Why, one might ask, is there a collection of wood in a zoological museum? These pieces were samples that were all bored through by a species considered a “pest”: Teredo navalis.
The history of T. navalis spans various geographical regions, periods, nations, industries, and disciplines. The naval shipworm of unknown origin has been a recurring protagonist in reports for as long as ships have been sailing the seas. The eight-centimeter-long animal achieved fame due to the damage and destruction that it wreaked on wooden ships and harbor infrastructure: by boring through the wood, it sunk wooden ships; by boring into underwater pillars and stakes, it brought down entire harbors. The wood on which it feeds serves as a habitat and a means of transport – which is how T. navalis spread throughout the world on the debris and the hulls of sailing ships. The engineer Adolf Hahn, back then in charge of the technical administration of the Lower Saxon harbor, and coastal and shore protection, ascertained in 1956:
“When it comes to achievements in the sinking of ships, world-famous sea heroes like Drake, Nelson, Count Luckner, and the German U-boot fleets of World War II are no match for a small group of oceanic pests that have been carrying out a systematic campaign of destruction against the work of man since the day that man first set sail on the oceans.” [1]
The history of T. navalis is thus not only a global history but a history of globalization that is deeply rooted in colonialism, in imperial trade, and in the history of maritime logistics. Just like it is impossible to separate the animal from its wooden environment, the history of T. navalis cannot be separated from the material, scientific, and commercial history of wood, ships, and the history of maritime infrastructures. Reconstructing the natural history of T. navalis thus means examining the relationship between ocean technology on the one hand and the ecological impact of and changes that have taken place in marine biodiversity on the other.
This leads back to the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. Friedrich Moll (1882–1951), a German wood specialist who occupied himself with the conservation of wood in mines and navigation, had Teredo-infested wood samples sent to the museum from all over the world between probably 1900 and 1930. These material traces of the animal’s boring activities were used to examine both the biology of teredinidae and practical pest control measures that were taken against the animals in order to control and prevent the species’ spread.
However, the preserved wood samples that can be found in many natural history collections do not just present a material archive of the past; they are also relevant to work with and on collection histories and futures. While mass appearances of T. navalis waned significantly with the end of the age of navigation and wooden ship building, its legacy endures to this day. In order to protect the wood in ships and harbor infrastructure against infestation, the wood was subjected to various treatments, including arsenic, copper, and much more. What do we do with historical collections that are potentially contaminated? And what impact does this have on social relationships with these objects?
[1] Adolf Hahn, “Die Bekämpfung der Bohrmuschel” Die Küste. Archiv für Forschung und Technik an der Nord- und Ostsee 5 (1956), 49–71, 51.
