The Diaries
 
October 30th, 2006
:: 2006 :: 7/07 - 11/09 - 10/10 - 11/10 - 12/10 - 13/10 - 14/10 - 16/10 - 17/10 - 18/10 - 19/10 - 20/10 - 21/10 - 23/10 - 24/10 - 25/10 - 26/10 - 27/10 - 28/10 - 30/10 - 31/10 - 01/11 - 02/11 - 03/11- 04/11 - 06/11 - 07/11 - 08/11 - 10/11
- Unable to dive, so helping to search the ground -

Filling in the hole again with a backhoe loader
Credit : Max Guérout

   The meteorologists and our team made a joke of «the abating wind». This morning it strengthened and blew more than 20 knots in the afternoon. We hoped to go and have a closer look at the remains of the two other wrecks, but our hopes gradually vanished, as did the opportunity to take the last measures on the Utile’s guns lying very close to the shore and particularly exposed to the sea.

The two damaged guns being thrown out
Credit : Max Guérout

The day before, we took photographs of two guns which had been shot from the wreck in the past. They hadn’t had any preservation treatment, so they had to be thrown away. A third gun discovered on the beach was lying in front of the station. It was damaged but not completely destroyed.

Since the divers couldn’t go diving, they went and helped the diggers. We decided to search a larger area in order to understand the disorder we observed.

The gun resisting the damage of time
Credit : Sébastien Berthaut-Clarac

When we analysed the ash layer more thoroughly, we discovered two occupation levels. Did they correspond to two different occupations or did they belong to the same one, interrupted by a storm or hurricane which covered the ash with a sand layer?

To understand that, we had to give a closer look at the layers content because the survivors of another wreck had to live on the island for some time. For example, there were 7 survivors from the sinking of the Atiet Rohoman, but we didn’t know if they lived on the island for a while.

In the afternoon, we found another object coming from the Utile above the ash layer. It was a copper shoe buckle, common in the 18th century. It was so smart that it could have been worn as a jewel. At the same place, in a little crack, we also found the half of a copper rose box, some nails and a hook.

Keeping a high morale to go on searching the ground
Credit : Max Guérout

The puzzle we had to put together again was fascinating and especially multiple. One thing was to reconstruct the movements of the castaways from the shipwreck to the beach, then to the camp at the back of the beach, and finally to the upper part of the island. Another was to know who were the castaways who lived on the island, including the survivors of the Atiet Rohoman. We also considered the fact that the sand had been blown during strong storms, which explained why the 1761 ground level was about 40 cm under the current ground in the western island.

The heat was oscillating between 29 and 30 degrees Celsius and was softened by the trade wind. But combined with physical efforts, it made our bodies weary. However it didn’t seem to affect the team’s humor.

Rédacteur : M. Guérout

      © GRAN 2004 - 2006