Shipwreck project heads south

A University of St Andrews-based project which uses high resolution sonar systems to investigate shipwrecks will head south for an Open Day later this month.

Researchers for the RASSE (Rapid Archaeological Site Survey and Evaluation) Project will take their research to the Ramsgate Maritime Museum, where visitors will have the opportunity to visit the survey vessel Xplorer.

Based at the University’s School of Geography and Geosciences, the project has undertaken surveys of the well-preserved wreck of the Stirling Castle¸ a 70 gun warship lost in a great storm on the Goodwin Sands in 1703. The surveys help the project measure and track the major movements of sand that has covered and then exposed this important shipwreck at different times since its loss 300 years ago. Visitors to the Ramsgate Open Day on 30th March will be able to learn more about the wreck in a free lecture.

The RASSE Project, managed by the University’s Dr Richard Bates, is funded for three years by the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund and administered by English Heritage.

The RASSE Project Open Day will be held at Ramsgate Maritime Museum, The Clock House, Pier Yar, Royal Harbour, Ramsgate on Thursday 30th March 2006. Entry is free and includes a 5.30pm lecture on ‘Investigations on the Stirling Castle (Goodwin Sands) and other wrecks nearby’.

For further information contact Philip Robertson on [email protected]

Weblinks:

RASSE www.st-andrews.ac.uk/rasse

Ramsgate Maritime Museum www.ekmt.fsnet.co.uk, 01843 570622, email [email protected]

ENDS

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