with the MSDS grant and knowledge of the sites will continue to be increased with the combined use of autonomous survey vessels and divers over the coming years.
