The ship, now known as Asterix, went down after catching fire – and several of its timbers and more than 1,000 other artefacts were preserved when its cargo of tar set in a solid mass around it.
Part of the wreck was discovered by a diver on Christmas Day 1982, and was raised between 1984 and 1986. It then underwent extensive conservation work at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth.
It had been hoped that the Roman timbers, which have been stored at a former post office in Guernsey since January, would be moved to a building at Guernsey Pearl over the summer.
But museum director Dr Jason Monaghan said it has taken longer than planned to appoint a contractor to adapt the property.
‘We have now finished converting the building and we are just having the air-handling units fitted,’ he said.
‘We will start moving the timbers, probably at the end of the month.
‘It will probably take a few weeks.’
It is hoped the rest of the timbers will be on view from mid-September.
‘There has been a lot of paperwork and we had to get the tenders in,’ Dr Monaghan said.
‘There has been lots of waiting. It would have been nice to have it all ready for summer, but it did not happen.’
A FORMER Guernsey election candidate has been jailed after headbutting a hotel manager in a drunken attack. Wine merchant Hugh Bygott-Webb (56) launched the assault after being asked to leave Les Rocquettes Hotel for being aggressive and abusive towards staff. Guernsey Magistrate’s Court heard that after being escorted from the premises on the evening of 28 March, Bygott-Webb returned to the bar, and as he was being led out again, grabbed the manager’s tie and headbutted him in the face. Bygott-Webb, who unsuccessfully stood for Deputy for St Peter Port South in 2012, said he could not remember the incident. He pleaded guilty to assault and disorderly conduct and was jailed for three months and ordered to pay £500 compensation.
