Archaeological research on HMS Swift: a British Sloop-of-War lost off Patagonia, Southern Argentina, in 1770

Abstract

HMS Swift was a British sloop-of-war which sank off the coast of Patagonia, Southern Argentina, in 1770. Since 1997 the Underwater Archaeology Programme of the National Institute of Anthropology has taken charge of the archaeological research conducted at the wreck-site. This article presents an overview of the continuing Swift project and the different research lines comprised in it. The latter cover aspects related to ship-construction, material culture and natural site-formation processes.

Fouling communities and degradation of archeological metals in the coastal sea of the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico

“…These differences between the communities on iron and on acrylic panels demonstrate the importance of experimentation with materials of similar composition to that of archeological artifacts. Also, the composition of the sessile macrofaunal assemblage settled on iron disks in the warm tropical seawater of Campeche clearly differed from the assemblage on iron artifacts in the colder waters at the site of HMS Swift (Elkin et al 2007).…”

“…Recently, most studies of corrosion degradation of metals in seawater have been performed under laboratory conditions (Leyssens et al 2006;Kergourlay et al 2011) or using materials quite different to the archeological remains of shipwrecks (Elkin et al 2007). Even though a few investigations on the degradation of archeological metallic artifacts have been carried out at wreck sites (Lenihan 1990;Russell et al 2006), very few studies have focused on the combined effect of biological, chemical, and physical factors on the degradation of these materials.…”

Raman spectroscopic analysis of archaeological specimens from the wreck of HMS Swift , 1770

“…Many artefacts have been recovered from the wreck and have provided a rich insight into eighteenth-century naval life at 'the edge of the world' [12,13]. In 2005, a diving team led by Dr Dolores Elkin discovered human skeletal remains near the Captain's cabin that proved to be those of one of the missing Marines; although his identity is as yet unknown, he was buried with full military honours in 2007 in Chacarita Cemetery, Buenos Aires [14]. The detailed ship's plans exist in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, and have been quite useful in determining the location of the artefacts at the wreck site [8].…”

Characterization of cultural remains associated to a human skeleton found at the site HMS Swift (1770)

“…The remains of the Swift are characterized by its outstanding preservation, and the excavation conducted so far has revealed a great variety of artifacts [4]. In one of the latest field seasons a complete human skeleton was found, and several studies were carried out in order to test the hypothesis that the remains correspond to one of the private marines who died in the accident.…”