RJ is right, and the procedure I used was taken from the TAMU website--the second link that Gene provided. The sugar treatment took time, but left the lantern handle looking like it had never been wet, and it had been submerged since the Goulandris sank.

The pros would use a series of polyethylene glycol baths, increasing the molecular weight of the polymer with each successive bath. This gradually fills in the voids in the wood cells, so that the cell walls don't collapse and cause splitting when the wood dries. Sugar works as a poor man's substitute, since there are some similarities in structure and properties. I started with 1% sugar in water, and went up in maybe a dozen steps to 70% sugar in water, occasionally adding a drop or two of bleach (I was working on a very small scale) to keep bacteria from growing.

For something as big as a deadeye, you'll be soaking quite awhile. A year might not be unreasonable. Or, you can send me the deadeye, and at the end of the treatment I'll send you back a picture of how it turned out!