The
story starts on another rainy day 20years ago, in fall 1981. In Mainz,
close to the banks of the famous Rhine river heavy construction work is
going on. The Hilton Hotel and the Casino need extension, and the
crews are digging the future underground parking lot. 7.5 metres
below street level one of the caterpillars hits wooden remains, and the
foreman calls for a break. Archeologists move to the scene.
Jackpot! The wooden artifacts are identified as remains of a wooden boat.
The sensation, since the remains date back into roman days, almost 2000
years old. When the work was done, the remains of 5 ships were found.
measured, traced, mapped, and finally recovered.
Only parts of the ships embedded in the river sediment were preserved. Wood exposed to the water was gone. The remains were in a very fragile stage. Over the next years the wood was preserved in a new way. No wet chambers should be necessary for the future display the artifacts.
First the wooden parts were extensively rinsed in distilled water to wash salts out. Depending on the size of individual pieces this took several months. Subsequently the wood was soaked in resin solutions, to replace the water in the structure with resin. This also took several month up to a couple of years. Finally the resin was hardened, the pieces were reassembled in the way the had been found and mounted for display.
Based
on the research work full scale replicas should be the main attraction
of the museum display, since most people don’t find it very exciting to
look at puzzles from pieces of antic, rotten wood. Lukily the 5 ships were
only two different models, and parts missing in one wreck could be found
in another one.
Ship
#1 was identified as a fast troup transporter or border patrol vessel.
The full scale replica was built from oak, and forged iron nails, the originally
used materials. It is 21.6 m long, has a mid ship beam of 2.8 m,
is 1 m deep, and has fully loaded a draft of 0.4 m. Propelled by
32 oars, assisted downwind by a sail it carried a crew of approx. 40 soldiers.
Those also maned the oars, steered the boat with the 2 side rudders and
controlled the sail. The theoretical hull speed of this ship is close to
20 km/h. Likely this type of vessel was used to move troops fast
from one location to another, and to patrol the border. In those
days the Roman Empire was already falling apart, and many of the barbarian
tribes on the other river side took a shoot on the roman goodies. however,
this fast runner had not much space to carry more troops and weapons than
the men to man the oars and their gear.
Ship
#2. About this type is a bit less known than it is about type #1.
It was a bit shorter, but wider than type #1, measuring 17.5 m in lenght
and 3.7m width. It was propelled by 18 oars and a sail. The
oars and the benches for the rowing crew were mounted on an outrigger structure,
leaving space in the centre of the ship. Here was room to carry aditional
troops and gear to distant hot-spots on the border.
A platform on its bow carried a ancient machine gun, a kind of a semi automatic
crossbow with considerable firepower. Gunship and troop transporter
Two side mounted rudders and the sail were controlled from the stern “wheel
house”. Also this ship was constructed from oak, unsing iron nails.
Both replicas never went on sea trials. Their hulls are not waterproofed.
For display purpose the construction shouldn't have been obstructed by
tar and other coatings used by the Romans.
Recently
the museum workshops built and build replicas of ancient ships found elsewhere
in Europe. Not full scale, but to scale models should solve mysteries
of ancient ship building. This is an ongoing project, partly supported
by funds to train unemployed people in woodworking and modelbuilding.
Several models were in various stages of construction. Guess I have
to come back on day to see the results.