The British Brig Water Nymph

The loss of the Water Nymph

Conclusion

The wreck of the Water Nymph is only one of over 1000 known wrecks off the coast of Mecklenburg Vorpommern. These shipwrecks represent a valuable archive of archaeological and historical information and give insight into aspects of maritime life, trade and warfare. Although several ship-finds have been excavated and surveyed in the last decades, most of these wrecks still await a first archaeological assessment. While geophysical surveys, and, especially in the Baltic, aerial photography, are useful methods for detecting wrecks, assessment and characterisation are only possible through underwater survey. This project has shown that even limited, and thus economic, systematic archaeological survey can produce sufficient information for a characterisation, and in this case also identification, of a wreck.

Through the identification, the wreck of the Water Nymph has been made available to other researchers as a source for maritime history of the 19th century, the age of industrialisation, a period of change which saw the increased use of iron in shipbuilding and the slow transition from sail to steam. Built in 1840, Water Nymph was a veteran merchantman when she stranded in 1875 after 35 years of constant use. However, even then, ships like Water Nymph still formed the backbone of regional trade and are thus an important part of our maritime and economic history.