The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience
The Evenings at Whitney Lecture Series returns for the fall season on September 12 at 7 p.m. with the program “Wonderful Wooden Wrecks and the Mysteries Within” presented by Brendan Burke, Associate Director of Archaeology at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. Hosted by the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, this free lecture will be presented at the Lohman Auditorium, 9505 Ocean Shore Blvd., on the Whitney Laboratory campus.
Trees have marvelous ways of recording their own past and identity within their wood. Since ships and boats have been fashioned from wood since the beginning first human maritime enterprise, the study of shipbuilding wood is critical to understand how our species has interacted with our environments. In 2018 a mystery shipwreck washed up on the beach at Ponte Vedra, thousands of people flocked to see it and the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) team studied and interpreted the wreck. Through studying its wooden components, much was revealed about the origins of this vessel.
Join maritime archaeologist Brendan Burke as he explores the wooden world of shipbuilding and the secrets of the Spring Break Wreck.
Brendan Burke is a maritime archaeologist who has lived and researched in northeast Florida since 2007. His primary research interests include the history of shrimping and the shrimp trawler industry. In 2013 he co-authored the book Shrimp Boat City. Brendan has an avid interest in wood use throughout the history of boat and shipbuilding and collaborated with Dr. Lee Newsom, of Flagler College, to examine historic shipwrecks based on their timbers. When not in the lab, he can be found aboard the research vessel Empire Defender exploring Florida’s waters for historic shipwrecks. Brendan holds a bachelor’s degree in history and anthropology from Longwood University and a master’s degree in anthropology from The College of William and Mary.
Photos provided by the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum