Techniques employed:

Magnetometry 

Stratascan were commissioned to carry out a survey of some old ship hulks on the south shore of the Severn Estuary in Gloucestershire

The Gloucester and Sharpness canal was threatened by riverbank erosion in 1909 and the early 1950s. During both episodes various crafts were beached on the river bank to protect the canal, which was a vital navigation link, from flooding. The vessels that were used were thought to be obsolete and of no economic value. The site also became a convenient place to retire redundant vessels. Many of these vessels, over time, became buried by alluvial deposits. Extensive work has since been carried out on the site and many vessels have been identified.

The purpose of the survey was to determine the suspected locations of at least two buried hulks.

Due to the high iron content in the hulks magnetometry was used as the most cost effective way of locating the remains

Data was collected over an area of some 1.5 ha with the long axis parallel to the shore. The adjacent plot of the results shows values in excess of 50nT in red and in excess -50nT in blue. Two iron ships can clearly be seen in the centre and top of the plot. The cluster of  strong readings at the bottom are interpreted as the iron fitttings from a wooden ship.