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I wondered about the long debate about depth of channel. Surely they would not necessarily need a 'harbour' in the sense we understand it? Weren't many boats just sailed in - as near to the coast as possible - and beached for unloading?
Maybe, but with the sands as they are now, you can understand why it came up as an issue. It's one of those beaches where you can walk 100 yards out into the sea and still only be in a few feet of water - so 'beaching' a ship with a 13ft draft would be very difficult as things are now.
However, the drilling, ancient maps etc were all a bit unnecessary. You don't often see slate cliffs 100yds back from the high tide line, as is the case at the back of tregirls bay. Living memory (of those older than me) has the water reaching these cliffs, and much of the beach as shingle not sand. The fact that sand has collected (and developed into dunes) is pretty clear. A navigable harbour doesn't seem a dangerous assumption.
How do TT identify where to start these projects? The location of this settlement is logical, but interesting (for a different reason)... how do they know where to start?
I wonder is the great cornish tradition of plundering shipwrecks goes back to the bronze age You wouldn't need a harbour, just a protective looking bay to become stranded in!
Maybe, but with the sands as they are now, you can understand why it came up as an issue. It's one of those beaches where you can walk 100 yards out into the sea and still only be in a few feet of water - so 'beaching' a ship with a 13ft draft would be very difficult as things are now.
However, the drilling, ancient maps etc were all a bit unnecessary. You don't often see slate cliffs 100yds back from the high tide line, as is the case at the back of tregirls bay. Living memory (of those older than me) has the water reaching these cliffs, and much of the beach as shingle not sand. The fact that sand has collected (and developed into dunes) is pretty clear. A navigable harbour doesn't seem a dangerous assumption.
How do TT identify where to start these projects? The location of this settlement is logical, but interesting (for a different reason)... how do they know where to start?
13ft draft seems way too deep. The Gokstad ship is listed as only having a draft of 1m (3ft). I know that 13ft was quoted in the program, but a ship that deep needs a dock/warf and is too big for the period. For a boat/ship with a draft of 1-2m, with the bottom designed/intended to "sit" on a beach, the estuary would be ideal. The boat would come in on a falling tide, beach and unload etc. Then leave on the next high tide. The period of greatest risk is the swell as the tide comes in, this lifts and drops the boat on every large wave. If the bottom is "hard", damage occurs.
You wouldn't need a harbour, just a protective looking bay to become stranded in!
