Marine Archaeology Project to recognize volunteers of ‘Not Gaspee study’

Posted 5/24/16

The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will recognize the team members for the Warwick “Not the Gaspee” study at a special ceremony, 1 to 2 p.m. this Thursday at the Steamship Historical …

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Marine Archaeology Project to recognize volunteers of ‘Not Gaspee study’

Posted

The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project will recognize the team members for the Warwick “Not the Gaspee” study at a special ceremony, 1 to 2 p.m. this Thursday at the Steamship Historical Society of America building, 2500 Post Road, Warwick.

RIMAP trained the volunteers who participated in the 2015 archaeological fieldwork to document two vessels abandoned in the shallow water of Warwick’s Occupasstuxet Cove. The volunteers to be honored include William Gallagher, Stanley Johnson, Diana LaCazette, Margaret (Pegee) Malcolm, Joseph Schall, Lesley Sorenson, Linda Sullivan, Raymond Turbitt.

RIMAP Director Kathy Abbass was principal investigator, Debby Dwyer and Kim Smith were RIMAP teaching assistants, and Christopher Jasparro and Joe Zarzynski were field supervisors. Tim Labonte was the videographer. Observers were Charlotte Taylor from the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission and Reed Bohne was from the Northeast Director of the NOAA Marine Sanctuaries program.  

For his efforts to organize the “Not the Gaspee” study, Warwick Rep. Joseph McNamara will receive the “RIMAP volunteer of the year for 2015” plaque in a special part of the recognition ceremony. 

The 2015 “Not the Gaspee” team created simple pre-disturbance site maps of the two Warwick shipwrecks and determined that they are both at least 130’ long, that the structures appear to be intact below the turn of the bilge, and that there are few artifacts directly associated with the sites. Work continues to determine what these vessels might have been and when they would have been abandoned in the cove, but they appear to be from the late 19th or early 20th centuries. Anyone with local information is encouraged to contact RIMAP. 

The “Not the Gaspee” study will conduct a second season of fieldwork on these two sites in July 2016. Interested new volunteers are welcome and should check out the website www.rimap.org for details about how to join RIMAP, take the training, and join the team. For further information contact RIMAP at (401) 253-2094, by snail mail at Box 1492, Newport, RI 02840, or by email at rhodeislandmap@yahoo.com.

The May 26 event in Warwick is free and open to the public.

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  • richardcorrente

    Dear volunteers, William, Stanley, Dianna,Margaret, Joseph, Leslie, Linda, Raymond, Kathy, Debbie, Kim, Christopher, Joe, Tim,Charlotte, Reed, and especially State rep Joe McNamara,

    Many thanks. You clearly care about Warwick. We need more people like you. You all should be rewarded with a "key to the city." You know what? That's not a bad idea! If we did more of that type of promotion I'll bet we would attract more residents to Warwick which would bring more students to our schools, improve our property values by increasing demand, and reduce our taxes by increasing the number of taxpayers contributing. Maybe we should do more than we are doing to promote Warwick. I suggested "Welcome to Warwick" signs and a "Welcome to Warwick" magazine but with a tourism budget of $750,000 we don't seem to be doing anything to promote our city to the rest of Rhode Island. We don't even put up our Christmas decorations in front of City Hall. We just leave them in storage. I promise, after the elections, we will promote Warwick to the rest of the state. We will grow our numbers which will allow us to cut taxes for ALL residents.

    Have a pleasant Memorial Day Weekend.

    Richard Corrente

    Democrat for Mayor

    Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Report this