This year MSDS Marine are delighted to be hosting three internships thanks to funding from Historic England as part of our Landlocked and Looking Out project. The internships offer early career professionals and students the opportunity to gain valuable experience in the heritage sector – and the best bit is they are paid! Our final intern, Henry Carter, joined us this summer and has enjoyed getting stuck into events. In this blog Henry introduces himself.
Hello I am Henry, a recent Master’s graduate in Maritime Archaeology from the University of Southampton. Previously, I worked in a plethora of jobs, swanning around the globe as a cruise-ship photographer before becoming a studio photographer in London and then moving into production in film and TV. Now I am one of the lucky few to have an internship within MSDS Marine as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Protected Wrecks Act.
But how did we get here, you may ask? Is it such a leap from media to Maritime Archaeology? Well not really… it’s all connected. Archaeology is about investigation, compiling data with the end result of informing the wider community.
When thinking of maritime archaeology, one’s mind might be tempted to slip off to the golden age of piracy where X marks the spot or even, god forbid, the fictional City of Atlantis. But after attending an exhibition at the British Museum some years ago, to witness the artefacts found at Thonis-Heraclieon submerged off the coast of Egypt and finding out what we can learn about a communal past, a shared history that threads throughout the world entwining us together by the sea. Reality is quite often more interesting than fiction. It’s only a scratch under the surface to see history’s intense mixture of innovation, change, hardships and fluctuating societies all manifested in the material legacy we leave behind and a large proportion of this man-made stuff is in the time capsules of submerged settlements and shipwrecks.
As we stand on the precipice of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Protected Wrecks Act in the United Kingdom, we embark on a journey that delves into the depths of history, where the sea holds the secrets of centuries gone by. The internship with MSDS Marine offers a unique opportunity to be part of a public outreach program that celebrates this landmark legislation and explores the captivating stories hidden within the wrecks beneath the waves. It has been an exciting and enriching experience that combines history, archaeology, and the thrill of discovery, bringing the fascinating topic to the public in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. All ages can attend so its quite a challenge to explain one thing to an adult and a completely another level to then explain it to a child!
