Contract for Services in Relation to the Protection of Wrecks Act (1973): Diving investigations on the schooner Thomas Lawrence
Wessex Archaeology, 2012.
Data copyright © Wessex Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Wessex Archaeology
Portway House
Old Sarum Park
Salisbury
SP4 6EB
UK
Tel: 01722 326867
Fax: 01722 337562
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 1153
Introduction
The project comprised an Undesignated Site Assessment of the Thomas Lawrence, a wreck relocated during fieldwork for the ALSF Wrecks on the Seabed project (Wessex Archaeology). The work was carried out for English Heritage by Wessex Archaeology in 2007.
The first objective of fieldwork was to relocate and obtain an accurate position for the wreck and, once identified, the site was to be investigated to determine the extent of the seabed remains, identify and characterise the main elements of the site and assess the remains against the non-statutory criteria for designation.
The dataset comprises databases relating to the diver recording system (DIVA) and Prospector (ROV-track) diver tracking, GIS shapefiles for the diver tracklogs and video stills.
Thomas Lawrence
The Thomas Lawrence was a Danish, 18th Century schooner, which sank off the south coats of England in 1862. It was discovered by divers in 1983 and subsequently excavated in 1985. Since then the position of the wreck has been unclear and it has proved difficult to re-locate despite a number of attempts. The wreck was reported to be located in the south-western part of the survey area for this stage of the project and initial documentary research provided five possible locations for the site. As part of the area survey Wessex Archaeology found a wreck believed to be the Thomas Lawrence and have been able to provide its precise location.
Wessex Archaeology carried out multibeam sonar, magnetometer and sidescan sonar surveys on the site in 2003 and these datasets were used as a basis for the diving assessment. More information on this can be found in the Wrecks on the Seabed archive. The geophysical survey data archived through the MEDIN Data Archive Centres (British Geological Survey and United Kingdom Hydrographic Office).
British Geological Survey archive ref: BGS_CMD_REF652
