Anguilla recently battered by Hurricane Lenny.

Clifford Smith, the Museum's director of conservation and underwater archaeology was sent by the British Government to rescue and preserve tons of documents damaged by flooding from the storm.

Mr. Smith was recommended by deputy governor Tim Gurney to help the Anguillan government. The British Government paid for Mr. Smith's expenses.

Anguilla is a tiny Leeward Island just east of the Virgin Islands, and is relatively low lying.

Its capital, The Valley, literally sits at the bottom of the saucer shaped island and was particularly vulnerable to the effects of the strange Lenny.

The late season hurricane stalled over the Eastern Caribbean Sea dumping ten to 17 inches over the numerous islands. In addition, it travelled eastward while normal hurricanes traverse the sea in a east to west direction.

Mr. Gurney was in Anguilla as the hurricane hung around and heard about the government documents thought lost forever, and worked with his counterpart, Roger Cousins to advise on what to do.

"The first thing I told them on the phone was to keep them wet,'' Mr. Smith said last week of the desperate call on November 26.

"Nothing like that had ever happened,'' he said. "I got there two weeks after the rains had stopped and the water was still receding.'' Mr. Smith, who is from Nantucket, Massachusetts, set about organising and training six Anguillan government civil servant volunteers into an emergency field conservation team.

The team had to work without any of the specialised equipment considered normal in the field.

"They were excellent workers,'' he said. "Fabulous. They would get there before I did and work long hours. I believe they will save the majority of documents.'' The team rescued everything from valuable Governor's Office and legal records to the seemingly trivial, like car registrations.

The paper was washed of mud and sludge and then dipped in "biocide'' to kill any organic matter like faeces, bacteria, and mould.

Next, the papers were washed in a solution of one percent polyvinyl alcohol to increase its strength, then hung to dry.

Once restored, they were sorted and then sent back to the relevant government departments.