Recently, the museum hosted a Q&A session where students had the chance to engage with experts from various fields. MAT’s Carley Divish spoke with several students about her work in maritime archaeology, sharing insights from their discussion and reflecting on what it revealed to her about archaeology.

Students from the Isle of Wight are collaborating with us at the Shipwreck Centre for a research project specific to their interests. They were able to visit the museum, speak to the curator, and decide on an area of research that they were each eager to understand. From there, our Education Officer, Ian Vallance, guided the students through the process of creating a question that would require critical thought to solve and defend. They took those questions, investigated deeper, and created a list of questions to ask professionals in the field. The six students were then joined at the Shipwreck Centre by six professionals from the archaeology/heritage industry.

I was asked to speak to the students, along with the five other individuals. We all had diverse areas of expertise, from airplanes to diving to the fantastical. My experience diving in the Caribbean, eight years in the dive industry, and archaeological experience all came in handy when answering the questions. Once the students arrived, we spoke one-on-one, as they wrote down notes or recorded our voices to be quoted later. I began by speaking with a student researching similarities between diving hazards today and in the past. I had never considered that before. However, my experience in diving has taught me that often the problems are not with the fancy new equipment or with the technology that has come with the age. Instead, the problems I have faced are ones that must be common across the years. Working as a dive guide, I have seen new divers lose fins at four metres down, drop weights accidentally, get flipped over and disoriented, or get too distracted with a buddy that they forget to maintain buoyancy. These are problems made easier by the equipment we have today, but the common factor is comfort. They are human errors made while learning. That has to have happened in the past as well, when diving bells were new or hardhat diving was the fad. The details may have changed, but following a shiny fish instead of your dive plan happens more often than we’d like.

Figure 1: Carley talking to students about her experiences.

In a similar vein, the other issues I have faced are during scientific diving. “Plan your dive and dive your plan:” the mantra drilled into our heads from the first time we enter the classroom. However, in science and in life a plan is not reality. You can argue for days with your buddy about the right way to map a 30m shipwreck in low vis and surge, but when you get in the water and actually see and feel the conditions of the day, that all may change. Then have to reassess as you  get on with the plan before discussing adaptations back on the surface. And, of course, if you’re low on air the dive needs to end and the science will have to can wait. We share an absolute love of the ocean and of the work we do below it, and no one wants to end a dive before the work is done, but safety underwater is key. Without safety, another dive to finish the job may not happen.

Figure 2: SWC’s Izzy presenting artefacts from the museum. 

The next student I spoke to was asking about Captain Kidd, a privateer-turned-pirate whose ship the Quedagh Merchant I spent time diving and working on in the Dominican Republic. I was earnest to answer these questions well, and we spoke about Kidd’s complex relationship with his backers, the politics of the time, and whether I believe, in the end, that Kidd was really a pirate. It’s a complex question that I have a hard time answering. I love his ship (even though he stole it), and I love his story. He was a privateer, that’s for sure, but a pirate? Up for debate.

I spoke last to a girl focused on the environmental aspect of the seas. This was a harder topic to speak on. I am always opposed to saying that the oceans have deteriorated due to divers. She asked specifically if divers themselves are altering the behaviors and lives of creatures simply with their presence. How can I say no to that? It is true that even the smartest, most well trained diver will occasionally accidentally kick some sand, bump into a cliffside, brush by a sponge. This very obviously changes the environment, yet can it be truly harmful? The immense good divers do when they advocate for the ocean, pick up trash no one else can reach, and share their love does so much. And when compared to the often insurmountable pollution the ocean absorbs every year, picking up trash and using your dives to advocate for protection is something people can individually do. We cannot stop all climate change, but we can make small changes that make the world better.

Whatever comes of these research questions, the students themselves were very bright, inspiring me to ask more questions of the archaeology I have around every day.

At the end of the interviews, the professionals all said goodbye, and the students had a closing talk from Ian Vallance to instruct them on how to proceed. The students will go on to finish their research papers and leave this experience with (hopefully) excitement for archaeology, heritage, and research! I hope to see some of them in the field one day, working towards a more interesting world with curiosity and research skills.