2 days, 2 dives, and Why We Do It

The RPM team spent its first seasons (2007-8) in Albania conducting a multi-beam survey of the coastline in the vicinity of Sarande and ancient Butrint, followed up by ROV exploration and sometimes by human dives on targets of interest. Some of those targets were, of course, the anomalies in the multi-beam data. Others were areas where coastal topography, fresh-water sources, prevailing winds and currents, and patterns of land usage suggest that ships may have stopped or crashed in antiquity. In the mid-range depths, diving supplements the ROV images; in the shallows or in areas of rocky terrain, diving is the only way to find what’s down there.
This summer begins a more methodical approach to the diving component of the survey. Cove by cove, shore by shore, the team will make its way along the coastline, documenting all that it finds, ancient through modern. Most of all, this takes many eyes on the seafloor and we are energized this year by students and volunteers who have come to help and to learn. More on that in a later posting. Now, two pictures that illustrate why we are doing what we do.

26 May 2009: The first dive today was in a cove within eyesight of Sarande. It looked like a place where we might find something but there was only sand, sea-grass and rocks. At the surface, huge horseflies and wasps pestered us incessantly, trying to bite even through our wetsuits. Todd, James, and George were awesome swatters but in the end the insects won and we left that cove. The next cove closer to town was a known quantity. The team had previously located and dived on a car-ferry that had capsized a few years earlier. After coming up with negative evidence on all our dives yesterday and this morning, we were psyched to see something on the seafloor. George told us exactly where we would find the cemetery of cars and the broken hull. I jumped in, quickly found the swath of scoured rock that the ferry had scraped on its downslope slide, and followed it to the broken hulk of the ferry’s aft half. Vance and I spent some time poking around, peeking into doorways, sitting on the rails, taking goofy pictures. Then followed the trail of debris upslope again, expecting to come upon the cars. But there was only one, at 60-70’ depth. And if you look at the picture of the one car, you see the explanation.

Did you figure it out? No wheels. A broken hawser, at one time rigged as a sling under the car. The scene of an abandoned attempt at salvage. But all the other cars had been recovered. I am all for recycling. But at the same time this picture of the lone and dismembered automobile reminds us of that there are the means and the need here to recover anything of value within the reach of divers.

27 May 2009: Late Roman shipwreck, 2nd-3rd century AD. THIS IS WHY WE DIVE!

The car picture reminds us that we need to work hard and fast to encourage Albanian initiatives towards establishing the legal framework and practical means to preserve their maritime cultural heritage.