Last March, we announced during the first annual Northeast Florida Symposium on Underwater Archaeology that retired FSU professor emeritus George R. Fischer had offered to donate his personal library to LAMP, to form the core of a first-class research library.

With the addition of a new staff archaeologist and graduate student intern, we have finally had the time to get to Tallahassee and retrieve this fantastic gift, from the first archaeologist to oversee an underwater investigation in St. Augustine waters.

Professor George Fischer (at the helm) and Dr. Sam Turner of LAMP in Tallahassee, Florida.

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A couple of weeks ago I got to attend a deputy directors roundtable discussion in Baltimore. It was held at the Engineer's Club which is located in the old Garrett-Jacobs Mansion, just off Mount Vernon Square, location of Baltimore's own Washington Monument. I have to say that while I like to occasionally visit big cities, I usually don't like them. Baltimore changed all that.

Inner Harbor, Baltimore

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UPDATED with pictures from the event included below . . .

Dr. Switzer, a pioneer in the field of nautical archaeology, will be talking about three early projects he was closely involved with. The techniques developed on these sites in the 1960s and 1970s led directly to the methods used today by LAMP archaeologists exploring shipwrecks off St. Augustine, our nation's oldest port.

(UPDATED with pictures from the talk below)

Continue reading "10/25/07 Lecture: The Early Days of Nautical Archaeology" »

Monday October 10, was a big day for LAMP Boatworks. We installed the finished centerboard trunk in the Bevin’s Skiff, (our first building project, see blog To Build A Boat, August 2, 2007), made considerable progress fashioning the oars, built some sawhorses, and assembled a new tent effectively doubling our workspace. Jim Gaskins has spent considerable time meticulously fashioning the centerboard trunk. This piece is critical since it holds the centerboard to provide stability under sail but more importantly, has to be robustly built in order to absorb the shock transmitted to it through the centerboard during grounding events. The correct installation of this structure is also of great importance since it’s through the hull and subject to leaking if not properly done.

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