Museum divers recovered many artefacts from the HMS Pandora wreck – parts of the ship, personal items from the crew and souvenirs from Polynesia the crew had been taking home as gifts or to sell. But it wasn’t always easy to tell what they’d uncovered.
These are replicas of items from a ship that was wrecked in 1782 off Florida, USA. What do you think they are?
They might look like rocks or lumps of coral, but they’re not.
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Put them in the scanner for a peek inside.
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Can you tell what’s in there?
Metal items in shipwrecks react with seawater. Over many years they may form a hard covering called concretion. This can be made from corrosion such as rust, plus sand, shell and coral from the surroundings or minerals from the seawater.
This covering can make it hard to tell what things are, but if it’s thick enough, it may also help stop them disintegrating.
In the same way that doctors use X-rays to look inside our bodies, maritime archaeologists use X-rays to see if anything’s hidden in these concretions. These are copies of the real X-rays of the Florida objects. Were you surprised by what was inside?
A concreted lump from the Florida wreck. Photo from St Augustine Lighthouse & Museum