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Behind each archaeological shipwreck recovery lies a team of highly skilled specialists: divers, archaeologists, engineers, scientists, conservators, curators, historians, designers etc. While each boat found presents a unique combination of problems to be overcome, the most challenging aspect of all these projects has been the conservation of the degraded wood, iron and other materials that make up a ship’s hull and its contents. The materials and techniques used in this branch of conservation now are very different from those known about and used in the early 1960s when a truly scientific approach to conservation had yet to appear. The technology of waterlogged wood preservation has advanced enormously over the past five decades.
This slim and beautifully illustrated book explains how to deal with large projects of waterlogged wood from excavation to presentation in a museum gallery based on Hoffman's own research and experience [...] This book is very accessible to read, as Per is consistently encouraging despite the fact that many of the projects included in the case studies must have been very strenuous and stressful for the teams involved.
— ICON News - November 2013
Foreword by James A. Spriggs
Acknowledgements
List of authors
List of boxes
List of acronyms
Display locations of the archaeological ships and boats
Introduction – A very special task
From excavation to conservation
Where will the ship end up?
Reducing damage during salvage and transport
Preparing the ship for conservation
Wood in its archaeological context
Sound wood
Waterlogged wood
Two approaches to the conservation of a ship or boat
Methods of application of polyethylene glycol
Some surprising laboratory experiments on wood
Scaling up – ships in tanks
One-step or two-step – the range of tank treatments
Pumps and nozzles – spraying treatments
Tank treatment versus spraying – a comparison
The sucrose method
Sugar in wood – laboratory experiments
Ships in sugar – case studies
The Lactitol method
Lactitol in wood – laboratory experiments
Lactitol treatments for large objects
The Kauramin method Per Hoffmann and Markus Wittköpper
Melamine in wood – laboratory experiments
Two ships in Kauramin – a case study Markus Wittköpper
Freeze-drying of archaeological waterlogged wood Poul Jensen, Kristiane
Straetkvern, Inger Bojesen-Koefoed and David Gregory
The theory of freeze-drying
Freeze-drying processes
Ships in a vacuum chamber
Choosing the ‘best’ method from PEG, sucrose, Lactitol and Kauramin
Assessment of the methods taking various factors into account
How to select the most appropriate method
From conservation to presentation
Cleaning and surface treatment
Restoration and presentation
Foreseeing the future
Long-term care plans James A. Spriggs
Do effort and funds pay off in the end?
References
Index