Maritime Studies Association

Pictured standing on R/V Cape Hatteras of Cape Fear Community College are Maritimers Thomas Fosdick, Alex Morrow and Ethan Whiten. These three attended the 2025 U.S. Hydrography Conference in Wilmington, North Carolina. At this conference, industry leading hydrography companies and academics demonstrated, presented, and discussed the tools necessary for accurate mapping of the sea floor. This is essential information for archaeological survey and analysis in the maritime context! Thank you to The Hydrographic Society of America for organizing the event and thank you to all the sponsors who made this conference a truly educational experience for the students.

During ECU’s spring break, 5 Maritime Studies students completed Divemaster check out dives up at Lake Phoenix in Virginia. Addison Costa, Jim Fowler, Dorian Record, Don Swanbeck, Cory Van Hees along with Nursing undergraduate Sara Windsor braved the frigid water with Dive Safety Officers Ryan Bradley and Mark Keusenkothen.

ECU students assist community with historical homes survey ECU students participated in a post-hurricane survey of historical homes in Montreat in January.

Yesterday MSA hosted its Speaker Series Engagement for February coordinated by our very own Cory Van Hees. This event usually features one speaker, but this time it turned out to be a double dip. Alyssa Salvidar and Caitlin Zant are both recent graduates of ECU’s Maritime Studies program and maritime archaeologists in Wisconsin, and last night they joined us via Zoom to discuss Great Lakes cultural heritage management. Salvidar is the Director of Operations at the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and Zant is the Research Coordinator at Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Wherever there is submerged cultural heritage, an ECU graduate is surely nearby. 🏴‍☠️

A few weeks ago, 14 Maritime Studies students along with Dr. Jennifer McKinnon and alumni performed a survey of 400 historic homes in Montreat to support in their documentation of storm damage post Hurricane Helene. Not only was it wonderful weather, but also a wonderful opportunity for students to engage in post-disaster recovery efforts in Buncombe County.

La familia. 1st, 2nd and 3rd year Maritimers at SHA this year.

If you were at SHA this week, you might have seen a presentation from one of these folks! We had plenty of current Maritimers and former ECU grads in New Orleans this year.

MSA takes on the SHA conference in NOLA!

What’s this, you say? Two posts in one day? 3rd year Maritime Studies students from the Fosdick Administration, Thomas Fosdick and Alex Morrow, recently assisted former Maritime Studies graduate Lindsay Wentzel at the Coastal Studies Institute. A year ago the Institute placed a buoy off Nags Head to collect data in the Outer Banks. To hold the buoy in place they used a 4,000lbs anchor chain. When data collection was completed the first stage of the project was to uncover the lifting chain using a 20ft airlift to remove sand and debris. After this process was finished, a larger vessel was deployed to lift the massive anchor chain.

Last week, 2nd year Maritime Studies students as well as faculty and supervisors returned home from the 2024 Fall Field School in Mallows Bay, Maryland which revolved around the WWI Emergency Fleet vessels resting there. Needless to say, romance levels were high. This field school’s focus centered on “North Bend,” a Hough-type vessel built in 1917 which is the subject of one student’s thesis. Students were able to completely map the 300 foot shipwreck. Biological samples were also collected from the shipwreck “Aowa” as part of ongoing research of the vessel. Students also participated in side scan sonar and gradiometric survey of the Burning Basin, the area where WWI ships were anchored and burned. Near the end of field work in Mallows Bay, students assisted with the deployment of the resistograph wood density drill on “North Bend” and “Aowa” to assess the stability of the wooden wrecks. The students final project included the assignment of their own individual wreck to gather diagnostic details from to potentially identify the type of vessel, whether it be a “Hough,” “Ferris” or other. This will result in a presentation at the end of the semester of their findings and conclusions.

ECU divers to explore Edenton Revolutionary War shipwrecks Marine archeology students and faculty from East Carolina University plan to perform an underwater survey later this summer of two Revolutionary War shipwrecks in Edenton Bay.

Yesterday marked 1 week down for the 2024 Summer Field School! To begin last week, students participated in a 4 day workshop with the world expert on photogrammetry, Dr. Kotaro Yamafune. Dr. Yamafune walked students through the basics of how to create photogrammetric models from different types of cameras and then explained how these models can be used for education, outreach and defense against treasure hunters and destruction of underwater cultural heritage. Due to inclement weather, students were able to to have an in-pool session with Dr. Yamafune as well! Later in the week, students had the opportunity for their first dives on the John’s Island Wreck in Edenton, North Carolina, thought to be a mid to late 18th century shipwreck. Yesterday students spoke wi to residents of Edenton after a morning dive about their experiences so far and what they’ve learned!