New Method for Exploring for Wrecks of the 1871 Western Arctic Whaling Ship Disaster

这项探索性研究小额赠款（SGER）用于支持使用新技术寻找北极水下残骸的初步研究。1871年8月，31艘洋基捕鲸船在阿拉斯加贝尔彻角附近被冰压沉或烧毁。这一事件对当地居民和捕鲸界产生了巨大的影响。实际上，人们对这些重要沉船的位置和状况知之甚少。在20世纪90年代，定位沉船的尝试遇到了技术上的困难，但在对水下摄像机的测试中，发现了一艘沉船，这表明确实有一些沉船仍在海底。北极水下勘探的传统方法依赖于一艘大型而昂贵的支持船，但贝尔彻角的位置是一个很好的选择，可以用不同的、成本更低的方法进行勘探。由于预计沉船离海岸很近，因此有理由期望使用充气船的小型陆上团队可以完成准确的现场调查。调查人员已经在苏必利尔湖开发并成功地使用了这些技术多年，现在有理由尝试在这种类型的北极项目中展示它们的价值。该项目将通过定位和记录1871年洋基捕鲸船灾难的沉船残骸来进行研究贡献，同时为北极岸基水下勘探技术提供概念证明。研究结果将为研究文化历史、北极水域材料寿命和人工珊瑚礁的海洋殖民化的调查人员提供重要的数据源（沉船）。在项目期间，任何时候都不会发生任何现场干扰或工件检索。该项目将通过与当地机构（UIC科学中心和因纽特人遗产中心）、社区组织（北坡自治学区、巴罗北极科学联盟）的直接合作，以及通过面向公众的社区演讲，产生更广泛的社会影响。该小组将初步评估沉船的状况，并决定是否需要进一步的评估和记录。

This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) is to support preliminary research using novel techniques for finding underwater wrecks in the Arctic. In August of 1871, 31 Yankee whaling ships were crushed by the ice and sunk, or burned near Point Belcher, Alaska. This event had enormous impact on the Native population and on the whaling community. Little is actually known about the location and condition of these significant wrecks. An attempt to locate wrecks in the 1990s had technical difficulties, but during testing of an underwater camera, a single wreck was located, demonstrating that some wrecks do remain on the ocean bottom. The customary approach to Arctic underwater exploration relies on a large and expensive support vessel, but the Point Belcher location is a good candidate for exploring with different, less costly methods. Due to the wrecks' expected close proximity to shore it is reasonable to expect that an accurate site survey can be accomplished with a small, land-based team using an inflatable vessel. The investigators have developed and successfully used these techniques for many years on Lake Superior and it is now reasonable to attempt to demonstrate their value on this type of arctic project.This project will be a research contribution by locating and documenting shipwrecks from the 1871 Yankee whaling ship disaster, while supplying a proof of concept for shore-based underwater exploration techniques in the Arctic. Results will allow for future access to important data sources (the wrecks) by investigators who are researching cultural history, materials longevity in Arctic waters, and marine colonization of artificial reefs. At no time during the project will any site disturbance or artifact retrieval take place. The project will have broader societal impacts through its direct collaborations with Native institutions (UIC Science Center and Inupiat Heritage Center), and with community organizations (North Slope Borough School District, Barrow Arctic Science Consortium), and through community presentations for the general public. The team will preliminarily assess the conditions of the wrecks and determine if further evaluation and documentation is warranted.