R. Christopher Goodwin, PhD, leverages four decades of experience as an archaeologist in undertaking historical and cultural surveys that inform major construction and infrastructure projects Dr. R. Christopher Goodwin and his team regularly work on projects focused on coastal resiliency planning in the face of super storms and rising sea levels.
In 2017, his firm conducted research into shipwrecks in the Connecticut waters of Long Island Sound. That nautical archaeological study recorded previously unknown and undocumented historic shipwrecks in a variety of locations along Connecticut's coast, and also reexamined previously recorded shipwrecks of importance to assess their current condition and the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The latter included a trio of submerged early 20th century barges sunk in Bridgeport Harbor under the Stratford Avenue Bridge. Likely tied together, these vessels sank in the mid-1970s after taking on water at night.
These three sunken watercraft were surveyed from a geophysical survey boat using side scan sonar, multibeam bathymetry and a cesium gradiometer (magnetometer). The multibeam echo sounder sends out sound waves which are received back on the survey boat, where the data are collected and processed. The result is photographic quality images of the sea floor and the shipwrecks, all precisely plotted. The images of the underwater archeological site enable more complete understanding of the wrecks and their condition. This project was funded by the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, which tasked Dr. Goodwin’s team with acquistion of the remote sensing data, analyses of the data, and authorship of a technical report on the results of the work.
In 2017, his firm conducted research into shipwrecks in the Connecticut waters of Long Island Sound. That nautical archaeological study recorded previously unknown and undocumented historic shipwrecks in a variety of locations along Connecticut's coast, and also reexamined previously recorded shipwrecks of importance to assess their current condition and the effects of Hurricane Sandy. The latter included a trio of submerged early 20th century barges sunk in Bridgeport Harbor under the Stratford Avenue Bridge. Likely tied together, these vessels sank in the mid-1970s after taking on water at night.
These three sunken watercraft were surveyed from a geophysical survey boat using side scan sonar, multibeam bathymetry and a cesium gradiometer (magnetometer). The multibeam echo sounder sends out sound waves which are received back on the survey boat, where the data are collected and processed. The result is photographic quality images of the sea floor and the shipwrecks, all precisely plotted. The images of the underwater archeological site enable more complete understanding of the wrecks and their condition. This project was funded by the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office, which tasked Dr. Goodwin’s team with acquistion of the remote sensing data, analyses of the data, and authorship of a technical report on the results of the work.