Maritime Heritage Program Publications

Maritime Publications

The following publications have been developed to provide standards and guidelines for preserving historic maritime properties:

National Register Bulletin Number 20: Nominating Historic Vessels and Shipwrecks to the National Register of Historic Places, prepared by the National Maritime Initiative and the National Register of Historic Places, 1987. Print or online versions are available from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.

National Register Bulletin Number 34: Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Historic Aids to Navigation, prepared by the National Maritime Initiative and the National Register of Historic Places, 1990. Print or online versions are available from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service.

Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects with Guidelines for Applying the Standards, prepared by the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park and the National Maritime Initiative, 1990. Available in print from the Maritime Heritage Program or online at the Historic Naval Ships Association web site.

Historic Lighthouse Preservation Handbook, 1997, prepared by the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center and the National Maritime Initiative through a cooperative partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program, and the U.S. Lighthouse Society.

1990 Inventory of Large Preserved Historic Vessels, prepared by the National Maritime Initiative. Limited copies available from the Maritime Heritage Program. Portions of the inventory are available on our web site.

1994 Inventory of Historic Light Stations, prepared by the National Maritime Initiative. Out of print. Portions of the inventory are available on our web site.

Guidelines for Recording Historic Ships, prepared by the Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER), 1988; Second edition, September, 1994; Third edition, January 2004.

Boats: A Manual for Their Documentation, prepared by the Museum Small Craft Association and the American Association for State and Local History with assistance from the National Maritime Initiative and other partners, 1993.

Submerged Cultural Resources Reports

The following publications are available on the NPS Park History web site. The reports, with the exception of the first listed below, were written and produced by the NPS Submerged Resources Center (formerly the Submerged Cultural Resources Unit). The professional reports range from single site reports to comprehensive studies of multiple sites in large parks and other areas. To access the reports click here. Please note that most of these publications are in PDF format and because of their size might take several minutes to load.

Jerome E. Petsche, 1974, Publications in Archaeology: The Steamboat Bertrand, History, Excavation, and Architecture. National Park Service, Washington, DC.

The stern wheel riverboat Bertrand sank in 1865 in route to Fort Benton, Montana Territory on the Missouri River. This report describes the cooperative archaeological excavation effort in 1968-69 between two Department of the Interior agencies, the National Park Service and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, following the discovery of the riverboat Bertrand in the Desoto National Wildlife Refuge.

Russell, Matthew A., 2004, Comet: Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 17, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report details the archeological documentation of the remains of the schooner Comet exposed on the beach in Simonton Cove, San Miguel Island California. It includes a discussion of contemporary nineteenth century wooden shipbuilding practices and archeological site formation processes.

Bradford, James E., Matthew A. Russell, Larry E. Murphy and Timothy G. Smith, 2003, Yellowstone National Park Submerged Resources Survey. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 16, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Part One of this report is dedicated to discussion of SRC underwater remote sensing operations in Yellowstone Lake. Part Two is a comprehensive discussion of the submerged cultural resources of Yellowstone and their significance in the prehistory and history of the region.

Murphy, Larry E. (editor), 1998, H.L. Hunley: Site Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 15, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In April 1996, the National Park Service led an assessment survey of a vessel purported to be the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley located in outer Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. This report discusses the nondestructive remote sensing phase of the study, the test excavation procedures and the analyses of cultural materials recovered or observed in situ.

Morris, Don P. and James Lima, 1996, Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary: Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 14, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This work lays a firm foundation for future research and protection of the submerged cultural resources of the Channel Islands. The authors systematically discuss what's known about the submerged archeological sites from their own fieldwork and that of their colleagues. They then foreshadow the potential for future finds as suggested from archival research.

Murphy, Larry E. (editor), 1993, Dry Tortugas National Park: Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 13, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Shipwrecks are one signature of the relationship between man and the ecosystem, a fact richly demonstrated in the array of sunken vessels around the Dry Tortugas. This is an “assessment” level report designed to provide a firm foundation for future research and stewardship of the archeological resources of a park.

Delgado, James P., Daniel J. Lenihan and Larry E. Murphy, 1991, The Archeology of the Atomic Bomb: A Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment of the Sunken Fleet of Operation Crossroads at Bikini and Kwajalein Atoll Lagoons. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 11, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report compiled by a team of underwater archeologists, illustrators and historians from the NPS Submerged Resources Center presents the results of field studies (including line drawings of shipwrecks) and archival work aimed at determining nature and significance of the sunken ships in Bikini Lagoon. The vessels sank after Atomic Bomb tests conducted in 1946. This document also includes an assessment of the recreational diving potential and risks at Bikini and recommendations for making the area’s wrecks into a park.

Carrell, Toni L., 1991, Micronesia: Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 10, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report on the submerged cultural resources of Micronesia was generated from the results of numerous underwater projects conducted in this part of the work by the NPS SRC. Any student of Micronesian history or archeology should find it a useful overview from which to frame out more intensive research of specific submerged sites.

Murphy, Larry E., 1990, 8SL17: Natural Site Formation Processes of a Multiple-Component Underwater Site in Florida. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 12, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Understanding site-formation processes is as important to unraveling archeological riddles as is the understanding of material remains themselves. This publication seeks to correct a major weakness limiting the study of underwater archeological sites: a set of unquestioned assumptions regarding the natural and cultural processes that affect data-set preservation.

Lenihan, Daniel J. (editor), 1989, Submerged Cultural Resources Study: USS Arizona Memorial and Pearl Harbor National Historic Landmark. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 9, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This document presents the methodology and results of a major submerged resources study. It includes line drawings of the hulks of USS Arizona and USS Utah, the largest objects ever mapped underwater. The report recounts the history of the attack, the salvage operations and the monitoring of long-term deterioration of the ship.

Labadie, C. Patrick, 1989, Submerged Cultural Resources Study: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 8, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Although the focus of this document is intentionally confined to one portion of Lake Superior, it reflects the author’s lifelong fascination with the whole spectrum of Great Lakes Maritime traditions and thus should interest any scholar of the “Inland Seas.”

Delgado, James P. and Stephen A. Haller, 1989, Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment: Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Gulf of Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Point Reyes National Seashore. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 7, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report is the first assessment level document in the submerged cultural resources series of publications produced by the National Park Service. It serves as a model for land managing agencies that wish to generate straightforward statements on what is known about a particular submerged resource base without intensive field study. It also discusses options for exerting responsible stewardship over those resources.

Carrell, Toni L., 1987, Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report: Charles H. Spencer Mining Operation and Paddle Wheel Steamboat. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 6, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Shipwrecks and other cultural remains found in the sea, rivers, or lakes are significant only when their greater context is understood. In this site report the authors integrated underwater and traditional land archeology in a manner that permits the reader to understand the full story told by the archeological record at Lee's Ferry.

Lenihan, Daniel J. (editor), 1987, Submerged Cultural Resources Study: Isle Royale National Park. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 5, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report is the result of a comprehensive underwater research effort conducted at Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior in the early 1980s. It includes a series of recommendations for future protection and interpretation of underwater archeological sites in the park.

Carrell, Toni, 1985, Submerged Cultural Resources Site Report: NOQUEBAY. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 4, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report details the study of remains of a historic wooden vessel located in Julian Bay on the Stockton Island. It is thought to be the schooner-barge Noquebay built in 1872 and lost in 1905. The report includes a discussion of maritime historic context, description of the archeological operations, photographs and site maps.

Carrell, Toni L., 1984, Submerged Cultural Resources Inventory: Portions of Point Reyes National Seashore and Point Reyes- Farallon Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 3, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

This report presents the results of an evaluation and preliminary mapping of Munleon, a WWI laker class vessel lost at Point Reyes in 1931; relocation and evaluation of Richfield, a bulk oil tanker lost in 1930 and documentation and mapping of a circa 1880 schooner wharf site in Schooner Bay.

Murphy, Larry E. (editor), 1984, Submerged Cultural Resources Survey: Portions of Point Reyes National Seashore and Point Reyes-Farallon Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 2, National Park Service, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Point Reyes and Drakes Bay played an important role in the early maritime development of the San Francisco Bay region and consequently has been the location of numerous shipwrecks. This report presents the results of two underwater remote sensing studies conducted by the NPS SRC in 1982.

Last Modified: Mon, Oct 02 2006 10:00:00 am EDT
JMP