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REVIEW BY MARK BEATTIE-EDWARDS
It was with some delight that I received an email to write this review, as I had literally only one hour before I purchased my own copy. Over the last five years I have been working on a 17th-century Dutch warship that appears to have been repurposed to carry cargo (becoming a merchantman) before it sank in 1672, so my hope was that parallels could be found that might help my own research. I was not disappointed: the two authors (supported with contributions from many others) have created a clear and concise account of the investigation of the shipwreck remains, which took place in the approach to Poole Harbour, mostly between 2006 and 2013.
Time is given to detail the early discoveries before the wreck’s protection in 2004, but most of the book details the excavations by Bournemouth University and their partners. The chapters on the methodologies employed and on the results of the investigation are beautifully illustrated throughout in full colour, and clearly much effort has been made to ensure that recovered finds were professionally photographed and, in many cases, drawn. Chapter 7, on the finds and their significance, is especially eye-catching.
Historian Ian Friel provides a great Chapter 8 on the historical background. This should be of interest to anyone researching 17th-century shipwrecks in UK waters, not just the Dutch ones. The final chapter suggests that the Swash Channel Wreck was the first large-scale excavation of a historic wreck since the Mary Rose broke the surface in 1982. Amazingly, this statement is true: despite the wealth of shipwrecks around British waters and the risks that they are put under, we choose not to excavate them – the reason being, it is a very expensive endeavour just to be at sea to get the archaeological divers underwater, let alone the cost of conservation of all the waterlogged material.
The book’s closing paragraphs point to four best ‘candidates’ for the wreck, and even suggests that the weight of evidence points to one ship in particular. I do not wish to give anything away, so I’ll let the reader decide for themselves.
The Swash Channel Wreck: An Archaeological Investigation of a 17th-Century Armed Dutch Merchantman
David Parham and Tom Cousins
Archaeopress, £35
ISBN 978-1803277875
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