HMS Hazardous: Assessment of site monitoring and environmental data

English Heritage MRTM Summaries 2005/2006

Introduction
The wreck site of Warship Hazardous has been under archaeological investigation for over twenty five years. This work has been undertaken by a local volunteer group, the Hazardous Project team (308 SAA), with the support of a range of archaeological advisors and organisations.
The ship was originally built by the French in 1698 but was captured and re-commissioned into the English Navy. In 1706, it was driven into shoal waters in Brackelsham Bay, West Sussex in poor weather. The capture and refit is an important aspect in the archaeological significance of Hazardous. Techniques of ship design and construction developed by the French are present on the ship which were eventually incorporated into English ship construction. Hazardous is one of only 60 Protected Wrecks around the coast of Great Britain. It is designated under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and all diving and archaeological investigation must be licensed.
There has only been limited excavation on the site, which was undertaken in the late 1980’s. This demonstrated the potential of the site, however, this has not been capitalised upon. Work since has been restricted to survey and surface recovery of artefacts that have been eroded from the sediment of this highly dynamic site.
The active erosion of the site means that archaeological survey is 'fire fighting' as artefacts become dislodged and much of their contextual information lost. However, the survey archive from the site provides the opportunity to assess how the site has been affected by the prevailing environmental conditions over the past 25 years. The availability of this information led to the proposal to assess the environmental conditions with the intention of making predictions for the long term future of the site. This project was funded by English Heritage and undertaken by the Hazardous Project Team and the Hampshire & Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology.
This project addressed the need to quantify the extent and rates of erosion that are occurring on the site of Warship Hazardous to aid future management of the wreck remains. This task was undertaken using data from two principle scales:
• The wreck site, including data from sources - archaeological, photographic, monitoring, distribution studies and diver observation.
• The coastal environment of the on, near and off shore zones – including data on sediment transport, coastal response, aerial photographs, beach monitoring, charts.
This data was analysed to identify particular areas of the site at risk from erosion in relation to areas with high archaeological potential. The result is an assessment of past and current environmental factors affecting the stability of the wreck site, and the implications for the long-term future of the archaeological archive.
The work resulted in the production of the image below which maps areas of most rapid degradation against those of highest archaeological potential. This data will now be used to help target future intrusive work on the site.
Based on the results of the assessment of environmental conditions the four possible management options for the site were explored:
• Allow unrecorded loss of historic wreck site
• Continue to record the loss of the site
• Attempt site stabilization for in-situ preservation
• Undertake active intervention and achieve preservation by record
Due to the rapid rates of erosion on site and the highly dynamic environment the report concluded that targeted intrusive excavation would be the most cost effective method of preserving the site archive. Attempts at stabilization in this area could be trialled, but past experience of the effects of large storms suggests that a costly hard engineering option would have to be considered with the resultant environmental impact.
Without undertaking active intervention and preservation by record there is a real chance that the opportunity to answer a range of research questions regarding the site, the ship and its related historical context will be lost.

This page was published on 04/04/2008