MSDS Marine is a British marine and coastal contractor that specialises in the management, execution and support of
archaeological projects in the marine environment. The company also engages in outreach to educate the public about marine and coastal heritage and environments and provides opportunities for volunteering.
History
MSDS Marine was set up in 2011, and became a
limited company
In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
in 2015. In 2019 MSDS Marine opened an office in
Holbrook, Derbyshire
Holbrook is a village in Derbyshire at the southern end of the Pennines around five miles north of Derby, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,538.
History
Holbrook lies about two miles to the north-east of Duffie ...
. The company is a
CIfA Registered Organisation, a member of the Association of Diving contractors, and a member of the
.
Notable projects
In 2017 and 2018 MSDS Marine, in partnership with the
Rijksdienst Voor het Cultureel Erfgoed
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands) often abbreviated as Cultureel Erfgoed, is a Dutch cultural heritage, heritage organisation working for the protection and conservation of National Heritage ...
and
Historic England
Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...
, conducted an excavation of the remains of the eighteenth-century Dutch
East Indiaman
East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...
the ''
Rooswijk
The ''Rooswijk'' () was a ship belonging to the VOC (Dutch East India Company) that, according to recent, non-contemporary, news reports, sank in 1740. The wreck is a Protected Wreck managed by Historic England.
Construction and service
Accor ...
'', and are leading the
post excavation
Post-excavation analysis constitutes processes that are used to study archaeological materials after an excavation is completed. Since the advent of "New Archaeology" in the 1960s, the use of scientific techniques in archaeology has grown in impo ...
works which are planned to finish in 2021. In 2018 MSDS Marine produced a virtual dive trail for the ''Rooswijk''.
Between 2014 and 2016 MSDS Marine worked alongside Cotswold Archaeology to excavate the wreck of the seventeenth century
second-rate
In the rating system of the Royal Navy used to categorise sailing warships, a second-rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns ...
ship of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...
''
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
''.''.'' The excavation was licensed and funded by Historic England. During this excavation a
gun carriage
A gun carriage is a frame or a mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be maneuvered and fired. These platforms often had wheels so that the artillery pieces could be moved more easily. Gun carriages are also use ...
was recovered which has been hailed as a nationally significant find MSDS Marine are also contracted to undertake
remote sensing work on the site of the wreck to monitor ongoing erosion. MSDS Marine also assisted in the development of a virtual dive trail for the ''London''.
Other projects include the development of virtual trails for the
protected wreck site at
Thorness Bay and the submarine
U8, and the retained
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
role for a number of
offshore wind farms.
In media
MSDS Marine has been featured on the
BBC's Digging for Britain, Wind Energy Network Magazine
Current Archaeology
''Current Archaeology'' is a British monthly archaeology magazine.
Summary
''Current Archaeology'' describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources o ...
magazine, and the
National Geographic Channel’s Drain the Oceans.
References
{{reflist
Underwater archaeology
Shipwrecks
Archaeological organizations