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Worm in old Poole Harbour carving threatens UK wood jetties, archaeology and boats
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The Poole Harbour merman. I’ve been unable to find any
decent royalty-free images of the blacktip shipworm – please
point us to any you know!
An old carving found off Poole Harbour by Bournemouth University archaeologists has been attacked by a warm-water ship worm that could threaten boats, archaeological sites and wooden structures around the UK.
The carving of a merman in the Swash Channel near the entrance to the Harbour is said to be an important find, but the discovery of the warm-water ship worm Lyrodus pedicellatus or blacktip shipworm in both the carving and in timbers of the wreck could be rather more significant.
‘The presence of this type of borer can be interpreted as an indication of global warming, as it typically lives in more temperate waters, such as the Mediterranean,’ said one of the academics, Paulo Palma.
‘If this species of ship worm continues to spread at its current pace it poses a major threat to all submerged wooden structures around the British coast including jetties and piers, as well as to our underwater heritage.’
It seems pretty sure that this creature eats wood, it’ll attack many of our most important old boats too.
Undergraduate marine archaeology students from BU have spent the last three summers mapping the Swash Channel wreck which emerged in 2004 following dredging work. The wreck is believed to date from the early 1600s, although its exact country of origin remains unknown.
Click on the link to see Bournemouth University’s announcement.
Pete Goss’s Spirit of Mystery in sea trials
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Pete Goss’s new boat, Spirit of Mystery – click on the photos for a much
larger image. All photos by Mark Lloyd of Lloyd Images
Pete Goss has been putting his new lugger Spirit of Mystery through sea trials, and It seems he’s positively ecstatic about her. ‘She is a thing of beauty; an organic living object that is everything I dreamed of and more,’ he says. ‘She sails well and is safe, fun, simple and kind. I couldn’t be happier.’
I’d say that he could have been describing many traditional style craft, but it’s great news that he’s so pleased with the new Mystery.
The crew including Pete, younger brother Andy; 14-year old son Eliot, and brother-in-law Mark Maidment is to undertake a two-week sea passage to prepare for their epic journey to Australia in October.
See this earlier post on the Spirit of Mystery including more of Mark Lloyd’s great photos.
