Tides around Alderney change by six meters with currents up to 10 knots. By comparison, an Olympic crawler swims at around 3 knots. With only a 20 minute window in which to carry out work between tides, the threat of massive sand shifts and the risk of catching the bends, the Alderney wreck is one of the most dangerous ever to have been excavated. Gold swords, armoury, stirrups and clothing - each item is an eye into the past and is carefully recorded and conserved. It's a huge challenge.
Wood shrinks quickly and pewter disintegrates.
Four hundred year-old artefacts exposed to the sea create a conservationist's nightmare. Canons and muskets testify to a warship. Spanish helmets suggest one of the Armada, but the pottery links it to the Dutch. Pan weights, stamped with the ER signature, have raised another possibility. The ship could be British.