Marine and Coastal Contractor MSDS Marine has announced the 2019 winners of the MSDS Marine Grant Awards. The Awards were presented at the 2019 Nautical Archaeology Society and Ordnance Society joint conference on Sunday 17th November.

The 2019 Awards have benefited from additional support from Fourth Element who kindly donated equipment including a set of base layers to the recipients.

Protected Wreck Support Award 2019 – Ron Howell and the South West Maritime Archaeology Group

The Protected Wreck Support Award is designed to help support Licensees and their teams. Licensees and their teams have played a huge role in the careers of all MSDS Marine staff. They have inspired, taught and helped MSDS Marine staff develop skills and to recognise this the awards are used as a mechanism to give something back.

MSDS Marine already give practical support and advice where possible but they were keen to try and contribute financially too. Awards are designed to assist with specific costs incurred by volunteers working on sites protected under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and can be spent on equipment or training. All team members are eligible to apply for the award providing they have the support of the Principal Licensee for the site. Submissions are judged by MSDS Marine in consultation with the Heritage Agencies.

South West Maritime Archaeology Group

The South West Maritime Archaeology Group have worked on the Salcombe Cannon and Moor Sand sites for nearly 25 years but in that time have had little underwater stills photography or video footage of the sites. Now, thanks to funding from Historic England, they are working with MSDS Marine and the Nautical Archaeology Society to encourage new divers to join their team. This award will allow them to update their equipment with Go Pro cameras. The team then plan to record every cannon and anchor on the site in situ using the new equipment.

Student Support Award 2019 – Adam Bolton, Bournemouth University

The Student Support Award is intended to help support maritime archaeology students in the UK. The growing MSDS Marine team includes a number of early years’ professionals who have all recently completed university courses. Their recent experience highlights the significant costs faced by students to complete their education. MSDS Marine strongly believe fieldwork, and other training experiences, help create professionals with a more rounded skill set and are keen to help allow students to maximise the experiences that they get.

To this end MSDS Marine offer many volunteer opportunities for students but are now also keen to help support them financially to gain experiences which might otherwise be unaffordable.

This award is designed to help with specific costs of equipment and training (including conference attendance) for students on undergraduate and masters level degree courses in the UK. Submissions are judged by MSDS Marine in consultation with the universities.

Adam Bolton

The 2019 winner, Adam Bolton, is a masters student at Bournemouth University who has been researching the Erme Estuary protected wreck sites. Several remote surveys of the sites have now revealed a plethora of unidentified magnetic anomalies. Adam wishes to purchase aluminium cylinders to use with a hand held magnetometer to further investigate the anomalies and to undertake a campaign of diving. MSDS Marine is delighted to be able support this.

Find out more about the awards and previous winners here: www.MSDSMarine.co.uk/awards