Landscapes of Risk Prevention and Mitigation

Abstract

This chapter presents the archaeological evidence of the sites and landscape elements associated with shipwreck prevention and mitigation, as a way of alerting archaeologists to how these diverse sites can be identified and considered as part of a shipping risk management system. This includes navigation structures such as lighthouses, beacons, buoys and signal stations, as well as channel creation and environmental management. The archaeological evidence for the pilot service as the most significant of the prevention services is considered. Non-physical elements of place and toponymy are also discussed, as is the methodology of data collection and the interplay between oral, historical and archaeological data sets.

Oh Pilot, ‘tis a fearful night,

There’s danger on the deep

(QS 10/5/1884)