Attend Early Watercraft Conference in Derry, Northern Ireland in November

The Early Watercraft Association has released the full schedule for the 2nd International Early Watercraft Congress, to be held 6-8 November in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland, with additional events on November 5th and 9th. Download the full schedule or register to attend.

The programme includes more than 30 presentations, keynotes, and panels on a wide range of topics relating to early watercraft. In addition to multiple sessions on archaeological and ethnographic subjects are sessions on landscape studies, experiment and replication, historical examples, research methodologies, public engagement, terminology for the discipline, watercraft technology, and watercraft use and significance. 

Keynoting the event is Dr. Lucy Blue, professor of maritime archaeology at the University of Southampton, Maritime Archaeological Director of the Honor Frost Foundation, and President of the Nautical Archaeology Society. Day 2 of the event will be keynoted by Dr. Béat Arnold, formerly of the Laténium Parc et Musée d'Archéologie, Switzerland, and author of the book series Le tour du monde en 80 pirogues.

In addition to the formal sessions is an engaging programme of special events, including:

• Reception with the mayor of Derry City
• Gala congress banquet
• Coach tour to Giant's Causeway World Heritage site, Bushmills Distillery, and Dunluce Castle
• Presentation of an open-water voyage in an traditional curragh
• Walking tour of historic Derry  

The speakers and their presentations follow (or download the schedule);

• Béat Arnold (keynote), Laténium Parc et Musée d'Archéologie, Switzerland: Some Comments on the Bronze Age Logboats of western Switzerland and Europe
• Marwa Abdel Aziz, Department of Underwater Antiquities, Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Egypt: Beyond the Painted Surface: The Innovation of The Middle Kingdom
• Joana Baço, CHAM – Centre for the Humanities, NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal: Small canoes on large maps: an analysis of the iconography of the Portuguese colonial world (16th-19th centuries)
• Benjamin Ballester, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile: The sea lion skin raft from the Atacama Desert coast, northern Chile
• Boel Bengtsson, Gothenburg University, Sweden: Tools and Methods for determining seafaring capabilities of ancient boats
• Swarup Bhattacharyya, National Maritime Heritage Complex, Lothal, India: From Plantain Rafts to “Mother’s Lap”: Cognitive and Cultural Significance of Bengal’s Wooden Boats — A Living Tradition
• Lucy Blue (keynote), Univ. of Southampton, UK, Nautical Archaeology Society, Honor Frost Foundation: Endangered Knowledge: the value of documenting traditional boats before it is too late
• Karl Brady, Underwater Archaeology Unit, National Monuments Service, Ireland: The Extended Logboat Tradition in Bronze Age Ireland: New Insights from the Garraunfadda Boat
• Sarah Day, UK: For fun, and for science. Nine days on the Thames in hide canoes
• Colin Dunlop, Historic Environment Division, Northern Ireland: Researching, Locating and Mapping Northern Ireland's Logboats
• Thomas Frank, University of Aarhus, Denmark: Eastern Viking Age waterways and boats
• Alberto Garcia-Piquer, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain: The development of sewn plank canoes in Southernmost South America: evaluating socioeconomic implications from an archaeological, ethnohistorical and computational approach
• Alberto Garcia-Piquer, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain: All Roads Lead to the Sea: Modelling Early Neolithic Watercraft, Seafaring and Social Networks in the Western Mediterranean
• Damian M. Goodburn, freelance archaeological woodworking specialist, UK: Fourteen Serious Dugout Boat Building Experiments and some Insights Gained into Ancient Woodlands, Technology and Social Organisation
• Paul Gosling, Atlantic Technological University, Ireland: Where the Road meets the River: Fords, ferry points and early watercraft
• Niall Gregory, Gregory Archaeology, Ireland: Dugout boat propulsion: Collation and outcomes from Irish experimental archaeology, archaeological surveys and excavation
• Niall Gregory, Gregory Archaeology, Ireland: Dugout boat discoveries on the Foyle and Finn Rivers, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland: Typological variances in the context of a riverine landscape
• Harriet Grylls, Univ. of Southampton, UK, Nautical Archaeology Society: Archiving Memories: Cataloguing an ethnographic boat collection from yesteryear for future public engagement
• Robert Hayes, Maritime Heritage Chapter, Archeological Society of Virginia, USA: Influence of Enslaved African and African-American Boatbuilders on the Development of Vernacular Watercraft of the Mid-Atlantic United States
• Robert Henshall, Ireland: Bundle Rush Rafts in Ireland: Evidence, misinterpretation, and experiment
• Catherine Holt, Dover Museum and Bronze Age Boat Gallery, UK: Dover Bronze Age Boat: The boat, the replica, the legacy
• Robert Holtzman, University of Southampton, UK: Ethnography of Watercraft "Evolution" in Amazonian Ecuador
• Robert Holtzman, University of Southampton, UK: What is a Canoe? - A terminological conundrum   
• Hurmet-Mihkel Ilus, University of Tartu, Estonia: The Continuation of Expanded Dugout Boat Culture as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Tradition Through Community Engagement
• Heather Jeans, Chronicle Heritage, USA: Caring for Early Watercraft: Conservation assessment and digital documentation of Alabama dugout canoes
• Shadi Kalantar, Univ catholique de Louvain, Belgium: The Shāsh Raft in Southern Iran: Construction, regional diversity, and ancient roots
• Mert Uğur Kara, Trakya University, Turkiye: Traditional Boatbuilding and Regional Variations in the Turkish Black Sea: An ethnoarchaeological perspective
• Jaan Keerdo, Estonian Logboat Society, Estonia: Expanding a Dugout Canoe in a Smoke Sauna
• Marcelo Lins, Federal University Of Pernambuco, Brazil: The Use of the Lateen Sail in the Jangada of Northeastern Brazil: A hypothesis on the evolution of the mast support in the Apeiba raft
• Alice Lucchini, Ars Nautica (Institute for Maritime Heritage, Italy: Logboats in Northern Italy: Renewing the evidence base
• Matheo Magras, France: Palm canoes of the Amazon basin
• Daniel Miguel Nieva Sanz, University of Trier, Germany: A Transdisciplinary and Diachronic Study on the historical Role of the Monoxilous Canoe in the Colombian Rivers
• Claidhbh Ó Gibne, Boyne Currach Heritage Group, Boyne Currach Centre, Ireland: Lessons learnt from the Ancient Craft of Currach Making
• Laura Peruzzi, Thesan Studio associato di Archeologia, Livorno, Italy: The river boats of Pisa between archaeology and ethnography (poster only)
• Aivar Ruukel, Estonian Logboat Society, Estonia: How to interpret early watercraft?
• Elena Saccone, Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio de Uruguay, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Univ of the Republic of  Uruguay: Early Watercraft and cultural diversity in Maritime Landscapes of Southeastern Uruguay
• Elena Saccone, Laboratorio de Arqueología del Paisaje y Patrimonio de Uruguay, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación, Univ of the Republic of  Uruguay: Indigenous Dugout Canoes in the Río de la Plata: Integrating archaeology, naval engineering and hydrodynamic experimentation
• Rashad Salim, Safina Projects CIC, UK: Mesopotamian Bundle Constructed Watercraft of the Ark for Iraq Programme
• Darina Tully, Saor Ollscoil na hEireann, Ireland (Retired): What were small ancient water craft capable of achieving?

An image from Joana Baço's planned presentation, Small canoes on large maps: an analysis of the iconography of the Portuguese colonial world (16th-19th centuries)

See full Congress details on the EWA website. 

Register now.

Download Fishing Craft and Fisheries of Hong Kong by British Naval Intelligence

The Ku tsai teng, a Hong Kon junk used for purse sein fishing. Click the images for an expanded view. (Source: B.R. 1050B, p.25, figs. 20-21)

Now available for free download is The Fishing Craft and Fisheries of Hong Kong (B.R. 1050B). Published in 1944 "for official use only," it describes the craft and their uses, illustrating them with line drawings of deck arrangements and longitudinal hull cross-sections, sail plans, and photos. It documents fishing methods in unusual technical detail with informative illustrations, like the one below. It's an excellent resource.

One of several trawling methods illustrated in The Fishing Craft and Fisheries of Hong Kong (Source: B.R. 1050B, p.33, figs. 25-26)

The Fishing Craft and Fisheries of Hong Kong is the second from a series published by the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty that we are making available thanks to a friend who has been assiduously scanning these and other rare and out-of-print books about Asian watercraft so that we can offer them free to our readers. Here is the list of free downloadable books.

Free Download: British Naval Intelligence Guide to Watercraft of Burma, Malaya and Siam

Leg-paddling a dugout canoe on Lake Inle, Burma (i.e., Myanmar) (source: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, 1944, fig. 42).

Toward the end of the Second World War, the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty published a series of guidebooks to the native craft of southeast Asia and western Pacific islands. A friend of this blog who wishes to remain anonymous has painstakingly scanned these documents and made them available to us, to share for free with our readers. The first one we are presenting is B.R.1050A: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, published in 1944.

The prahu payang, a Malayan boat of about 34' (~10.4m) used for sein-fishing (source: Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam, 1944, fig. 95)

Although Allied naval forces had an obvious interest in recognizing various forms of native craft, the book is much more than an indentification guide (although it is that). It also describes boatbuilding and fishing practices, including fishing methods that were not conducted from boats, such as shore seining and fish traps. It covers dozens of ocean-going, harbor, and inland vessels, their uses, the locations of construction and use, and includes a wealth of maritime-ethnographic data that would be difficult to find elsewhere. A great many photos and line drawings are included, showing the boats and their uses, various construction details, and fishing methods.

Download Fishing and Trading Craft of Burma, Malaya and Siam.

Stay tuned: future posts will provide links to more volumes in the series.