Just a quick note to say that I am back. I didn't realize how long it had been since I had blogged, and so I thought I would post a quick note. Sometime earlier in the year my kids convinced me to sign onto Facebook to keep in touch with them. Since then I have gotten in touch with folks I haven't heard from since high school. But the interesting thing is that lighthouse enthusiasts have started finding me as well. This was particularly true when I signed on with Twitter. I now tweet with fellow lighthouse folks from around the country. The St. Augustine Lighthouse also has it's own Facebook page. So if you are on FB or make a habit of tweeting, look for us as we would love to know what you are up to. Just keeping up with Twitter and Facebook is enough of a challenge for this old guy that I almost forgot about my blog. Well no more! I am back on it.

You may also want to check out the Split Rock Lighthouse blog. My buddy Lee Radzak, Historic Site Manager at the station there, just started it a couple of months ago. Split Rock is already one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and then someone went and put a lighthouse there. I will do my best to get Lee on FB and Twitter as well, but things are a bit delayed up there in the wilds of Northern Minnesota, so we must be patient. You will want to check out some of his photos on their website as well.

LAMP Field School student Chris Borlas takes advantage of good visibility to use a line level and folding rule to measure the depth of an excavation unit underwater. For the past three weeks, it has been so dark and murky on the wreck site that trying to see an air gauge, compass reading, tape measure, hand signal, or line level has been completely fruitless.

On the first day of diving this this week, LAMP staff and students alike were ecstatic to find that, with no warning, they could suddenly see on the shipwreck site. Visibility had been slowly improving over the past several weeks, so that divers could begin to see to a limited degree the site around them, instead of relying on groping in the dark. But all of the sudden the vis was great! We wasted no time and took advantage of these conditions while we had them.

We've posted some underwater video from Tuesday so everyone following along can experience seeing the shipwreck as we do. Check it out below!

Continue reading "I once was blind, but now I see . . ." »

This photo was taken by St. Augustine Record reporter Daron Dean when he visited our excavation site on Friday. Also on hand were a film crew from Pepe Productions, including a Flagler College intern (with camera) and the film's director (helping steady her) working on an upcoming documentary.

We are always happy when our archaeological work gets local press attention, and last Sunday we were treated to a great front page story in the St. Augustine Record written by reporter Marcia Lane.

Continue reading "LAMP Field School in the News" »

Graduate Student Supervisor Rachel Horlings, a PhD student from Syracuse University, launches herself into the water to dive on the wreck of an unknown sailing vessel. Students from all over the U.S. have traveled to America's oldest port to participate in the 2009 LAMP Field School. Our primary objective is to excavate this sunken ballast pile in an attempt to determine if it represents the remains of the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis.

Continue reading "Field School Students Take the Plunge -- First Dives Offshore " »

Honora Sullivan-Chin, a student in the 2009 LAMP Field School, undergoes black-out mask zero visibility training under the supervision of Graduate Student Supervisor Kendra Kennedy. The first two days of Field School are an intensive training session to prepare them for the challenges on diving in zero- and low-visibility conditions on the wreck of an unknown sailing vessel offshore which might be the lost privateer and former slave ship Jefferson Davis.

Continue reading "Archaeology Boot Camp: the 2009 LAMP Field School Begins" »

R/V Roper, the research vessel of the Institute of Maritime History, is on loan to LAMP through the end of July. A crew of five IMH divers delivered this working dive boat from Maryland to St. Augustine in late May.

We had anticipated the arrival of the R/V Roper for months now, and in late May the day finally arrived. We had heard from our colleagues in the Chesapeake region about this vessel, about what a fantastic working dive boat she is, and finally we were going to find out for ourselves.

Continue reading "LAMP Field Season is Underway with the Arrival of the R/V Roper!" »

UPDATE: The 2009 Field School is currently underway! Click here to read the ongoing Field School blog posts from staff and students!

The 2009 Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) Field School will be held June 8-26, 2009 at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum. This comprehensive 3-week field practicum will focus on the testing of an unidentified ballast pile to make a determination whether it represents the remains of the Confederate privateer Jefferson Davis, lost on the St. Augustine bar in August 1861 after the most successful cruise of the entire war. Alternate inshore sites will be investigated depending on conditions offshore.

Continue reading "6/8-6/26/2009: LAMP 2009 Summer Field School" »

The year 2013 will be the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Florida and the North American mainland. To prepare for this anniversary as well as to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the failed colonial attempt at Pensacola and the 450th anniversary of the founding of St. Augustine, the State of Florida has launched a website called Viva Florida. One of the principal purposes of the website is to inform and educate the general public about the unique and ancient cultural heritage found in Florida. Long before Jamestown and Plymouth Rock, St. Augustine was an active frontier port in Spain’s vast American empire.

A section of the website devoted to education contains three video lectures by experts in the fields of history and nautical archaeology. The first lecture is by Dr. Wes Singeltary of the Florida Department of State. The second is by Richard Brosnaham, Executive Director of West Florida Preservation, Inc. The final lecture is presented by Dr. Sam Turner, the Director of Archaeology at LAMP at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum who discusses the life of Juan Ponce de León and his voyage of discovery to Florida in 1513.

To see the website follow the link below.

http://www.vivaflorida.org

To see the lectures click on Education in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen.

R/V Desmond Valdes under way.

On March 1st I was given an address and a location to go look at a boat. First off, I’m always going to look at boats but this one was special. It was being donated to the Lighthouse and I had been tasked with finding out more about it. After pulling into the storage lot and taking a quick gander, my eyes settled on a very nice Grady White over against the back fence that I identified as the donor vessel. Approaching more closely I noticed that a much larger and beefier Grady White next to the first one. My eyes had to re-adjust a bit as I realized that this larger boat was, in fact, our subject.

Continue reading "Meet the R/V Desmond Valdes" »

What: Historically accurate replicas of the Nina and the Pinta, open to the public for tours
Where: St. Augustine City Marina
When: 9am-6pm, May 6th - May 17th, 2009
Who: These two replica ships are operated by the Columbus Foundation, and were brought to St. Augustine with the help of LAMP and the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum
How much: Admission for adults is $7, children older than 4 are $5, and senior citizens are $6. A guided group rate of $3 per person is also available for groups of 15 or more. A portion of each admission goes to the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum.