{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-c03aa079.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-517835be.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Freeze dried shipwreck to move to museum' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bf03d8eafeecae13fe99' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54bf03d8eafeecae13fe99' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nFreeze dried shipwreck to move to museum\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eA ship wreck found off the coast of Texas is being freeze dried.The process is giving a whole new meaning to the traditional nautical exclamation \"Shiver me timbers!\" .The 17th century boat, La Belle, was part of an ill-fated expedition...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eA ship wreck found off the coast of Texas is being freeze dried.\u003cbr/\u003eThe process is giving a whole new meaning to the traditional nautical exclamation \"Shiver me timbers!\" .\u003cbr/\u003eThe 17th century boat, La Belle, was part of an ill-fated expedition to the New World led by the famed French explorer La Salle. \u003cbr/\u003eHundreds of European oak and pine timbers and planks from the vessel are now undergoing months of treatment at Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M University in a 40-foot-long, 8-foot-wide freeze dryer, the biggest such machine on the continent devoted to archaeology. \u003cbr/\u003eThe goal of the project at the old Bryan Air Force Base several miles northwest of the main A\u0026amp;amp;M campus in College Station is to use a constant environment of up to 60 degrees below zero to safely remove more than 300 years of moisture and allow archaeologists to use the freeze-dried wood to rebuild the 54 1/2-foot vessel. \u003cbr/\u003eIt's destined to become the centrepiece at the flagship Texas history museum in Austin.\u003cbr/\u003ePeter Fix, conservator at the school's Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation says \"we started off with the reconstruction of the ship so we could get the reconstructed shape, because, in the freeze drier, when all that water is removed, the shape that comes out of the freeze drier is the shape that its going to stay in.  And, its much more brittle than the wood we think of today.\"\u003cbr/\u003eThe supply ship was built in 1684 and sank two years later in a storm on Matagorda Bay, about midway between Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas.  \u003cbr/\u003e\"Belle was part of a fleet of four ships that left France in the summer of 1684 to come to the new world, and to, in particular, to find the mouth of the Mississippi.  And LaSalle wanted to put a colony there.\" says Fix \u003cbr/\u003e\"The ship sank in 1686 in Matagorda Bay, and it had been a point to search for for the Texas Historical Commission for a very long time.  It was located in 1995.\" he continues. \u003cbr/\u003eResearchers have determined that unlike earlier vessels, frames on La Belle were marked specifically by the French craftsmen so the wood comprising the hull could be set to follow the complex curve of the ship.\u003cbr/\u003eAfter more than decade-long hunt for the vessel, Texas Historical Commission archaeologists found it in 1995, then began the tedious recovery that involved construction of a cofferdam to surround the site. \u003cbr/\u003eA cofferdam is a watertight enclosure placed or constructed in waterlogged soil or under water and pumped dry so that construction or repairs can proceed under normal conditions. \u003cbr/\u003eTwelve feet of murky water was removed and teams dug through up to 6 feet of mud into the Gulf of Mexico seabed to retrieve the ship and some 700,000 items ranging from swords, several cannon and ammunition to beads and mirrors intended as items for trade. \u003cbr/\u003eThey also found one skeleton, believed to be a crew member or settler among the some 40 people on board who hoped to be part of the French colony.\u003cbr/\u003e\"What saved The Belle is the rapid moving silts of Matagorda Bay,\" Fix said. \"It got covered really quick. For the most part it did stay well-covered until the Texas Historical Commission undertook this great project.\"\u003cbr/\u003eSince its recovery and transfer to the Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M lab, the water-logged wood has been kept solid by being immersed in a polyethylene glycol solution, including confinement in a vat larger than the ship itself.\u003cbr/\u003eIt was being reassembled about a decade ago as part of a two-stage chemical process. \u003cbr/\u003eNow thanks to the skyrocketing cost of the chemicals as a result of rising oil prices makes the freeze-dry process more economical and also shortened the preservation timeframe.\u003cbr/\u003e\"Water-logged wood that has been immersed for hundreds of years cannot just be brought out and put into a museum.  The physical stress on the wood would essentially cause it to fall apart, crumble and powder into pieces, so a certain amount of chemistry has to be put into, imbibed into the material and that will then displace the water and allow the wood to keep its volumetric shape.\" explains Fix. \u003cbr/\u003eThe hull was disassembled again, all the wood categorised and digitally scanned so moulds of its original shape could be made and the submarine-like freeze dryer was built for Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M by a New York-based firm that specialises in that kind of equipment for scientific use.\u003cbr/\u003eBut scientists know that at the right temperature and pressure, water can go from being solid to gas and skip the liquid phase.\u003cbr/\u003eOnce all the wood completes the process, the rebuilding will take place starting late next year at the Bob Bullock Texas State History of Museum in Austin.\u003cbr/\u003eRene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle became renowned as the first European to track the Mississippi River to the Gulf. With his expedition in 1682, he claimed all the land drained by the river and its tributaries for France and called it Louisiana after King Louis XIV.\u003cbr/\u003eBefore that, he had travelled through North American in Canada, explored the Great Lakes region and established the first European settlement in Illinois near what is now Peoria. \u003cbr/\u003eHe sailed from France with more than 300 colonists aboard four ships _ La Belle among them _ to establish a settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi. Maps of the time show he believed the river was closer to Mexico and the Rio Grande, meaning he missed the Mississippi by hundreds of miles. \u003cbr/\u003eA colony was established near the bay where the ship went down. \u003cbr/\u003eBut besides the losses in the shipwreck, it was ravaged by disease, rattlesnakes and Indians. \u003cbr/\u003eA journal kept by one of La Salle's lieutenants detailed the hardships. \u003cbr/\u003eThree years later, a handful of survivors led by La Salle left on foot and headed inland in search of the Mississippi. \u003cbr/\u003eLa Salle wound up being murdered by some of his own men before he left Texas.\u003cbr/\u003eBryan, Texas   August  6, 2012\u003cbr/\u003e1. Peter Fix reaching into water tank and zoom in to piece of wood \u003cbr/\u003e2. Mid view of covered wooden water tanks \u003cbr/\u003e3. Close up timber\u003cbr/\u003e4. Wide of exterior of freeze drier\u003cbr/\u003e5. Close view of condensation on porthole of freeze drier \u003cbr/\u003e6. Close view of \"conserved\" piece of the LaBelle\u003cbr/\u003e7. Fix using flashlight to inspect through porthole \u003cbr/\u003e8. SOUNDBITE:  (English)  Peter Fix , Conservator - Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M Center for Maritime Archaeology:\u003cbr/\u003e\"We started off with the reconstruction of the ship so we could get the reconstructed shape, because, in the freeze drier, when all that water is removed, the shape that comes out of the freeze drier is the shape that its going to stay in.  And, its much more brittle than the wood we think of today.\"\u003cbr/\u003e9. Wide view of freeze drier\u003cbr/\u003e10.  SOUNDBITE:  (English)  Peter Fix , Conservator - Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M Center for Maritime Archaeology \u003cbr/\u003e\"Belle was part of a fleet of four ships that left France in the summer of 1684 to come to the new world, and to, in particular, to find the mouth of the Mississippi.  And LaSalle wanted to put a colony there.\"\u003cbr/\u003e11. Tight view of placard with \" La Belle\" facts and figures\u003cbr/\u003e12.  Mid view of a photographic image of \"LaBelle\" structural remains\u003cbr/\u003e13. Wide view of posters of what the \"LaBelle\" will look like when re-constructed\u003cbr/\u003e14. Close view of cast bronze replica of cannon\u003cbr/\u003e15. SOUNDBITE:  (English)  Peter Fix , Conservator - Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M Center for Maritime Archaeology\u003cbr/\u003e\"The ship sank in 1686 in Matagorda Bay, and it had been a point to search for for the Texas Historical Commission for a very long period of time. It was located in 1995.\"\u003cbr/\u003e16. Wide view of various weapons recovered from the ship\u003cbr/\u003e17. Close view of weapons\u003cbr/\u003e18.  SOUNDBITE:  (English)  Peter Fix , Conservator - Texas A\u0026amp;amp;M Center for Maritime Archaeology\u003cbr/\u003e\"Water-logged wood that has been immersed for hundreds of years cannot just be brought out and put into a museum.  The physical stress on the wood would essentially cause it to fall apart, crumble and powder into pieces, so a certain amount of chemistry has to be put into, imbibed into the material and that will then displace the water and allow the wood to keep its volumetric shape.\"\u003cbr/\u003e19. Medium view of conservator working on encrusted remains of LaBelle\u003cbr/\u003e20.Various close view of drilling tool used on encrusted remains\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='action-container flex justify-between'\u003e\n\u003cbutton aria-expanded='false' aria-label='Read more description' class='rp-full-description' type='button'\u003e\n\u003ci class='fai fa-solid fa-align-left'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cspan id='read_more'\u003eRead More\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-report'\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-labelledby='resource-details-heading' class='rp-info-section'\u003e\n\u003ch2 class='title' id='resource-details-heading'\u003eResource Details\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-resource-details clearfix'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='detail'\u003e\n\u003cdl\u003e\n\u003cdt\u003eCurator Rating\u003c/dt\u003e\n\u003cdd\u003e\u003cspan class=\"star-rating\" aria-label=\"3.5 out of 5 stars\" 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