4.5 Constraints
Weather and sea conditions
The Centurion, located adjacent to the Sydney Heads is exposed to all sea and swell activity from the south to south-east. At times, heavy rollers sweep across the site making diving conditions turbulent and visibility poor.
Generally winter westerly winds produce the best diving conditions for the site. Periods of heavy rain, run off from the harbour shore, and particularly from the Parramatta River, can significantly reduce visibility. During the present diving operations, visibility variations ranged from 0.5 metres to 30 metres+. The site is also subject to variations in water density with haloclines visible when surface rainfall layers overlay denser saline waters.
Diving Operations
The Centurion lies at an average depth of 19 metres. At this depth, it is accessible by the majority of recreation divers.
The current survey operations were undertaken within the Workplace diving regulations administered by NSW Workcover Authority. These require commercially trained divers to operate under the Australian Standard AS2299 training code using the approved DCIEM air tables. Each diver conducted one (1) to two (2) dives per day, the first of 30 minutes duration, with a 1 1/2 hour surface interval, and the successive dive limited to 25 minutes.
In order to undertake substantive site measurements and photography, a number of return visits were made to the site. Divers were tethered to the surface for the majority of dives, with surface support comprising boat crew, standby diver, diver supervisor and dive tender.
Vessel traffic
The Centurion wreck is located close to the Sydney Harbour ferry routes between Circular Quay and Manly Wharf. As such, boat anchoring and diving operations required contact with the Harbour Master in order to advise vessels of the survey operations.
The survey team noted illegal motor boat traffic within the 100-metre exclusion zone around its displayed dive flag (blue and white) on several occasions. This activity signifies a degree of unfamiliarity with current boat rules by some small boat users and is a factor to be considered by dive visitors to the site.
Past activity at the site
As detailed below, early diving activity at the Centurion wreck site has resulted in some site disturbance and an unknown level of artefact removal. This activity has had an impact on the full archaeological potential of the site.
Non-disturbance archaeological survey
The 2003-2004 survey operations were undertaken as a standard 'non-disturbance' archaeological exercise. Only exposed and therefore visible portions of the wreck site were mapped and recorded. At no stage was the overburden of protective sand removed from any portion of the site. The depth and complexity of buried portions of the hull and fittings was not explored, other than through a limited probe survey.
This approach avoided direct disturbance of archaeological materials as well as associated accelerated deterioration. It has retained relics, large and small, from their original context and retained the research potential of the site. A survey that involved recovery of artefacts would require approval of an archaeological permit under s139 of the NSW Heritage Act 1977. It would also require a tight network of control points to measure and track shipwreck and artefact associations, substantial conservation and laboratory support, archaeological supervision, and provision of ongoing storage, identification, research and display.
The 'non-disturbance' approach used by the Heritage Office has advanced the protection of the site while allowing quite complex evaluations to be made. In the event that site conditions do change and new parts of the site are exposed an extension of survey operations can be undertaken.
Research
Available research sources included newspaper clippings held by significant repositories such as the Mitchell Library in Sydney. In terms of the vessel, primary source data was located in registry records such as the Lloyds Register of British Shipping and personal family archives maintained by the Donald Family in Aberdeen, Scotland (summaries of much of this information is available the Heritage Office’s Maritime Heritage Online web site http://maritime.heritage.nsw.gov.au). Pictorial material was restricted to a single etching as published in a contemporary Sydney paper, a copy of a painting also held by the Donald family, and copies of original building plans. Generally it can be noted that relatively few historical documents survive through which to interpret the history of the site.
Hence, the physical record of Centurion as it exists on the seafloor, is extremely important as a record of the vessel’s construction and fitting-out.
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