Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program gets $500K grant

Bum Luck

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Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program gets $500K grant

Jan 17, 2020

The St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, Inc. (LAMP) has been awarded a $499,999 grant for the First Coast Maritime Archaeology Project: Hurricane Irma Damage Assessment and Mitigation Strategy from a Hurricane Irma National Park Service Subgrant from the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources.

Funding for this program is provided by the National Park Service pursuant to its Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund Grant Program.

"The purpose of the Hurricane Irma National Park Service Subgrant is to allow museum archaeologists to assess and mitigate damage caused by Hurricane Irma at eight previously investigated shipwreck and shoreline sites," said Nicholas Budsberg, a LAMP archaeologist who helped write the grant, according to a press release.

The research funded by this grant will also allow archaeologists to re-investigate at least six offshore shipwreck sites along with two additional maritime sites located in the river bottom and tidal zone of the Tolomato River and Robinson Creek.

"The sites we are interested in are from a wide range of history and pre-history," said Chuck Meide, museum archaeological director, in the release. "We will be assessing these sites to determine a plan to best protect them from this kind of damage."

The team will produce 3D models of the sites as they map the sites underwater. This in turn may provide opportunities to locate and document other shipwrecks and cultural heritage. It will also aid educational programming at the Museum.

"The team will map large swaths of the ocean floor with multi-beam sonar at periodic intervals over the two-year grant period," said Brenda Swann, director of interpretations at the museum and a trained archaeologist, in the release.

"This may lead to the discovery of new shipwreck sites exposed by hurricane activity, and it will give educators more information to bring to the public about how and why St. Augustine has lasted as long as it has."
 

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BillA

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your tax dollars at work

and, in fact, the situation is far worse than merely spending taxpayers monies "that could be used productively elsewhere"
what has happened is that an advocacy group has formed to promote "conservation"
(" a LAMP archaeologist who helped write the grant"; $1/2 million, not bad)
well, actually conservation and a museum, and of course identification, and well some recovery . . . .

and this crowd, ever growing, is what is to replace treasure hunters ?
what a bunch of cushy jobs - I see the treasure, being paid monthly
 

ARC

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What I am baffled about is the word "lighthouse"... and why it is used in the title of this organization.

Sorta seems like camouflaging the real intent of this.

To someone upon hearing this it would on the surface just appear that lighthouses are the focus of this.

:/
 

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Bum Luck

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What I am baffled about is the word "lighthouse"... and why it is used in the title of this organization.

Sorta seems like camouflaging the real intent of this.

To someone upon hearing this it would on the surface just appear that lighthouses are the focus of this.

:/

Decades ago, I visited the lighthouse and it was just that; like so many non profits dedicated to preserving them.

It seems as if someone got ambitious and decided to take a quantum leap into the past, an unusual foundation though.

Now it appears that they are using public funding to go where no one else can legally go.
 

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ROBOTCOP13

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How much of that $500K goes to archaeologist's salaries?
 

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Bum Luck

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"The purpose of the Hurricane Irma National Park Service Subgrant is to allow museum archaeologists to assess and mitigate damage caused by Hurricane Irma at eight previously investigated shipwreck and shoreline sites"

Can any of you experienced salvors tell us how to mitigate hurricane damage in shallow water/beach shipwrecks?


 

ARC

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"The purpose of the Hurricane Irma National Park Service Subgrant is to allow museum archaeologists to assess and mitigate damage caused by Hurricane Irma at eight previously investigated shipwreck and shoreline sites"

Can any of you experienced salvors tell us how to mitigate hurricane damage in shallow water/beach shipwrecks?


This is ALMOST humorous... except its not really funny how the piss money away... for there is absolutely nothing that can be "mitigated"...

FOR... you cannot mitigate something that has already been done.

There is nothing that anyone could or can do to "mitigate" something AFTER the fact.

Assessment of "damage"... which should be called a "natural disturbance"... is the ONLY thing that CAN be done... WHICH...

Only simply requires one to dive and photograph it.

So... basically they are saying 500k to dive and document changes to it... which is absolutely ridiculous.

BUT.... Since I am here will volunteer to do it for 10k.. AND I WILL BUY THE LUNCH AND GAS !

For it only will take a few days and dives.

Oh wait... its multiple wrecks....

Ok... SO... buy 4 get one free.

40k.

Done.
 

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BillA

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come on guys, be positive

'they' could take spoil from some dredging project and dump it on top of the sites
(extra public bennie, protects from looters)
 

ARC

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Sheesh... when I reflect on the reality of the possibility of being part of this... to see the wrecks... to learn about them.

In reality though... IF I had the chance / offer...

I would sign on to do it... for 20 dollars an hour AND all meals and gas etc.

My ride... my gear... and everything else I have to offer.... and professionally as any other... if not more so.

No joke.
 

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Bum Luck

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Meide’s first reaction when he heard La Trinité had likely been discovered was joy, but his second reaction was horror. “The worst thing that could happen to a shipwreck is to be found by a treasure hunter. Better that it not be found at all".

So, how can that work? Dynamite it and still get half a million $ in public funds?

There isn't much that I can see that could be done to reverse or stop the damage. Florida's coast is a dynamic environment especially in a hurricane. Think water in a gold pan x 100,000, heavy stuff to the bottom.

Even piling huge concrete chunks on top would harm the fragile and important rats teeth and cockroach shells and not protect the wreck.

Interesting how the only wrecks the archies think the rats teeth are important on are the ones with treasure.

We could divide the wrecks up? They get the cockroaches and we get the gold.
 

Boatlode

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Seriously? .gov comes up with great ways to spend our money.
 

Au_Dreamers

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"eight previously investigated shipwreck and shoreline sites"

How much did that cost?
Who paid for that?Do they have baselines for those?
Where are the publications from those operations?

Mother nature has probably replaced most of the hurricane activity.... :icon_scratch:
 

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Bum Luck

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How much did it cost for Chucky not to find the wreck he calls the La Trinité ?


Hey, he just got the grant!

You don't expect him to get right on it, do you?
 

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