The results of the recent one are extremely important underwater investigation into the wreck of the ship “MENTOR”as far as way of building the shipwhile The mobile finds enrich our image of life on board, as well as of the personal belongings that its passengers carried in their luggage.
Systematic underwater archaeological research of the Ephorate of Marine Antiquities in the historic shipwreck “MENTOR”, which sank in September 1802 outside the port of Avlaimonas, in the SE. of Kytheracontinued under the direction of the archaeologist, Dr. Dimitris Kourkoumelis. The “MENTOR” kettle was one of the ships used by Lord Elgin to transport the antiquities, which he had extracted, among other things, from the monuments of the Acropolis. During the recent underwater excavation, two excavations were made along the surviving hull of the ship.
THE first incision done along the keel on its north side, with the aim of studying its construction details. The connection point of the two parts of the G-shaped keel was located and it was found that the copper sheets that covered it had folded in various places, indicative of the fact that the ship after its sinking was dragged for a few meters, until it touched the its left side at the bottom. At this point they were trapped, between timber and other wood, parts of ropes from the ship’s equipment and other small items related to the living of the crew and passengers, such as parts of the military uniform, made of wire, parts of wooden furniture, and a gold ring decorated with flowers and dots. An identical ring was lifted during the 2019 survey.
THE second incision was set in the southern surviving part of the ship, along the prefectures and the skin. The aim was to check the surviving limit of the hull, to make observations and measurements on the shipbuilding elements of the ship and to look for any objects that would have rolled out of the hull after its sinking. The incision covered almost the entire surviving length of the southern end of the hull. It was found that under the hull of the ship, large pieces of copper sheets were preserved from its external protective copper plating, and the hull is preserved in a fairly good condition, although it shows damage in various places by living organisms. Of interest are two large sections of rope, a naval accessory six and two gold coins (ducats) of the Netherlands issued in 1777 and 1800 respectively. A particularly important find is the location of the base of a theodolite, outside the hull of the ship. During its maintenance work, it was discovered that part of the topographic instrument could be rebuilt, combining findings from earlier excavation periods of 2013 and 2015. The object acquires special importance, as the ship was carrying the well-known surveyor, traveler and collector of antiquities, officer of the British Artillery, William Martin Leake. The instrument most likely belonged to him and may have been used for the extensive depictions of antiquities that he made in Attica, but also in the wider area.
The underwater research involved a total of 18 people of various specialties and scientific specializations, such as archaeologists, marine biologists, diving instructors, topographic engineers, antiquities conservationists, bottom technicians and in particular: Dr. Stavroula Vrachionidou, Dr. Alexandros Tourtas, Stella Argyri, Panos Athanasopoulos (PhD candidate), Dr. Costas Tokmakidis, Dr. Kimon Papadimitriou, Dr. Giannis Issaris, Vassilis Tsiairis (MA), Dr. Elpida Karadimou, Aris Michael, Chryssa Fuseki, Irini Malliou, Christos Nizamidis, Spyros Moureas, Manolis Tzefronis, Manuel Kourkoumelis.
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