RESTORATION LABORATORY

As only gold can be removed from long immersion in sea water and left in the air without deterioration, it is necessary to have facilities for treating artifacts salvaged from wrecks and the sea bottom in order to preserve them. Many of these, such as guns and anchors, are large and heavy and require extensive chemical treatment. This means large tanks, hoists, cleaning areas, drying room, and the like.

In an old shell store dating from early in this century, situated on the south side of the Keep Pond, a restoration laboratory has been created to enable the Museum to build up a significant collection of marine archeology based on the artifacts recovered from the reefs around the Island. As the wrecks lying thereon span the whole history of navigation in the western Atlantic and

Interior of the Restoration Laboratory (L. Webb)

date from 16th century Portuguese and Spanish armed vessels, through the French and English ships-of-war of the 18th and 19th centuries, to modern ships, it is hoped over the years to recover, restore and put on display representative examples of guns and anchors showing the history of design changes effected during three to four centuries.

At present, four early guns are leaching in a chemical bath, while half a dozen others lie in the sea nearby awaiting their turn. In time, these will join the few guns already on exhibition. Three anchors are lying in the Keep Pond until such time as they can be treated.

It is also possible to treat small objects in the laboratory and there is always an array of plastic pails and other containers with cannon balls, pieces of iron rigging, etc. to be found on the shelves. Because of the corrosive nature of many of the chemicals used, the laboratory is only open to visitors when one of the museum volunteers is at work there.

Guns leaching in soda ash. (L. Webb)