Working with divers is sometimes successful, however, it is usually after
they have destroyed something and have decided that their garage elecrolysis
or flush method hasn't worked.  Removing salts from artifacts requires a lot
of patience.  A few washes in distilled water and a short time in
electrolysis doesn't do it.  I find an iron artifact may have to go through
a number of cycles and that you have to do testing for chlorides and keep
going until the chlorides are reduced to <2 ppm.   Stabilizing glass, brass
and bronze requires more than is readily visible.  They look good rather
quickly, but they are not necessarily stable.  Many treatments require
analysis to determine the best treatment.    I really think it is misleading
to tell someone they can conserve their artifacts for $100 in equipment and
supplies.

Betty Seifert
Deputy Chief
Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory
(410) 586-8578

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, 29 January, 2001 5:58 PM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: Wreck Amnesty Announced
>
> Perhaps I should further explain what I meant by:
>
> <<The process for preservation of most of the items recovers by divers -
> Brass, glass, some iron - are easy to learn and do with a little knowledge
> and about $100 in equipment and chemicals.>>
>
> I have my BS in chemistry and have spent the past 16 years at a US
> aerospace
> manufacturer running the chemical plating and processes.  So I am familiar
> with chemical treatment processes and can understand the preservation
> treatment of artifacts. When I said "most of the items recovers by divers
> -
> Brass, glass, some iron are easy to learn" I meant it. I am comfortable in
> saying that 90% or more of all artifacts recovered by wreck/sport divers
> come from steel wrecks built/sunk since 1890. I will also say that of
> those
> artifacts recovered the vast majority of them are brass, glass, or china.
> Sport/wreck divers in the US and UK/Northern Europe just do not see 300
> year
> old glass bottles and iron/organic conglomerations that often. Divers
> rarely
> will recover iron or wood as most capable of recovering large artifacts
> know
> of the problems involved in preservation.
>
> Please go to www.Divernet.com click on wrecks and take a look at "top 100
> wrecks", these are the type of wrecks the sport/wreck divers are doing
> around the UK. If you go through the list you will find that of the 102
> wrecks listed (2 listings are for sites with 2 wrecks apiece) only 3
> predate
> 1850. They are Association(1697)90 guns, Fra Metta Catharina Flensburg
> (1786)Danish Brigantine, and SS Forfarshire(1838)- paddlesteamer. Of these
> 3, both the Association and the Fra Metta Catharina Flensburg are
> protected
> and can only be dove with permission and the Forfarshire is well broken up
> in the tidal zone. Of the rest of the listed wrecks 10 are sunk between
> 1850-1898, and 89 post 1900. Sport/wreck divers just do not dive many
> wrecks
> where the problems of multiple materials and great age are encountered.
>
> Because of the relatively new and good preservation nature of the
> brass/glass/china artifacts divers recover, they are easy to clean and
> preserve properly. Divers just do not recover many concretions of
> artifacts
> from wrecks that are of archaeological interest. They also do not have to
> work with many different substrates at the same time. The most common is
> the
> brass/glass combination of a porthole. However, I do agree that even
> though
> the process for newer brass/glass/china artifacts is easy, it is not
> always
> done correctly if at all. Many divers still only use HCl baths and wire
> wheels. But they can learn.
>
> As to iron, the problems stated in the other posts are encountered and
> many
> times the preservation processes are not done or done improperly. However,
> simple electrical baths using sodium carbonate with the DC current at .5-2
> amps are very simple to make and control. The chemicals are cheep, sodium
> carbonate (washing soda) is use for control of swimming pool pH and the
> bath
> tank can be made from plywood and construction plastic to any size and
> shape
> required. Stainless steel anodes can be made from cheep 316 alloy sheet.
> The
> power sources can be a dedicated rectifier or 12 volt battery chargers
> with
> a simple amp control and meter. The trick comes in knowing how to place
> the
> anodes and determining when the chlorides have been removed. Both of these
> two points can be learned for simple material combinations.
>
> Again, divers will rarely recover and try to preserve concretions of
> multiple materials. They generally keep to brass/glass/china.
>
> As for some of the other points made:
>
> "The real problem is not so much the technical details of conservation,
> but
> the recovery of information contained within the artifacts or
> corrosion/decay."
>
> "Good conservation is not that easy as those who have set up these garage
> labs have found out to their sorrow when their "treasures" end up falling
> apart into little bits."
>
> "If you are cleaning objects you are liable to lose a lot of evidence
> through lack of experience, the same as doing an excavation without any
> training. Some conservation techniques also destroy evidence. It is this
> knowledge and experience which would be very hard to transfer easily to a
> diver, or indeed many archaeologists come to that."
>
> As I stated, divers will rarely recover concretions of multiple artifacts.
> You just do not see much concreated to a porthole, bell, or steam gauge
> that
> was unbolted from a W.W.I or W.W.II wreck.
>
> If the archaeological community were to be more out going to the
> wreck/sport
> divers on the problems of preservation and loss of information for the
> types
> of artifacts referred to above, you just might reduce the amount of
> recovery
> of these objects that is occurring. I strongly support the efforts of the
> NAS in reaching out to wreck/sport divers but I still do not see many
> archeologists presenting at the large dive shows. I know that if you were
> to
> suggest doing a workshop on identification and preservation of wrecks and
> artifacts the shows would welcome you. You might also just change some
> attitudes and find some volunteers in the bargain.
>
> Pete Johnson