Memorial Fund Workshops
The IMASS Committee manages a fund that supports continuing education in the field of maritime research, by promoting seminars and courses associated with our annual Shipwreck Conference. The fund was set up in memory of two former members, called the ‘Roy Davis and Neville Oldham Memorial Fund’.
See details below of our previous workshop topics.
2025 – 1890s-19302 transferware
The Transferware Identification for Divers workshop was led by pottery expert Richard Hemery and covered transferware ceramics commonly found by divers. Richard gave an overview on the history of transferware, how to date it, and available resources for identification. The afternoon session included a hands-on Q&A where deletages brought along their own pottery and photos of ceramics to share and get help with identification.
2024 – Ordnance
The workshop held at the University of Plymouth Marine Station covered ordnance commonly found by divers, but also gave an overview of early maritime ordnance and materials. The workshop was taught by Nicholas Hall, curator emeritus at the Royal Armouries Museum and involved some background information and history of all things tube artillery from 1600 to present day. This was followed by a show-and-tell session of a variety of ordnance from different periods of history and locations.
2023 – Marine Steam Engines
A symposium on marine steam engines called ‘What am I looking at?’ was run by Mark Rudall who is the Vice President of the Steamboat Association of GB. The symposium included two hours for Q&A where participants brought photos, videos and questions about marine steam engines. This event was sponsored by IMASS through the Neville Oldham Memorial Fund. 
2018 – Cannon Workshop
It will be in two parts
The first part will consist of a number of short talks, covering:
Recording and photographing cannon
Materials – wrought iron, bronze and cast iron (and those made of more than one material – composite guns)
Basic types – muzzle-loading, breech loading; cannons, mortars howitzers & carronades
A guide to measurements and sizes
A guide to dating from the 15th century to the early 19th century
There will be hand-outs and basic bibliographies available for participants.
Part two will be a cannon road show.
Participants are encouraged to bring pictures, drawings, measurements etc and we will do our best to answer their queries – bring your pictures, either hard copy or on a memory stick, and be prepared to show all!
Lecturers will be:
Ruth Brown – with over 30 years experience, Ruth specialises in artillery from about 1600 to 1820.
Kay Smith has over 30 years experience and specialises in artillery before 1600 and in the history and development of black powder
2019 – Development Of Ships Anchors
A guide to anchor development, identification and recording
This short course will introduce you to the subject of anchor development, from prehistoric stone anchors to the more common anchors in use today. The aim of the course is to give participants a basic understanding of anchor development so that they can acquire the relevant information to do a basic identification and estimate origin and date.
The course will be in two parts:
The first part will consist of a number of short talks, covering:
The history and development of anchors
Anchor Identification
Recording and photographing anchors
Materials – stone, lead, and iron
Basic types –round crown, long shanks, stockless
A guide to measurements and sizes
A guide to dating
There will be hand-outs and basic bibliographies available for participants.
The second part will be an anchor roadshow.
Participants are encouraged to bring pictures, drawings, measurements of anchors and we will do our best to answer their queries – bring your pictures, either hard copy or on a memory stick, and be prepared to show all!
The SHIPS Project will have a small anchor exhibition at Ocean Studios in the sitting area of the café on the ground floor, there will be several anchor examples on display as well as a short history and a narrative on anchor symbolism.
