This document summarizes a presentation by Janelle Harrison on maritime archaeology work conducted by NOAA Ship Fairweather in Alaska. The presentation describes a hydrographic survey near Point Belcher, Alaska that identified potential archaeological sites, including what may be remnants of tryworks from historic whaling activities. The survey utilized multibeam sonar technology to map the seafloor with high resolution and identify anomalous objects for further investigation. A list of references on topics including Alaskan whaling history, hydrographic surveying techniques, and shipwreck identification is also provided.

1. Presented By: Janelle Harrison, MA, RPA
Maritime Archaeologist/Hydrographic Assistant Survey
Technician
NOAA Ship Fairweather S-220
SCA Conference: March 22, 2014

3. Point Belcher,
Southwest of Barrow, AK

4. ALASKA
Demarcation

6. Tryworks?

17. References
Bockstoce, John R.
1986 Whales, Ice, & Men: The History of Whaling in the Western Arctic. University of
Washington, Department of Printing. Seattle, WA.
Cantelas, Frank and Brad Barr
2012 Finding America’s Lost Whaling Fleet. Manuscript, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Office of Ocean Exploration and Research and Office of National
Marine Sanctuaries. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington DC.
CARIS
2012 HIPS and SIPS 7.1 Service Pack 2: User Guide. CARIS. Fredericton, NB, Canada.
Crocker, James M.
2012 Arctic Hydrographic Reconnaissance Project. Crocker, James M., Commander,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Commanding Officer, NOAA Ship
Fairweather. U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
Chu, Dezhang, and Lawrence C. Hufnagle, Jr.
2006 Time varying gain (TVG) measurements of a multibeam echo sounder for
applications to quantitative acoustics. Proceedings of the MTS/IEEE OCEANS 2006 Boston
Conference and Exhibition. Boston Massachusetts September 15-21, 2006.
Dean, Martin., Mark Lawrence and Chris Rowland
2007 Visualizing high resolution multibeam shipwreck data. Archaeological Diving Unit
at the University of St. Andrews. < http://www.thsoa.org/hy07/04_03.pdf> . Accessed 20
September 2012.
L-3 Communications SeaBeam Instruments
2000 Multibeam Sonar Theory of Operation. L-3 Communications SeaBeam
Instruments.
East Walpole, MA.

18. Lawrence, Mark., Ian Oxley, and C. Richard Bates
2004 Geophysical Techniques for Maritime Archaeological Surveys.
<http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/rasse/library/pdfs/EEGS_arch_abs.pdf
Lundberg, Murray> Accessed 20 September 2012.
2001 Thar She Blows! Whaling in Alaska and the Yukon. Explore North. <http://explorenorth.com/library/yafeatures/bl-
whaling.htm>. Accessed 30 September 2012.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2012 Field Procedures Manual. NOAA, Office of Coast Survey. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, DC.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2012 NOS Hydrographic Surveys Specifications and Deliverables. NOAA. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, DC.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
2011 A Plan to Support Sustainable Marine Transportation in Alaska and the Arctic. NOAA, Office of Coast Survey, Marine
chart Division. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington, DC.
McMahan, David J.
2007 Management of Alaska’s Submerged Cultural Resources: A Current Assessment.
Alaska Journal of Anthropology 5(2):55-66.

19. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey
2012 Descriptive Report: Field Examination Survey, Registry Number F00617. U.S. Department of Commerce. Washington,
DC.
Plets, Ruth, Roy Quinn, Wes Forsythe and Kieran Westley
2011 Using Multibeam Echo-Sounder Data to Identify Shipwreck Sites: archaeological assessment of the Joint Irish
Bathymetric Survey data. Centre for Maritime Archaeology, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster. Coleraine Co.
Derry, Northern Ireland.
Tornfelt, Evert E., and Michael Burwell
1992 Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore. U.S. Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service, Alaska OCS
Region. Anchorage, AK.