LIBS ANALYSIS AND LASER CLEANING OF METAL OBJECTS RESCUED FROM THE CORVETTE H.M.S. SWIFT

G. M. BILMES; F. C. ALVIRA; N. PEREZ SOLOZA; A. A. ORSETTI

Londres

Congreso; Lasers In the Conservartion of Artwork; 2011

British Museum

On March 13, 1770, as a consequence of a storm the british war corvette H.M.S. SWIFT strand and sink at the Patagonian coast in the Deseado Ria, Santa Cruz, Argentina, at 50 meters of the coast. In 1982  a group of young enthusiasts initiated  the search and rescue of the Swift objects. At the next year, 1983,  The Museo Municipal Mario Brozoki  is created ( Puerto Deseado, Provincia de Santa Cruz, Argentina) who is in charged of the rescue and conservation of the pieces, in collaboration with the Instituto Nacional de Antropología de la Argentina. Up to now more than 500 pieces were rescued. Many of them have marine corrosion and concretions that make impossible determine by simple inspection, their constitutive materials. Before restoration and conservation it is necessary to identify the composition of the substrate to decide the treatment. In this work LIBS analysis and laser cleaning were applied to a collection of  metal pieces rescued from the SWIFT.