Live
Broadcast from the Portland
On
Sunday 10 July 2005, two 45-minute live video broadcasts were
sent from the shipwreck of the steamship Portland located
in the sanctuary to viewers at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown
Museum and on the World Wide Web. The broadcasts gave viewers
a live tour of the steamship Portland via the National
Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut
(NURC-UConn) remotely operated vehicle Hela, narrated by
researchers positioned over the wreck on board the University
of Connecticut's R/V Connecticut.
Photo
of the Portland (left) and an advertisement for the Live
Broadcast. Courtesy of LARC.
Approximately
140 people watched the tours at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown
Museum in Provincetown, MA. An additional 700 visits were made
to the event's website, to view the broadcast's streaming video.
Viewers at the Pilgrim Monument communicated in real time with
NURC-UConn director Ivar Babb, and SBNMS archaeologists Matthew
Lawrence and Deborah Marx during the broadcast, asking questions
about the Portland and the marine life resident on the
wreck. This project was supported by a grant from NOAA's Preserve
America Initiative who saw this broadcast as a way to highlight
and NOAA's maritime heritage preservation efforts.
Viewers
of the live broadcast witnessed the
remarkable, yet fragile, condition of the historic
shipwreck. Courtesy of Jeffory Morris.
The
Portland's remains dramatically convey the terrible ordeal
its passengers experienced prior to the steamship's sinking. Furthermore,
the biological diversity resident on the wreck is a snapshot of
the sanctuary's ecosystem and provides a sharp juxtaposition with
the human loss associated with the shipwreck.
Map
developed for viewers of the broadcast to follow
the ROV's route around the Portland.
Future
projects will continue to document and monitor the Portland,
as well as provide public access to the site through live video
broadcasts. The live broadcasts were only one component of a 5-day
project in the sanctuary to investigate maritime heritage resources
with an ROV in conjunction with the annual SBNMS sponsored NURC-UConn
Aquanaut Program.
For
more information on the steamship Portland click here.
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