Legacy, Vol. 1, No. 1, July 1996, pp. 16-17.
Hobby Diver, Underwater Site Data
Shows Some Interesting Trends
By Lynn Harris and Carleton Naylor
Looking at the types of shipwrecks we have in South Carolina, so far the majority we have recorded are sailing vessels, dating to the antebellum (21%) and Civil War Years (27%). Cross references to the hard copies reveals that most of the sites (mainly artifact scatters) reported by divers are located in rivers rather than offshore. So, come on divers--where are all those steamboats and offshore shipwreck sites? We need to fill in the gaps.
As anticipated, most hobby diving (47%) takes place in the Cooper River, followed by the Ashley River (20%). The Ashley River? Of course, not all our data comes from hobby divers. Most is through historic research (72%), followed by hobby reports (43%) and from site files submitted by SCIAA archaeologists (22%). The latter category can be misleading since many site reported by hobby divers have subsequently been listed in the files under the name of the archaeologist who went out to assess the site. Recently we have been trying to encourage divers, especially Field Training Course participants, to submit this extra paperwork so that their name, as the discoverer, will appear in the official records.
In terms of hobby diver trends, the most licenses between 1995 and 1996 were issued to the coastal areas--Charleston area (61%), collowed by Beaufort (28%) and Georgetown (11%). The majority of out-of-state hobby divers come from Georgia and North Carolina, with Florida lagging in the rear.
Since 1989, when we started offering training courses, 123 divers have been certified. Carl Naylor notes that 98 (80%) of these have been male and only 25 (20%) female!
Of the total number of hobby reports submitted by divers, 25% had included maps showing site locations and 15% have included drawings and photographs.
Good work! Hopefully the number will be even higher next year.
