Difference between revisions of "Ship trap"

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'''Definition'''
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'''Definition
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A maritime hazard with an extensive collection of shipwreck sites. (Delgado (ed.) 1997, Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. British Museum. pp. 377).
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Ship traps are maritime hazards or underwater obstacles, which lead to an accumulation of accidents and thus an extensive collection of shipwreck sites.<ref>Delgado (ed.) 1997, Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. British Museum. pp. 377</ref>
  
  
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'''Description'''
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'''Artificial ship traps'''
  
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Examples of ship traps are reefs jutting into narrow straits as at Yassiada in Turkey, or into a stream of passing maritime traffic.
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Strategic chokepoints of navigable waters such as narrows or rivers were blocked to obstruct the movement of enemy fleets. One of the earliest examples in the Baltic Sea is in Skuldelev, where Viking Age vessels were scuttled to block a navigable channel.<ref>O. Crumlin-Pedersen & O. Olsen, The Skuldelev Ships I, Ships and Boats of the North 4.1. (Roskilde, 2002)</ref>
  
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"Shipwrecks, in many cases, are less isolated events than they are the results of the natural and cultural processes which operate over extended periods and which pattern their deposition in non-random and archaeologically knowable ways. Many shipwrecks are the results of mariners taking risks and losing... Ship traps can be seen as areas of poor odds for traversing seafarers, where the presence of wrecks is entirely predictable as the aggregate result of risk. Focusing on ship traps, as opposed to shipwrecks, stands in contrast to a traditional nautical archaeological approach that concentrates on a site as an isolated event rather than as the result of the intermeshed operation of cultural and natural systems. Through accumulated maritime knowledge transmitted via oral traditions and local histories, it is likely that the positions of many of these nautical hazards were known to sailors in the past, who developed routes to avoid them according to weather, time of year, and direction of travel."
 
  
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"More recently, maritime hazards have been marked by lighthouses, buoys, and beacons with varying degrees of success... Ultimately, when one thinks of ship traps, perhaps a valid metaphor is a net, cast into the stream of passing maritime commerce. Some nets... tend only to catch commerce travelling in one direction, while others may catch ships moving in two or more directions. Conceptually, there could be ship traps that work in three, four, or even all directions. Understanding these ship traps and characterizing them should allow archaeologists to make informed statements regarding possible origins, destinations and directions of travel for shipwrecks which do not have readily available auxiliary documentation." (ibid.).
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'''Natural ship traps'''
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Examples of natural ship traps are reefs jutting into narrow straits, or treacherous shoals. Several ship traps have been marked as BalticRIM priority areas.
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In Finland, one ship trap is located in the Jussarö Gaddarna archipelago, where several shipwrecks are known and dated to the 18th and 19th centuries.The area was known for magnetic anomalies that disturbed the compasses due to the high iron content in the bedrock. This anomaly is first mentioned in Lucas Waghenaer’s special map depicting the archipelago in the Gulf of Finland published in 1584 and has been marked in navigation maps since then. Modern archaeological research has designated the area as a so-called ship trap,a sea area where environmental and cultural factors work together to create a dangerous area for the passing ship traffic.
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In Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the Puttgarden reef is a natural ship trap, with a shoal extending deep into the Fehmarn Belt strait, a major traffic artery.  
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Generally, ship traps form into maritime areas with heavy traffic and which natural conditions facilitate shipwrecks. Environmental factors related to shipwrecks include currents, wind and wave conditions, liability to storms and underwater reefs or shallows. Cultural factors related to ship traps are navigational routes, which direct maritime traffic. Connected with the suddenness or variability of the prevailing conditions, which make it hard for mariners to prepare for them, these factors facilitate accidents. The shipwrecks in ship traps are conglomerations of many poor factors.
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[[File:Balticrim jussaro metsahallitus FHA.jpg]]
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The Jussarö ship trap next to the Sundharu lighthouse in Finland. Photo: Jesse Jokinen, Finnish Heritage Agency

Latest revision as of 15:57, 30 December 2020

Definition

Ship traps are maritime hazards or underwater obstacles, which lead to an accumulation of accidents and thus an extensive collection of shipwreck sites.[1]


Artificial ship traps

Strategic chokepoints of navigable waters such as narrows or rivers were blocked to obstruct the movement of enemy fleets. One of the earliest examples in the Baltic Sea is in Skuldelev, where Viking Age vessels were scuttled to block a navigable channel.[2]


Natural ship traps

Examples of natural ship traps are reefs jutting into narrow straits, or treacherous shoals. Several ship traps have been marked as BalticRIM priority areas.

In Finland, one ship trap is located in the Jussarö Gaddarna archipelago, where several shipwrecks are known and dated to the 18th and 19th centuries.The area was known for magnetic anomalies that disturbed the compasses due to the high iron content in the bedrock. This anomaly is first mentioned in Lucas Waghenaer’s special map depicting the archipelago in the Gulf of Finland published in 1584 and has been marked in navigation maps since then. Modern archaeological research has designated the area as a so-called ship trap,a sea area where environmental and cultural factors work together to create a dangerous area for the passing ship traffic.

In Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the Puttgarden reef is a natural ship trap, with a shoal extending deep into the Fehmarn Belt strait, a major traffic artery.

Generally, ship traps form into maritime areas with heavy traffic and which natural conditions facilitate shipwrecks. Environmental factors related to shipwrecks include currents, wind and wave conditions, liability to storms and underwater reefs or shallows. Cultural factors related to ship traps are navigational routes, which direct maritime traffic. Connected with the suddenness or variability of the prevailing conditions, which make it hard for mariners to prepare for them, these factors facilitate accidents. The shipwrecks in ship traps are conglomerations of many poor factors.


Balticrim jussaro metsahallitus FHA.jpg

The Jussarö ship trap next to the Sundharu lighthouse in Finland. Photo: Jesse Jokinen, Finnish Heritage Agency

  1. ↑ Delgado (ed.) 1997, Encyclopaedia of Underwater and Maritime Archaeology. British Museum. pp. 377
  2. ↑ O. Crumlin-Pedersen & O. Olsen, The Skuldelev Ships I, Ships and Boats of the North 4.1. (Roskilde, 2002)
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