The Ships of Nemi
Nemi has been a mysterious place since antiquity. Classical scholars tell us about the sacred places, the cults and myths of Diana, the divinity of the Latin League which had its centre here. The mist enshrouded shadows. The steep slopes and dark woods. The still brooding lake. The people here pre-dated the foundation of Rome. Myth and reality are intertwined here and signs abound of its classical past. The Via Sacra, the temple of Diana and Caesar’s villa.
There are no echoes from the classical scholars about what happened on the lake 2000 years ago. Nothing – nature, history, sources- hold their breath.
From the distant events of imperial Rome the vague memories of the events of Nemi might have been completely lost, yet these faint echoes were never completely extinguished from the popular consciousness. They might have been had it not been for the fact that from antiquity to the dissolution of Rome, through the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, the reality was discovered every day by the people of the area, time and time again. Fishermen continually brought up objects in their nets which clearly testified to a glorious past. This echo came to flower with the explosion of the Renaissance and it is here that two figures start our record off, for the serious hunt for what lay below the waters of Lake Nemi.
Cardinal Colonna was the first person ever to talk about recovering the two imperial ships and he chose as his colleague a typical example of the Italian genius of the time.
Leon Battista Alberti, scientist and man of culture. Expert swimmers were brought from Genoa. A large floating platform was built and iron hooks were attached to the underwater structure. Ropes led from the hooks up to the platform where it was attempted to raise the wreck by using winches. Nothing was recovered except fragments which were nevertheless much admired by the Roman Court which had gathered on the lakeside. Pieces of lead piping were also recovered from the ship and this resulted in the ship being attributed to the era of Trajan.
The second attempt
on the wreck took place nearly a century later in 1535 by Francesco De Marchi.In contrast to his predecessors he personally took part in the diving operations making use of what is probably the first mention in history of a diving suit. The upper part of the body was protected by a sphere made of wood and strengthened with iron rings. The description is incomplete and does not indicate the breathing mechanism. The attempt of De Marchi did not however, result in very much.
Three centuries were to pass before
the next attempt was undertaken. Throughout this interval the wrecks were subject to the depredations of man who, in tearing away timbers, sheets of lead, copper nails, thus caused much greater damage than the simple passage of time.
1827
The next explorer – Annesio Fusconi made use of a
diving bell using the design of the famous Halley. There were places for eight divers in the bell. Using this piece of equipment he managed to extract various pieces such as mosaic flooring, marble, pieces of columns and terra cotta pipes. This material has largely disappeared without trace. When they tried to lift larger parts of the ship with the winch the ropes snapped and finally, due to bad weather, the venture was cut short. Fortunately, we may say, for otherwise the whole ship would have been brought up piece by piece.
1895
In 1895 Eliseo Borghi started his systematic research of the area with the authorisation of the Orsini family in the Comune of Nemi and with the knowledge of the Ministry of Education.
The results of this attempt are well known. First, one of the ships was located and a large
bronze piece was recovered.Subsequently this was identified as the bronze tiller head from one of the rudders. This relic boded well for the success of the venture and promised more interesting objects to come in its wake. In fact, soon after came a series of bronzes of wild animal heads. These bronzes in fact became the most symbolic artifacts of the underwater treasure of Nemi. In their turn a long list of objects of exceptional interest finally saw the light of day. Ball bearings, and needle bearings,hinges, bronze columns, lead pipes, roof tiles made of gilded copper and so on.
Following the directions of a fisherman, on the 18 November 1895 the location of the second ship was established. Material from this was soon brought to the surface including an exceptional piece of bronze which was a beam end with
a forearm and hand depicted on it.On the 15 November 1895 Felice Barnabei, director – general of the Dept of Antiquity and Fine Art, made a report in which he declared that the material found up to that point, proved conclusively the existence of the two ships but that further devastation of the two wrecks should cease. This report was acted upon by the Minister of Education who put an end to further operations and asked the Italian Navy for help to survey the wrecks with a view to assessing the possibility of recovering them.
Thus we come finally to a phase when at last the research was carried out in a strictly disciplined and scientific manner.
Engineer Malfatti of the Italian Navy was given the task of thoroughly surveying the two wrecks and of preparing a study on the viability of recovering them.
Making use of the help of an expert diver he finally managed to produce a report made clear all aspects of the situation.
Chart of wrecks.The important points of the report were as follows:
1.
The Prima Nave is near a point on the lakeside where there is a fisherman’s hut, lies fifty metres from the shore lying on its port side in a depth of between 5 and 12 metres of water.2.
The length of the hull is about 64 metres long and has a beam of about 20 metres.3.
The timbers which are covered with mud were quite well preserved but where exposed they were greatly damaged by the action of the water. The damage caused by repeated attempts at retreiving the wrecks was plainly evident.4.
The seconda nave is located two hundred metres further away in between 15 and 20 metres of water.5.
The length of this ship may be considered about 71 metres long and about 24 metres wide.6.
It is resting on its port side and is fairly well visible from the bow up to about its mid point. From then on it is hidden in the mud which forms the bottom of the lake.
Malfatti believed that recovery of the two wrecks was possible. The method which he thought up to achieve this result, was, to say the least, unusual.
Having carried out his survey the engineer had reached the conclusion that the wrecks, after the vicissitudes of almost two thousand years and the pillage of man to boot, could not stand the strains of a conventional raising operation from the lake bottom. His solution in a nutshell was this.
If the ships couldn’t be raised to the surface then the surface could be lowered to the ships!!!!
Certainly, we are not talking about the sea here, so the quantity of water is finite, but how was Malfatti intending to lower the level of the lake? The first ship, as we have seen, was lying in 12m of water at its deepest part and the second in about 20m.
Lowering the level of the lake by this amount was a tremendous undertaking and represented a colossal quantity of water.
What was Malfatti’s solution to the problem.?
Nothing less than partially draining the lake by means of boring a
large underground tunnel to allow the water to flow out of the crater into the outside world. This plan, was not acted upon and lay more or less dormant for 30 years.In 1926 a Commission was set up to decide on a plan which would assure a successful outcome of the recovery of the two ships. The commission came to the conclusion that Malfatti’s plan still was the most practical and with regard to the new tunnel or acqueduct to be built, their view was that it should be drilled in the direction of Lake Albano.
The Final Plan
The commission, as we have seen, proposed the building of a new gallery which could drain (at least partially) the water out of Lake Nemi. They had decided against using mechanical means, that is to say, pumps, due to the high cost both of acquiring the equipment and running and maintaining it. The third option, that of rennovating an old pre-Roman conduit up to the standard whereby it could cope with the same flow rate as the pumps ie 2,250 liters per second, was rejected as being too expensive also.
Then, just at this point the engineers began to look at one piece of the data in a new light. It was affirmed, and then proved, that the
water conduit, even without extensive upgrading, could cope with a flow rate of around 1,200 litres per second.Why not accept this lower value and de-rate or lower the pumping capacity to suit? This would eliminate the need to undertake expensive upgrading of the acqueduct, would obviate the need to build a new tunnel and would, moreover, mean that the operation could begin almost immediately.
It would not be so important that the acqueduct could only handle 1,200 litres per second because in the time that it would take to build a new tunnel, the old one could have already handled 25 million cubic metres of water- enough in fact for the prima nave to be
already in the light of day.At this point the idea emerged of certain large companies undertaking the cost of lending equipment and labour free for the duration of the project.
The decision of the Government was made and it was decided that the draining operation should start within 3 months.
There was, at this point, an incredible frenetic activity. Engineers, electricians, road builders, bricklayers, soldiers; all were feverishly engaged in various operations.
This deadline was not met!
The ancient pre-Roman tunnel posed problems that had not hitherto been identified and delays were encountered. However, after much hard work the gallery was restored to a suitable condition for the pumping of water through it and by October 1928 everything was ready for the operational phase to begin.
Draining the Lake
On the 20 October 1928 the head of the government, accompanied by the Undersecretary of the Interior and the ministers of Education and Public Works started the pumps for the draining of the lake after having carried out a rapid examination of the work completed up to that point.
The water sucked out of the lake was carried in four large pipes which in turn emptied into a huge header tank situated at the entrance of the Roman conduit which cut through the hillside from the lake to the surrounding countryside. The four deafening gouts of water thus united in the header tank and then quickly passed into the conduit to emerge on the other side of the volcanic crater,
to then pass down a purpose built canal down to the sea. The great enterprise had at last begun!As related by Guido Ucelli in his book Le Navi di Nemi:-
"In the glory of the Roman sunset a fire seems to burn in Nemi, the tower of the Orsini, and even higher up still, in the burning sky, the trees of Monte Cavo blaze around the deserted altar of Giove Laziale: portentous vision that then, suddenly, is extinguished. The evening shadows invade the crater, the mirrorlike water becomes immediately grey and is ruffled by a light breeze: it seems that a spell is being broken; but the work that has been started is not interrupted; the humming of the rotating machinery continues apace, as does the rush of the water through the conduit in its race to the sea."
Even those who were not present had a sensation of an unrepeatable hour having passed.
On 16 October, just as the first tests were being carried out, a small harmless tremor took place, that some wanted to interpret as a warning: thus the order to keep in contact with the geophysical observatory at Rocca di Papa, but fortunately, after this false alarm no other phenomenon of this type was registered and the work could continue without obstruction."
The Prima Nave appears.
In the middle of February 1929, a
second pumphouse was set up between the original one and the level of the lake which by this time had dropped by 4 metres.On the 28 March 1929, as the level reached -5.52 metres from the original, the first parts of the ship appeared from the waters of the lake.
The event created great interest which reached the world press and the positive and scientific nature of the undertaking was affirmed against the troublesome polemics of those who continued to doubt even the existence of these antique curiosities.
The second pumphouse did not last long. Despite attempts to stabilise the terrain the platform at the second pumping station subsided and a plan which had already been prepared for a
floating pumping station, now became indispensible. Two great pumps were mounted on a floating pontoon from the military engineers and connected to the rigid pipes on the shore by huge flexible tubes of armoured rubber. This plant was put into operation in the middle of May and this configuration which proved to be excellent, was retained, with necessary modifications, until the end of the operation.
Some of the notable objects which were found at this early stage of the excavation of the prima nave are as follows:
1. A beam nearly 12 metres long of a circular section. It tapered towards one end and at the other was capped by a large bronze collar about 40 cm in diameter in the form of a lion's head.
2. Wolf’s head
On the 3 September 1929 as the level of the lake dropped to -11.28m the hull finally emerged completely from the water. The ship became a magnet for all sorts of people, politicians, academics and ordinary people alike.
On the 19 September, members of the congress of the " Institution of Naval Architects", representatives of the British Royal Navy and technicians from British naval shipyards, came to admire this precious example of naval architecture in every detail with Vittorio Malfatti acting as guide.
Hauling out
The new pumping platform came into service on 13 April 1930 but the work at this point revolved around freeing the "prima nave" from the mud and preparing it for moving by fitting a
large cradle around it which could then slide on four lines of rails. This work continued up to and was completed on the 5 October at which point the pumping operation was stopped. The following day the process of moving the hull was started with complete success.The level of the lake by this time had been lowered by over 15 metres and now with the completion of the "recovery" phase of the first ship, the crucial question arose about what to do with regard to the second ship.
Between the lapping of the waves the outline of the hull was already visible for about 20 metres and revealed aspects of special interest.
Protruding from the sides of the hull were
long beams all of the same length. The experts from the Navy that were following this exceptional research with great passion speculated about the possibility of this being a fortunate find which might solve the controversial question about the arrangement of oars in Roman ships.Despite the great expectations the order to restart the pumps didn't come and there was growing unease about the fate of the second ship.
There followed a period of uncertainty. The pumps were stopped and it was not clear if the project would continue to bring the second ship on to dry land or not.
The hull of the second ship was remarkably well preserved due to the build up of sediment over parts of it and in other areas due to landslips having entombed it, albeit underwater. Gradually the ground dried out and reached a new equilibrium though sometimes, as earlier on 20 December 1930, there were sudden movements of large quantities of mud changing the level around the hull.
There was occasional apprehension about these movements of the mud around the ship.
Finally on 10 June 1931 the second ship emerged completely from the waters.
Up to this point over 40 million cubic metres of water had been discharged, all of it going through the restored emissario or subterranean conduit purpose built by the Romans. Nothing remained now but to drop the level of the lake another two or three metres to then be able to remove the hull from its resting place but the long odyssey of the ship was not over yet.
On 22 August 1931 the largest upheaval of the ancient lake bottom took place. Thirty hectares of land underwent covulsions while a huge quantity of semifluid material calculated at over half a million cubic metres, issued from the underlying strata and slid into the lake. This caused the lake level to rise by over half a metre. Fortunately there was no damage this time either but the frightening event had the effect of causing the order to suspend operations to be given.
This seemed to be the end of the project as all the old controversies re-emerged and the order was thus given to dismantle the machinery and abandon further research.
The waters started to creep back up to reclaim their lost prey and eventually surrounded the hull, giving it the appearance of floating and moving with the waves.
The author at this point in the proceedings went to visit the lakeside site and recounts it in somewhat poetic terms - it is reproduced here to give something of a feel for the emotions that the great project could provoke and the magical moments that it created. - trans.
"We go down to the lake to check the damage caused by the rising waters that now have innundated the excavation site. The narrow path takes us out of the woods to the deserted lakeside and in the solemn silence, broken only by the slight lapping of waves against the hull, we behold an unforgettable vision, myth and reality become one.
The Roman majesty of the ship dominates the lake that appears, as perhaps it once was, to be the centre of the sacrarium: nothing has changed: among the shadows of the dark trees glows the Golden Bough of legend; on the moving luminescence of the Mirror of Diana the ship travels the course of centuries. In the divine solitude that the lake has jealously preserved, we are confronted, not by a cold and immobile monument no matter how great, but by a magical survivor of the past, a reality both concrete and tangible.
We watch, moved, as our eyes take in the most live picture of classical antiquity ever presented to man. Under this sky, in this light of pagan beauty, in the splendour of all that was Rome, on this stately ship, moved by hundreds and hundreds of oars, Caligula set sail towards the mysterious temple with the gilded roof.
In this suspension of time, it is not the echo of an epic song or harmonious prayers that come to us but a complete reality, herald of events to come, the reality itself rises again from the Divine Womb of the Lake.
Intervention by the Navy Ministry
The Navy Ministry that had already supported the endeavour in all its phases with the greatest interest and practical help. At this stage, informed of the present state of affairs it appealed to the government to continue with the project. This appeal was heeded and the go-ahead was given for the project to continue.
The industrialists continued with their free help and the pumps were re-assembled and put into operation within a short space of time and on 28 March (1932), after a halt of seven months, the water once again drained out of the lake into the "emissario" down to the sea.
All these difficulties overcome, this time the project finally arrived at a successful conclusion. The second ship was definitively freed from the clutch of the waters.
Preservation
From outset the commission was worried about the problem of the preservation of the wood that the fine mud of the lake had miraculously protected.
It was clear that small objects in controlled environments could be preserved without problems.
This was not the case however for an exhibit the size of a ship.
To protect the ships it was decided to cover them with cloths. These were kept wetted by pumps
Once freed from mud the hull was enveloped in a hangar of cloth but this proved insufficient since both sides of the hull, inside and out, were naturally exposed to the air and
dried out too quickly
The surface layers warped, cracked and flaked - starting disintegration of the hulls which had been recovered virtually intact.
The second hull was even more difficult to cope with.
Due to pumping operations being suspended at a certain point, there was a re-immersion of the hull
after it had partially dried out. This had further deleterious consequences for the state of the hull.Since 1930 the commission had taken care to gather information on various methods of preserving wood, among these the Oslo Museum for the preservation of the Viking longships.
The preservation of the Norwegian vessels had been ensured through use of
a vegetable tar diluted in solvents and applied to various areas, sometimes up to ten times.For greater success in the operation, given the large size of the vessels, the members were often removed and then after treatment put back into their original position.
The recovery of the original volume of the wooden members was obtained through
treating the timber with steam - in the case of wood already dried out, by a bath of water and formalin.In a meeting at the lakeside on 21 July 1931 the commission decided to adopt the treatment that had been used by the Oslo Museum. (
Photo shows the application of tar to the seconda nave - the difference in colour between the treated and untreated parts can be seen)Admiral Sirianni supplied the first tons of vegetable tar and the work of applying it to the wood was started immediately.
As previously noted, the landslip of August 22 caused the draining of the lake to be suspended and slowly the hull of the ship was once again submerged. It was only the following spring that once again the pumps could start again and the hull was brought definitively out of the water. This done, on 13 October 1932 while the second ship was being dragged up clear of the lake, a meeting was held to discuss once again which method of preservation to use. The outcome was a decision to repeat the treatment of vegetable tar with partial use of hot application for certain areas.
The most pressing problem by this point was getting the ship under proper cover out of the ravages of sun and rain, much more so since the seconda nave showed signs of attack by parasites.
In the meantime, a
temporary protection was made for it from an immense sheathing of wood, tarred cardboard and cloth.After the storm of 5 February 1934 that tore off the covering from the hangar protecting the prima nave, the same sort of protection was rigged up for it too.
