With spring officially on its way it is time to announce our upcoming touring exhibitions! In the final year of our project we have two more touring exhibitions along the south coast, so make sure you don’t miss out on them! Over the past four years, the Heritage Lottery funded Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War project has had over 30 touring exhibitions across England and over 300,000 visitors! Join us to discover a fascinating exhibition which raises the profile of under-represented aspects of the Great War. This project is helping to document over 1,100 shipwrecks from the First World War along the south coast of England. You will learn about some of the ships that played a role in the conflict and sank off the south coast of England. These include largely forgotten ships and craft of all shapes and sizes that were carrying out a myriad of different tasks and activities when they were lost due to a variety of incidents. Often lives were lost due to enemy attacks, misfortunes, bad weather, communication or sheer bad luck. The exhibition includes information on the events that took place off the south coast along with some of the artefacts these shipwrecks once held. These exhibitions are an opportunity to explore history and feel a little bit of wonder.

Forgotten Wrecks exhibitions can be found at:

Littlehampton Museum in Sussex from the 28^th of February to May 2018 

Teign Heritage Centre in Devon from the 15^th of March to the 31^st of May

With our touring exhibitions coming to an end this May, you will still be able to learn about the Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War by visiting some of our permanent seasonal exhibitions at the Shipwreck Centre & Maritime Museum and Hurst Castle. Both of these exhibitions will close in October and re-open at Easter.

Shipwreck Centre & Maritime Museum, Arreton, Isle of Wight with the grand opening on the 24^th of March

Hurst Castle opening on March 31^st 2018

The Maritime Archaeology Trust will be organising a longer-term Forgotten Wrecks exhibit locally in Southampton, Hampshire, with the location to be announced. These exhibitions will focus on roles the ships played in the Great War, the circumstances of their sinking, the fate of the crews, and some of the artefacts associated with the wrecks. This is a great opportunity to experience a new side of our heritage!

If you have any ideas or suggestions for where you would like to find out more about the Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War in Southampton, please let us know!

How To Get Involved

You can become actively involved in the Maritime Archaeology Trust by becoming a Friend of the Trust, making a donation, or volunteering. By becoming a friend of the Maritime Archaeology Trust you will receive a membership pack, newsletters, updates direct to your inbox, a copy of the annual report and exclusive opportunities and offers as well as access to special events and activities for you and your family and most importantly, a chance to get involved in archaeological fieldwork both under water and on the foreshore. To find out more visit our website

The MAT dive team are in Qatar this week to continue work on the QatarMAP project. A series of bad luck with regard to weather, and a breakdown of the air conditioning on the research vessel Janan, prevented the ship sailing early in the week. With the vessel alongside and temperatures around 40 degrees on board, the team sweated their way through the first day, testing and checking geophysical and dive equipment and continued processing of data from the previous week’s diving in Qatar.  At a meeting with an expat dive operator that evening, it was confirmed that due to conversion of different coordinate systems, many of the positions for the wrecks were not always reliably.

Approaching Janan after a dive

Then, a sudden break in the weather, and with the AC ‘partially’ fixed, the team made a dash to leave port on the evening of the 23 May. In less than ideal temperatures on board, the evening saw a 3 hour sail followed by a couple of hours of multibeam survey to ensure that the position of the wreck was correct to guarantee divers would land on it the next morning. At first light, divers loaded dive gear from Janan onto the small tender and dropped into the water to be rewarded by a breath-taking dive on a wooden dhow which still presented a lot of structure, (a dhow is a traditional sailing vessel, usually an Arab vessel found in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, with lateen sails and one or two masts). Photogrammetry and calibration measurements were carried out by the dive team, and following charging of cameras and lights, a further dive was warranted to ensure the production of a spectacular 3D model of such an amazing example of a traditional wooden shipwreck to enhance the maritime historical environmental record in Qatar.

Photographing the wreck

Further multibeam survey took place as temperatures increased onboard the vessel, and a third dive of the day in fading light, was on a charted wreck listed as danger (probably to shipping and therefore unable to sail Janan over it for confirmation with the multibeam). After a circular search of more than 50m out without success, the team came under attacked from a swarm of jellyfish that appeared while they were undertaking a safety stop on return to the surface.  Multibeam survey continued into the night to explore the seabed and the temperatures rose as the AC continued to fail. First light saw the dive team off to dive another possible position for the unsuccessful location of the previous days charted wreck site, but the increasing Shamal wind was affecting sea conditions making diving dangerous as the swell tossed the small dive boat around, and concerns also grew about the safe transfer of personnel and equipment back to Janan. A quick ‘dip’ down the shot line by a diver on communications confirmed that the wreck was not in this position either, but this still serves an important purpose by confirming that the wreck is not in the charted position and can be reported to the relevant authorities which will help when they issue their chart corrections.

Diver at the stem post

The weather was closing in as multibeam survey continued, exploring a seabed depression for its potential to contain preserved archaeological material in deeper sedimentary deposits.  ‘Sauna’ like conditions now prevailed on the bridge and on the working deck, and members of the team also continued the task of diagnosing the faults on the ROV (remotely operated vehicle). With Janan finally safely back alongside in Doha, the ROV was deployed into the water for a successful trial flight, this is another tool that could be used help with future investigations.

The AC on the vessel is now completely defunct and the weather has broken down again so the team continue to work on post-processing of data collected to produce an exciting 3D model of the dhow and produce a report of the very productive visit before returning to the UK at the weekend.

To celebrate the MAT taking over the management of the Isle of Wight Shipwreck Centre and Maritime Museum an event on the 11^th April welcomed over 130 guests to hear about the background to the centre, plans for the future and the significance of the collection for the Isle of Wight.

New MAT Patron Dan Snow officially opened the evening alongside the owner of the collection, Martin Woodward, MAT President Martin White, MAT Chairperson Michael Woodhall, MAT Director Garry Momber and key staff and supporters.

MAT plans to develop the centre over the coming years through further research on the artefacts, increasing space for new interpretation and adding shipwreck displays that use the latest high tech visualisation technology. These state of the art exhibits will attract a large audience providing sponsorship opportunities for affiliated businesses.

We hope to build a group of volunteers to help realise our plans and be involved with artefact recording, events and introducing members of the public to the collection. If you might be interested in volunteering at the centre, then please get in touch via: curator[at]maritimearchaeologytrust.org.uk

You can also support the MAT’s work at the Shipwreck Centre through:

Signing up for our Newsletter to get updates straight to your inbox  Newsletter sign-up

Becoming a Friend of the Trust for opportunities to be involved in exclusive events and activities http://www.maritimearchaeologytrust.org/friends

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