Shipwrecks And Underwater Archaeology - The Show Me Guide

Humans have been using boats to travel across water for thousands of years, but sailing is a risky business. Stormy seas, hidden rocks, battles and even icebergs have meant that sometimes those boats and ships sink.

This diver's exploring the wreck of the Teasel, off the Isle of Man. Can you see the outline of the ship's wheel?

© Manx National Heritage.

Experts believe there are probably about 3 million wrecked ships lying at the bottom of the world's oceans. 3 million! That's such a VAST number it's almost impossible to imagine.

Shipwrecks are very important to archaeologists and museums because they often hold clues to the way life was at the time when the ship went down. We've had a chat with two of the UK's top archaeologists to find out more.

Here's one of the brainy chaps we talked to... Dr Mike Heyworth is Director of an organisation called the 'Council for British Archaeology' (a club for grown-up archaeologists!).

© CBA.

Mike, why are shipwrecks important to our understanding of the past?

'Shipwrecks can turn out to be time capsules - they capture a moment in time and from that evidence we can often reconstruct a huge amount of information.'

He went on to explain that ships very often sink without warning. They would be loaded up for a voyage, carrying all sorts of things.

Sometimes, if the wreck is covered up with silt fairly quickly once it's settled on the sea bed, then objects can survive amazingly well, for a very long time.

Christopher Dobbs is a maritime archaeologist working for the Mary Rose Trust. He told us all about this very special ship.

The Mary Rose (left) sank in 1545, after 34 years' service as one of Henry VIII's warships.

She lay underwater off the coast of Portsmouth for almost 440 years, until she was lifted in 1982.

© Mary Rose Trust.

What's so special about the Mary Rose Chris?

'The Mary Rose is an exceptional shipwreck... her real treasure is the priceless collection of many thousands of everyday objects found inside the hull during the excavation, that gives us an insight into life in Tudor times.'

Often, things that have survived from the past did so because they were thought to be valuable or precious, or because they belonged to rich or important people.

Think Ancient Egyptian pharoahs' tombs or carefully polished silver from stately homes for instance - how much do you think they tell us about life for ordinary people?

Take a look at these jugs, plates, bowls and spoons found on the wreck of the Mary Rose.

© Mary Rose Trust.

Crews on ships would be made up of people from all walks of life, including poorer people. Ships carried simple, useful objects as well as valuable treasure. For both of these reasons shipwrecks can contain lots of clues to life in the past.

The objects in the picture above are useful, everyday things which amazingly survived their underwater storage. To Chris Dobbs, objects like these are the real treasure of the Mary Rose.

This pic shows a diver unloading part of a pulley from the Mary Rose.

The wreck has taught us lots about the mechanics of Tudor ships as well as life on board.

© 24 Hour Museum.

Talking points... we know that we can learn a lot from underwater archaeology and shipwrecks, but what are the drawbacks?

Respect for the dead...very often when ships sink, sailors and passengers go down with the ship and drown. Respect for their remains is an issue which worries many people. Find out more about this in our feature about Underwater Archaeology and HMS Sussex.

Accidental damage... it can be very difficult and extremely expensive to look after objects excavated from archaeological sites, whether they're underwater or on land.

One of the worries some archaeologists have about shipwrecks is that divers might damage sites accidentally or salvage finds for the cash they might make when they sell finds - not a good motive.

Francis Pryor, another of The UK's top archaeologists, told Show Me:

'Some treasure must never be discovered because when you remove it from the sea or the ground you might destroy the story it has to tell.'

What do you think he means by that?

You can find out much more about the ship on the excellent Dive in and Discover The Mary Rose website, including lots of pics of objects found on the wreck.

© Mary Rose Trust.

Why not read our story about HMS Sussex, have a chat with your friends or your classmates, and let us know what you think?

Mike, Chris and Francis - thank you very much for your help with this feature.