Museum Preservation

In the article, “Even in a Museum, Elements Eat at a Sunken Ship” written by Sindya N. Bhanoo of the New York Times, the preservation of a Swedish warship known as Vasa is discussed. The main problem with the Vasa is that the nails and rivets which were used to build the ship, have caused Iron Oxide to seep into the ships wood. This chemical reaction of Oxygen and Iron, also known as Iron Oxide, allows rust to corrode the metal alloy in the Iron. This can also be true in terms of wood, which can also corrode due to over-exposure of rust. Similarly, another preservation problem could be Iron Stains. These are stains in the wood due to contamination from Iron. Basically, oak wood contains many types of tannin. The various types of tannin react with the Iron to produce a blue and black stain on the wood.

The second preservation problem which plagues the Vasa is the fact that ships wooden hull is warping and shifting a few millimeters a year. When warping of wood occurs, the shape of the wood changes primarily as a result of a moisture change within the wood. Considering the Vasa was pulled out of the Atlantic Ocean, the waterlogged wood is exposed to oxygen. This moisture change causes the wood to shrink and the piece tends to wrap. The shift of the wood is a result of the warp, in which the hull of the Vasa is warping at a bowed angle.  With these two major preservation problems, the staff has decided to come up with a plan to make sure the Vasa gets better support.

Being a student and studying various kinds of preservation methods, this article greatly shocked me. Even although the Vasa was well taken care of and housed in a museum, it still began to deteriorate and falter. This is typically true of items which are not taken care of, but the Vasa was preserved according to preservation standards and sheltered from all the dangers of the world. It almost seemed to me that the Vasa would be better preserved in its natural environment, which prior to 1956, was at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

After reading this article, I began researching various ways which the Vasa could be better taken care of. First, the biggest problem facing Dr. Bjurhager is that the Vasa are primarily made of oak wood. This type of wood is considered one of the most problematic types of wood because of the vapors which are produced. To block these vapors, the team at The Vasa Museum may consider apply a coat of paint to prevent the harmful vapors of the wood from escaping.

After researching the museum site, the staff has created an innovative way in dealing with the Iron Oxide problem. Basically, the staff extracts the Iron from the wood and nails using chemical agents known as chelators. These chemical agents remove 80% of the Iron from the Vasa wood along with the conservation chemical PEG. This causes the re-conservation of the wood because the conservation staff must place the PEG back into the wood to further conserve it.