ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Expedition recovers surprising artifacts & reveals stunning new details

In June 2010, the expedition divers slipped into the watery world above the Goddard. Over the next eight days, the team completed more than 130 dives on the wreck, dividing their time on three main tasks: recording and retrieving artifacts, examining the hull structure, and deploying the BlueView sonar system.

Approximately 100 artifacts were identified and tagged on the ship. Divers then removed 28 of the most significant artifacts for future display in a Goddard exhibit at the Yukon Transportation Museum. The recovered artifacts included a number of surprising finds, such as a record player with records, a steam whistle assembly, and a glass bottle containing vanilla. “These items tell us a lot more about life on board than we were expecting,” said project leader Lindsey Thomas. “It was great to be able to recover those for the exhibit.”

All of the team shared in the excitement as artifacts were brought to the surface. John Pollack was particularly thrilled when archaeologist Wayne Lusardi managed to get the steam whistle up. “That was a special moment,” said Pollack. “That was a very big artifact and Wayne did it expertly. It is something that you don’t find on most wrecks and it was 100 percent the way it went down.”

“Everything that represented life on board the ship was present, socks, clothing, and part of a jacket,” Lindsey said. “It was really exciting to see every aspect of life represented on board.”

While others concentrated on recording and retrieving artifacts, the OceanGate/BlueView team focused its efforts on deploying the BlueView 3-D scanning system. The scanner was mounted on a tripod and then moved to multiple locations, collecting millions of data points from inside and outside the wreck. All of these data points where later combined to create a high-resolution, 3D digital model of the Goddard.

Pollack, who has used advanced scanning technology on wrecks above the surface, was excited about being able to use of this new technology underwater. “On a fully intact ship like the Goddard, there is just so much detail that you want to record. This may involve millions of data points,” he explained. “The BlueView technology is perfect as it allows you to capture all these details and geo-reference the data so it spatially correct. That is very hard to do underwater with a tape measure. It can be done, but would take hundreds or thousands of dives. BlueView definitely saved us a lot of time.”

Lindsey Thomas was also excited about how the BlueView system was able to help reveal details about how the ship was built. “The BlueView unit really helped with that,” she said. “I could only stick my head so far into the hull before I did not have access anymore. But by suspending the BlueView unit upside down inside a hatch, we got a view of the ship we would not have gotten otherwise. That was unexpected and really great.”

Lindsey found many new details about the wreck fascinating. “What I thought was really interesting, was looking inside the hull; almost all of the structure components were made of the same type of material – two-inch angle iron. This was a prefabricated vessel that they had to put together themselves. They had two people with shipwright experience to help them and you could see sections where there was a pattern, but it looks like they mixed it up.”

She was also surprised by the artifacts that showed a little of the frivolous side of life, such as the record player and dishes. “This was something I had not expected to find,” she noted.

Although the discoveries alone provided plenty of thrills, there was some additional excitement as a Spiegel TV crew was also at the site filming a documentary about the team’s work on the Goddard and other Yukon wrecks. The documentary is being co-produced by National Geographic and should be finished in 2011.

John Pollack, who is working on a number of the Yukon wrecks, remains as enthused as ever about the Goddard. “When we started our Yukon work in 2005, we thought it would be just another project,” said John, “But the Goddard, in particular, has ignited the interest and passion of many people regarding the Yukon Gold Rush…and has become a catalyst for a lot of collaboration on other wrecks.”

Overall, Lindsey was extremely pleased with what they accomplished. “It was far better than I could have anticipated. It was very good team and good project overall,” she said. “It represents a really fascinating period of history, when people would do almost anything to get up to the gold rush, when they were taken over by this passion and decided to carry a ship on their backs over the mountains, which is pretty cool.”

List of Recovered Artifacts

• Textile (possible coat or shirt in fragments)
• Three shoes (incomplete) 
• Record player
• "Vinyl" record (probably either celluloid or shellac over a paper base)
• Three empty glass bottles
• Double door knob/mechanism
• Glass bottle with cork containing vanilla
• Steam whistle assembly (includes whistle, valve and iron pipe component)
• Ceramic cup (perhaps a shaving cup)
• Plate glass fragment
• Glass lantern chimney
• Running light (two parts)
• Glass bottle with cork containing Bromo Seltzer
• 6-inch steam gauge
• Brass reflector light (two parts)
• Brass pressure valve
• Glass bottle with cork containing ink
• Lead weight or ingot
• Whetstone
• Sock (incomplete)
• Brass valve
• Fork
• Magnifying lens (perhaps a linen tester)
• Gear mechanism (brass) and fragment of related iron alloy housing