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The INA Quarterly

Volume 21 No. 3 Fall 1994 MEMBERSHIP
Institute of Nautical Archaeology
PO Drawer HG
Contents 3 Letter from the President College Station, TX 77841-5137
Frederick M. Hocker
Frederick M Hcker Hear firsthand of the latest discov-
eries in nautical archaeology. Mem-
4 INA Egypt's Red Sea Survey bers receive the INA Quarterly, sci-
Cheryl Haldane entific reports, and book discounts.

10 Excavation of a Late Seventeenth- Regular ......... $25
Century Dutch Freighter: 1993 Contributor ...... $50
Field Report
Robert Neyland Supporter ....... $100

15 The Reader's Point Vessel: Benefactor ...... $1000
Preliminary Field Report on the Student/ Retired .. $15
Excavation of an Eighteenth-
Century Sloop in St. Ann's Bay, Checks in U.S. currency should be
Jamaica made payable to INA.
Gregory D. Cook

19 News and Notes



The articles in this issue represent INA's work on 17th- and 18th-century vessels in three regions of
the world: Egypt, the Netherlands, and Jamaica.



On the cover: Archaeologist Douglas Haldane, surrounded by the remains of a late 17th-century porcelain carrier in the Red Sea,
examines a glass "case" bottle.


October 1994 by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. All rights reserved.
INA welcomes requests to reprint INA Quarterly articles and illustrations. Please contact the editors for permission.
Submissions to the INA Quarterly are subject to review by the editors and editorial board. Contributors will receive five copies of the
issue in which their article appears. Contact the editors for a style sheet and guidelines. Please address all communication to the
Editors, INA Quarterly, PO Drawer HG, College Station, TX 77841-5137; tel (409) 845-6694, fax (409) 845-6399, e-mail: nautical@tamu.edu

The INA Quarterly was formerly the INA Newsletter (vols. 1-18). Editors: Elizabeth Greene
David J. Stewart






- Letter from the President -


Greetings from Turkey, Egypt, Vermont, Jamaica, Bul-
garia, Bahrain, Albania, Israel, and all the other places INA
staff have been working this year!
As some of you have surely noticed, some fairly strik-
ing changes have taken place in our Institute in recent
months. Chip Vincent, who served as our president for
six years, left INA to direct an historic preservation project
of gigantic proportions in Egypt. He sends greetings to
his many INA friends; he and his family have settled into
a very nice neighborhood in Cairo and he enjoys his work
with the American Research Center in Egypt. I have
stepped into his old job with the task of preparing INA for
a very bright future. Many of you have read articles I have
written for the Quarterly and know that I have been work-
ing with INA for ten years, first as a graduate student and
recently as a faculty member and project director. I have
worked on INA projects in Jamaica and Turkey, directed
the infamous "mud and alligators" excavation in South
Carolina in 1992, and have even dived for a couple of weeks
in the cold, dark, green waters of Lake Champlain with
Kevin Crisman, so I am familiar with the range of projects Pht eee
in which the Institute has been involved. My own research Photo: E. Greene
interests center on the Middle Ages and the history of ship- INA President Frederick M. Hocker
building, but I am fascinated by all of the work going on
here in College Station and at our many overseas locations.
Other changes of which you should be aware involve our major research projects of the last decade. The
Port Royal Project, which included ten seasons of excavation in Jamaica from 1981 to 1990, is now moving into
the publication stage under Donny Hamilton's direction. This project has led not only to the development of
several new treatments for waterlogged artifacts, but also inspired a large number of Master's theses on differ-
ent groups of artifacts; these theses will form the core of the final publication, and demonstrate the importance
of the close link between the Institute's research and the educational programs offered in the graduate course
of study in Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University. In Turkey, the Uluburun excavation, after eleven
field campaigns, has been finished. The Virazon returned the last load of artifacts and dedicated excavation
staff to Bodrum in September, and now George Bass and Cemal Pulak can concentrate on the long process of
analysis and publication. In Lake Champlain, Kevin Crisman is completing an intense program of research
that has, over the last 14 years, recovered information about virtually every major type of vessel to sail on the
lake up to the end of the 19th century. He is now in the process of writing a definitive history of the lake.
With the conclusion of so many large projects, it would be easy to become nostalgic and rest on our laurels.
I refuse to do that. This is a time of great opportunity, because new projects are just getting started. In Turkey
next summer we will begin excavation of a well-preserved shipwreck from the time of Charlemagne. In Israel,
Shelley Wachsmann has just begun a long-term project in Tantura Lagoon, where the wrecks seem to be stacked
like cordwood, from the Middle Ages down to the Middle Bronze Age, and where the level of preservation is
unusually good. Kevin Crisman is beginning reconnaissance for the excavation of a 17th-century deepwater
merchantman. In Egypt, Cheryl Haldane has located several wrecks from a virtually unknown corner of mari-
time history, and will begin the excavation of one of them next summer (see the article in this Quarterly for
details). Ralph Pedersen and Jack Neville have been in the field looking for new opportunities for INA in the
Persian Gulf and the Black Sea, and we are currently putting together the funding for a survey of shipwrecks in
Albania. Join us as we prepare for another decade of new discoveries, careful research, and adventure as we
explore the history of seafaring.


INA Quarterly 21.3













INA- Egypt's


Red Sea Survey


by Cheryl Haldane, Co-Director, INA- Egypt


When we first moved to Egypt, old hands cautioned
that we should count ourselves successful to achieve a third
of what we set out to do each day. Thanks to the assis-
tance of many individuals, INA-Egypt, the Institute's new
branch in Egypt, successfully achieved all its goals for its
Red Sea shipwreck survey conducted in June and July of
this year. Our team, made up of representatives from
Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, divers from the
Egyptian Navy's salvage and rescue department, and ar-
chaeological divers from Egypt and Texas A&M's Nauti-
cal Archaeology program, visited 26 sites and searched
more than 134 hours underwater along 160 km of coast-
line over a six-week period (fig. 1).
Designed to evaluate known sites and to explore
known harbors and anchorages for evidence of past use,
the survey located anchors, isolated potsherds, artifact scat-
ters, and shipwrecks that each contribute to our knowl-
edge of the past 500 years of maritime activity in the Red
Sea. The survey, INA's first project in Egypt, laid the
groundwork for future excavations in the area.

Origins
"It must be like this for all
first-year expeditions," 1 re-
peated to myself again and
again during our final week in
Cairo. Our team had gathered
from Egypt and the U.S., and
with the assistance of the Amoco
Foundation and CitiBank, we
had bought or borrowed all the
diving and camping gear we
would need. After days of scour-
ing the streets of Cairo for last
minute items or drinking endless
cups of tea while waiting for one Fig. 2. Today, Quseir depth
more signature on a visa or clear- phate and the construction
ance, we were all immensely In the past shipsfron dist
grateful to retreat to the quiet of borfor victualling, local
the desert..


ena
n
an
co


g ni luxury goods fro F


On departure day, the alarms went off at 5 a.m. and
we drove our two Land Rovers out of the valley that holds
Cairo into the Eastern Desert, not the soft, sand-duned
desert of cinematic imagination, but a geological wonder-
land of jagged pink granite mountains. Turning south on
Egypt's coastal highway once we reached the sea, we mar-
veled at the contrast between the brilliant blue waters and
utterly barren sand stretching to
the arid mountains to the west.

Quseir
We reached Quseir the next
day, hastened by the stiff north
wind that blows steadily in
summer months. Quseir is a
small town today, but in the Ro-
man period and again in Mam-
luk times (11th-14th centuries
A.C.) it flourished as a major
Red Sea port. Ships carrying
Photo: E. Greene spices from India, metal-ware
s on the shipping of phos- from Yemen, and Chinese silks
of hotels for its livelihood, and ceramics docked at Quseir
t seas depended on its har- rather than risk sailing too near
nsignments, and off-load- Crusader-held territory during
ar East. the medieval period.


tNA Quarterly 21.3


Map: D. Stewart
Fig. 1. INA- Egypt surveyed target areas along the
Red Sea coast from Quseir to Hurgada, as well as
the tip of the Sinai peninsula.










Excavations at Quseir al-
Qadim (10 km north of the mod-
ern town) by the University of
Chicago document a fairly
wealthy town. At the site today,
the archaeologist's eye spots hun-
dreds of fragments of glass, scraps
of bronze, coral building blocks,
beautifully preserved mats, the
braided sole of a sandal, sherds of
an ostrich eggshell, and even a
small coin. The site is curious be-
cause it has only two major peri-
ods of occupation, and it is located
about a kilometer inland. Donald
Whitcomb and Janet Johnson, the
site's primary excavators, sug- Fig. 3. So-called Turkis
gested that the sandy wadi bot- the late 17th century and
tom south of the site once served by Avner Raban's team
as the harbor. shipwreck.
We dived in the harbor at
Quseir al-Qadim, hoping to find
evidence for some of the thousands of ships that passed
through the narrow corridor between the reef-encircled
harbor and open sea. Although we searched assiduously,
covering the entire harbor up to depths of 37 m, our only
reward was a small 18th-century iron anchor on the south-
ern side. Had it not been on a steep slope, it too would
have been covered with a heavy blanket of sand.
The sand accumulation along the Red Sea coast is tre-
mendous. In addition to eroded sediments from the high
Eastern Desert blown by wind and washed by infrequent
flash floods into the sea, creatures such as the sea slug pul-
verize billions of coral exoskeletons and produce hundreds
of tons of sand each year. Electronic sensing is likely to be
the primary way to discover Red Sea ships older than a
few hundred years.
Survey in the modern harbor at Quseir located sev-
eral areas with 16th-18th century Ottoman-period mate-
rial on the surface (figs. 2 and 3). Broken clay pipes, water
jars, bowls and charcoal holders for the nargile (water pipe),
a small porcelain tea bowl and another clay cup suggest
an area for discharging ships' bilges. These were inter-
mixed with sheep bones from a shipping accident a few
years ago, so we are particularly cautious about dating
some of the objects.

Mersa Gasus
Our next camp, at Mersa Casus (Harbor of Spies), was
seaside rather than in the desert and far more comfortable
than the first, but the number of plastic bags and other
trash in the water suggested that we were closer to a busy
port. Unfortunately, the only ancient refuse we found was
the broken base of a ceramic transport jar. A three-meter-


long anchor and a smaller grap-
nel anchor, again on the southern
half of theharbor, offered the only
other testimony of past use.
Because of the enormous
sand deposition seen in other ar-
eas, our hopes for finding evi-
dence of pharaonic activity at
Mersa Gawasis (Spy Harbor),
about three kilometers south of
Mersa Gasus, were not high de-
spite the fact that Mersa Gawasis
had served as the anchorage for
voyages to the land of Punt dur-
ing the Middle Kingdom (2040-
Photo: P. van Alfen 1781 B.C.).
pipes probably date to In the year 2002 B.C., the 11th
re similar to pipes found Dynasty king Mentuhotep II sent
Sthe Sharm el Sheikh the Great Steward and Chief Trea-
surer Henu along this route to
launch an. expedition to Punt.
Henu's ships were merchant ves-
sels, seeking fresh myrrh and frankincense, highly aromatic
resins from trees that grow in southern Arabia and in the
region of Eritrea and Somalia. Other expeditions to Punt
sought gold and precious stones.
Fifty years after Henu's accomplishments, the Vizier
Antefoker commemorated a similar trip to the Red Sea on
a votive anchor. Antefoker's role was similar to that of
Henu. He supervised the construction of ships on the Nile
and their transport across the desert by more than 3,000
men, but did not travel to Punt Limestone anchors carved
with the thanks of Ankhow testify to the safe return of this
official of Senwosret I.
Although Ankhow's anchor and several other shrines
were excavated by Dr. Abdel Monem al Sayed of the Uni-
versity of Alexandria
and removed to the
University's museum,
some brilliantly white,
broken anchors remain
on an uplifted fossil
reef on the harbor's
northern edge (fig. 4).
These were the only
pharaonic objects we
saw during the survey,
but we felt strong link
with those long-ago
adventurers.
We did find an-
other 18th-or 19th-cen- Photo: C. Haldane
tury A.C. anchor at Fig. 4. Pharaonic anchorfragments
Mersa Gawasis, up- found at Mersa Gawasis.


INA Quarterly 21.3


h
a;











right in the sand at the base of a coral pillar. Fifteen min-
utes of rapid handfanning brought two archaeologists no
closer to the anchor's crown or flukes, but provided yet
more evidence of the massive sand overburden objects
receive in a geologically short timespan.

The Seventeenth-Century Porcelain Carrier
We moved camp once again, to an area where divers
had reported that a porcelain-carrying shipwreck lay [the
site is being looted and we must protect its identity tem-
porarily]. The first dive team waded out over a fringe reef
covered with brittle stars and sea urchins and began their
search. Ashraf Hanna, one of our Egyptian team mem-
bers, and Elizabeth Greene, a Texas A&M graduate stu-
dent, were the first to catch a glimpse of a shipwreck against
the base of the reef. However, it was the end of their dive,
so they could only report its location.
Peter van Alfen, another TAMU student, and I had the
privilege of the first dive on the site. Sharks, sea turtles,
moray eels and hundreds of fish observed us as we ex-
plored the substantial remains of an immense ship 27 to
42 m beneath the surface.
On our first pass over the site, we noticed a stack of
three grapnel anchors five meters long at the bow, many
large storage jars (called zilla in Arabic), gleaming white
sherds of porcelain tea bowls, stacks of larger blue and
white glazed bowls, and, in the stem, a large pile of lo-
cally manufactured water jars and water pipe bowls.
Subsequent dives by Douglas Haldane, INA-Egypt's
co-director, Capt. Maged Fahmy of the Egyptian Navy, and
Colin O'Bannon, also a TAMU student, showed the ship


Photo: E. Greene
Fig. 5. Douglas Haldane raises a glass "case" bottle to the sur-
face for recording. All artifacts were returned to the wreck after
documentation.


Photo: E. Greene
Fig. 6. The ship's keel lies below the archaeologist's knees. Four
of at least five massive stringers are visible.


to be more than 50 m long and 19 m wide. They also iden-
tified European glass "case" bottles, often used to trans-
port wine or liquor, that probably date to the end of the
17th century (fig. 5).
Despite five of us having studied ships from the Medi-
terranean, Europe, the Indian Ocean, and the Arab world,
the ship's hull perplexed us. Its features did not fit within
any customary frameworks. For example, the framing is
relatively light for a ship of this size, but at least five mas-
sive stringers run longitudinally above the frames. Plank-
ing higher in the hull creates a wall more than two feet
thick at one place (fig. 6).
Richard Steffy, ship construction expert, has confirmed
that we have an undocumented form of ship construction
on this site. The ship's cargo of Chinese porcelain, Euro-
pean glass bottles, and crude local pottery creates an in-
triguing mix of cargo indicative of the worldwide trade
systems of the late 17th century. Porcelain from China trav-
elled east through the Philippines to the western coast of
the New World and west through the Indian Ocean to
Arabia, Africa, and the Red Sea before being dispersed to
the Ottoman Empire and Europe.
Evidence for the scale of this trade in the Red Sea is
offered by two, possibly three, other ships we visited at
the tip of the Sinai peninsula and yet another near the div-
ing resort of Hurgada.


INA Quarterly 21. 3











Late Seventeenth-Century Porcelain Treasures
by Helen de Wolf

Chinese porcelain produced from the mid- to late 17th
century reflects the changing political, economic and artistic
climate in China. These wares are traditionally referred to as
Transition Wares. After the destruction of the Imperial kilns
at Jingdezhen in a rebellion, private industries and potters
began employing the Imperial workers, and strived to fill the
gap left by the loss of the state workshops.
European demand for porcelain was evergrowing. With-
out government regulation of type, form and design, the art-
istry of the porcelains loosened both figuratively and liter-
ally. European influence on design came in the form of spe-
cific orders. The prototype, a painted wooden form to be emu-
lated by artisans, became very popular at this time. Artisans
also used designs and patterns of previous generations, espe-
cially those of the 14th and 16th centuries, but made new use
of open space and design combinations.
Some of the porcelain recorded by INA-Egypt's expedi-
tion to the Red Sea appears to provide excellent examples of
Transitional Period ware. This is particularly true of a large
underglaze blue and white dish and of the other underglaze
blue and white pieces. One bowl seems to be a typical Batavia
Caf6 au Lait small tea bowl with three cartouches on the exte-
rior. Each cartouche bears a blue and white underglaze
prunnus or peony motif.
These few porcelain pieces reflect a late 17th- or, at the
very latest, a very early 18th-century date, placing them at
about the same time period as the porcelain from Port Royal,
Jamaica.
As early as the 14th century Chinese stonewares and por-
celains were transported and traded in the Middle East and
Turkey, both on Chinese and other vessels. It is safe to assume
that these porcelains were on board a vessel active in that con-
tinuing trade.


Photo: E. Greene


Examples of porcelain from the 17th century
wreck. Only blue, white, and a rich brown
remain. The original greens, yellows, reds,
and gilt have been lost to the seawater.

Photo: P. van Alfen


Hurgada
Modern Hurgada is crowded with tourists who come
to dive on its surrounding coral reefs and islands, and there
are at least a hundred diving instructors there. Two instruc-
tors were particularly helpful and arranged for us to visit
another porcelain carrier in the area. One provided a boat,
but the other had a sudden change in plans and could not
accompany us. Unfortunately, he was the only one who
knew the precise location of the site, but we hoped to find
it on the basis of his directions.
Despite a lovely day at sea, we located only one medi-
eval keg amphora trapped on the seabed by a hard coral
layer around its base. However, we were shown a copper


ewer from the ship and heard enough about its cargo to
suspect it dates to the late 17th century as well.
Several historic shipwrecks near Hurghada are well-
known to divers and are suffering a great deal of loss. As
time was running short, we did not visit these, but at-
tempted a shallow reconnaissance in a bay near the Roman
fortress of Abu Sha'ar, north of Hurghada, recently exca-
vated by Steven Sidebotham of the University of Delaware.
The first team went out, but came back after forty-five min-
utes in disgust. The ubiquitous plastic water bottles of
modern Egypt were covered by nearly an inch of sand;
clearly we would not see anything ancient.


INA Quarterly 21. 3


I.










Ras Mohammed National Park
After a quick ferry ride for half the team and equip-
ment between Hurgada and Sharm el Sheikh, and an end-
less drive for the rest to Suez and down the opposite coast,
we reached Ras Mohammed National Park (RMNP) at the
tip of the Sinai. Here we dived at a number of sites known
to local dive instructors, many of these originally recorded
by Avner Raban and other Israeli archaeologists during
the years Israel held the Sinai peninsula.
We checked the status of three sites we had visited in
December (reported in INA-Egypt's newsletter El Bahri)
and were pleased to find them in the same condition. These
sites, Amphoras, Lone Mushroom, and Stingray Station,
date to the end of the Mamluk period or the early Otto-
man period in the Red Sea (14th-17th centuries). Anchors,
large coarseware sherds, and jars mark the first two sites;
Stingray Station includes poorly preserved hull remains.
Stingray Station is a popular dive spot for visitors, and
the site has been much disturbed in recent years. Nautical
Archaeology student Joe Cozzi visited the site in 1989 and
videotaped visible remains. About a third of the archaeo-
logical material he recorded is now missing.
Another site missing many of its original archaeologi-
cal components is near Tiran Island, across the straits now
being guarded by international warships enforcing the
blockade against Iraq. Petra Roeglin, a dive instructor who
first told us about the site, described more extensive re-
mains than we found. Still, the Tiran Island shipwreck
provides a fascinating glimpse of trade in the Gulf of
Aqaba. At Tiran, both hull features and pottery had strong
similarities with those we recorded on the 17th-century
porcelain carrier and with pottery from Quseir's harbor.
We also visited Na'ama Bay, Sharm el Moya, and
Sharm el Sheikh, now the military harbor for the area. In
the first two coves, only a few potsherds marked an active
maritime trade. At Sharm el Sheikh, we were especially
interested in seeing another Israeli-excavated shipwreck
because, like the 17th-century porcelain carrier, it was 50
m long and carried a mixed cargo of porcelain and local
coarse wares. Raban excavated the ship in the late 1960s
and published a sketch and photographs of the hull re-
mains. We wanted to visit the site to determine its current
condition and to compare the hull construction to the three
other ships we had recorded.
Because of the Camp David accords between Israel and
Egypt, Egyptian military presence is restricted on the east-
ern coast of the Sinai. A combination of security forces ex-
ists, including a contingent of four wooden-hulled mine-
sweepers from the Italian Navy present under Multina-
tional Force Observer auspices. Sharm el-Sheikh is the
home port for the MFO, and the wreck we sought lay di-
rectly beneath the minesweepers.
While seeking its exact location, we found a number
of broken jars, discarded ballast stones, and yet another


Photo: E. Greene
Fig. 7. Adel Taher, Peter van Alfen, and Cheryl
Haldane recording the bulkhead of the Sharm el
Sheikh shipwreck.


clay pipe that pointed to the location of the ancient jetty.
Again, we saw scraps of porcelain and fragments of Egyp-
tian coarsewares that linked the site to the 17th-century
porcelain carrier.
When we located the ship, we were discouraged to
see that it was covered with garbage and that the wood
was poorly preserved compared to its earlier appearance
in photographs. Several dives were spent clearing the sur-
face of several areas of the hull, only 24 m of which we
could identify. Dr. Adel Taher, director of the hyperbaric
chamber at Sharm el Sheikh, joined us for our last day of
excavation.
Excavating between two frames uncovered a broken
clay pipe and a glazed cup handle, but more importantly
revealed a curious feature of the ship's hull-what seems
to be a bulkhead made of transverse timbers (fig. 7). Mas-
sive stringers above the frames confirmed other techno-
logical similarities to the 17th-century porcelain carrier,
and we also found comparable scantlings and fastenings.
There is little doubt that the two ships are related. Dr.
Raban reported an early 18th-century date based on por-
celain designs, and Helen deWolf (see box) suggests a late
17th-century date for porcelain on our ship. Raban sug-
gests the unusual hull construction may be Turkish; our
preliminary research does not support this idea.


INA Quarterly 21.3










The next steps
INA-Egypt has submitted a proposal for the excava-
tion of the 17th-century porcelain carrier to the Supreme
Council of Antiquities in Egypt (fig. 8). Excavation will
protect the artifacts from dispersal and destruction and pro-
vide archaeologists with a crucial link in the oldest global
trade network. We will also be able to make complete
records of a previously undocumented hull type and seek
to understand its technological origins and social context.
Further survey work will be undertaken as we gather
more reports from visiting divers and gain access to elec-
tronic sensing equipment. The prohibitive cost of visual
survey for unlocated wrecks combined with the heavy sand
deposition rate argue against another project like the 1994
expedition, but the potential for shipwrecks in the area is
high and we will always seek ways to obtain new infor-
mation about them.

Acknowledgements. The number of people and organiza-
tions who worked together to create the expedition is im-
pressive. INA-Egypt would like to thank the financial spon-
sors of the expedition, particularly the Amoco Foundation
and CitiBank, as well as Kodak- Egypt, DHL, Pfizer-Egypt,
and IBM. Mr. Charles Pitman of Amoco and Mr. Ahmed el
Bardai of CitiBank encouraged us in our work, and we are
very grateful for their interest in our project. In addition,
Richard and Bari Bienia, Harry C. Kahn II, and Robert and
Peggy Dennis made substantial contributions in support
of the research.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities provided a tre-
mendous amount of assistance to the project, including the
participation of Mr. Helal Mahmoud of the Red Sea Inspec-


torate and Mr. Mohammed abd el Hamid of Alexandria's
Maritime Museum. We would like to express our appre-
ciation for their assistance and for the participation of
Egyptian Naval officers Nasser Riad, Maged Fahmy, and
Khaled Yahia who gave crucial help when it was needed.
Mark Easton, Cairo Director of the American Research
Center in Egypt, and the ARCE staff allowed us to use of-
fice facilities and worked hard to help us navigate the com-
plex application process for which they have our gratitude.
In addition, Emad Khalil of Alexandria performed a num-
ber of tasks from obtaining equipment to introducing us
to longtime divers on the Red Sea. Barbara Fudge, Chip
and Fran Vincent, and the Bienias also contributed a great
deal of their time to launch us on our expedition and pro-
vide us with a safety net when we returned.
Dr. Adel Taher and his staff at the Sharm el-Sheikh
hyperbaric treatment chamber and Dr. Michael Pearson
and General Omar of Ras Mohammed National Park
worked to ensure we had a safe, productive, and comfort-
able stay there.
Many others participated at different levels in the suc-
cess of our project, and we thank you all.


Suggested Reading

1994 El Bahri 1.1 (available on request from INA).

Raban, A.
1971 The Shipwreck off Sharm-el-Sheikh. Archaeology
24.2: 146-55.

1973 The Mercury Carrier from the Red Sea. IJNA 2:
179-83.

1990 Medieval Anchors from the Red Sea. IJNA 19:
299-306.

Sayed, A.M.A.H.
1978 The Recently Discovered Port on the Red Sea
Shore. JEA 64 : 69-71.

Sidebotham, S.E., R.E. Zitterkopf, and J.A. Riley
1991 Survey of the 'Abu Sha'ar Nile Road. AJA 95:
571-622.

Whitcomb, D., and J.H. Johnson
1982 Quseir al Qadim 1980: Preliminary Report.
American Research Center in Egypt Reports 7.


Photo: E. Greene
Fig. 8. Ashraf Hanna examines coarseware pottery, mostly wa-
terjugs and goblets, from the 17th-century porcelain carrier, the
site of INA- Egypt's first excavation.


INA Quarterly 21. 3













Excavation of a Late Seventeenth-Century

Dutch Freighter: 1993 Field Report



by Robert Neyland, Georgia Fox, Mason McDaniel, and Birgit Schr6der


During the summer of 1993, the Center for Ship Ar-
chaeology in the Netherlands fielded an international team
of American, German, and Dutch nautical archaeologists.
Under the supervision of the Center and the direction of
Dr. Robert Neyland, Texas A&M University Research Sci-
entist and INA Research Associate, the team excavated
and recorded a unique Zuiderzee freighter. The vessel
appears to have been built and launched in the last de-


Map: R. Neyland
Fig. 1. The excavation of H 107 was located adjacent to the Cen-
ter for Ship Archaeology in the Dutch polders, northeast of
Amsterdam.


cade of the 17th century. It probably sank within the first
decades of the 18th century.
Like numerous medieval and historic Dutch ship-
wrecks, the wreck was excavated from land formerly cov-
ered by the Zuiderzee, known today as the "IJsselmeer-
polders" (see INA Newsletter 17.1:12-17 and INA Quarterly
20.1:3-7). The Center for Ship Archaeology customarily
names IJsselmeerpolder shipwrecks after the agricultural
lot on which they are found. This vessel thus bears the
designation "H 107." It lay buried a mere two kilometers
from the State Museum and Center for Ship Archaeology,
located at the Ketelhaven harborage, near the northern ex-
tent of East Flevoland (fig. 1). At the time of H 107's sink-
ing, the closest port was Kampen, approximately 13 km to
the west. H 107 sank in relatively shallow water; at ebb-
tide, the depth of the site would have been only slightly
over three meters.
After yielding to the waters of the Zuiderzee, H 107
listed to port and settled into soft silt and day sediments
until its port side and bottom came to rest upon a thick
bed of peat. These sediments provided a wet, anaerobic
environment that preserved much of H 107's hull and ar-
tifact assemblage. A layer of peat and another of clay sand-
wiched the port side of the vessel, preserving it up to the
caprail. The starboard side was preserved above the chine
only in a few locations. Long exposure above the sedi-
ments caused much of the starboard side of the vessel to
deteriorate. Even surviving areas were in a poor state of
preservation, as they lay within the upper soil layers of
the plow zone that was being drained for agriculture.
Originally discovered in March of 1962, the wreck site
was surveyed in November, 1989 by Gert Schreurs and
Harum Post of the Center. This initial survey provided a
rough estimate of the wreck's surviving dimensions (16.7
m in length and 3.8 m in breadth), its state of preserva-
tion, possible vessel type, and date of sinking. On June 6,
1993, nautical archaeologists began a complete excavation
of the vessel.


[NA Quarterly 21. 3










Methodology
Over three distinct stages of the excavation and
hull recording, four methods were used to docu-
ment H 107. Still photography and video were
implemented throughout the project to record gen-
eral excavation activity, stratigraphic features, ar-
tifacts in situ, selected hull construction features,
and hull overviews. After the upper 0.5 m of over-
burden was removed with a crane, a grid was su-
perimposed over the site by extending three steel
tapes along the longitudinal axis of the wreck as
permanent datum lines. One tape ran from stem
to stern down the centerline; the others lay parallel
to the port and starboard sides. Additional tapes
could then be stretched transversely to record loose
hull timbers, artifacts, and other significant features.
A pantograph, capable of tracing 1:10 scale reduc-
tions of archaeological features, was used to record
complicated features, such as clusters of artifacts Fig
and loose hull timbers (fig. 2). H 7
After the complete exposure of the vessel, a fea
second pantograph, developed specifically for re- Mr.
cording ship's hulls, was used to create two 1:20 as
scale plans of H 107: a recording of the frames,
knees, and mast step in situ, and a diagram of the
hull planking prepared after the removal of the principal
timbers. Ten cross-sections were also taken with a cali-
brated measuring beam. These plans provided an accu-
rate view of the wreck site, essential to the labeling and
disassembly of the hull. In the final stage of the project, H
107 was disassembled and transported to the Center,
where detailed 1:10 scale recordings of all the hull tim-
bers were created with the aid of two pantographs. The
team spent a month on the preparation of these technical
drawings, which totaled over 100 pages of scaled timber
diagrams.

Hull Construction
Assigning a specific Zuiderzee watercraft type to H
107 has become more difficult than first expected. During
the survey of 1989, H 107 was believed to be a Dutch pram,
due to its flat bottom, hard chine, long and narrow shape,
and the framing pattern of straight, flat floor timbers al-
ternating with L-shaped futtocks. In our excavation of H
107, it became apparent that the vessel could not be de-
finitively categorized as a pram. Its rounded chine and
full, bluff bow with a curved, raking stem distinguishes
H 107 from standard prams. However, like prams of the
eighteenth century, its bottom remains distinct from the
sides, stealers fill the space between the bottom and sides,
and the bottom itself is built of a patchwork of planks
rather than symmetrical strakes running the length of the
bottom. The bluff bow, upcurving bottom planking fore
and aft, curved stem, and the appearance of the


Photo: R. Neyland
S2. The Center's conservator Lucas van Dijk prepares a site plan of
07 with the pantograph he designed and built. One interesting
ure of this new pantograph model is the radio-controlled pen point.
van Dijk holds the radio control in his left hand while tracing the
, step with his right.


breasthooks as a continuation of the floor timbers are fea-
tures like those of a tjalk. It is not uncommon for Zuiderzee
vessels to show a mixture of building techniques.
H 107 presented the unusual preservation of excep-
tional portions of the upperworks. Three bolsters, a trans-
verse beam with a portion of the bulkhead nailed fast, the
pump shaft, and even a meter of the mast and its housing
(called the tabernacle) were discovered (fig.3). In most
Zuiderzee shipwrecks the masts are salvaged or float away
and are not often found with the wreckage.
As the excavation progressed, the reason for the sur-
vival of the mast became apparent. The mast was found
lying on its forward face, angled slightly to the port side.
Its face had been notched to hold a heavy counterweight,
in this case the lower section of a cannon, from the breech
to below the trunnions. At least three iron straps attached
the cannon section to the mast. This counterweight would
have been used for raising and lowering the mast when
the vessel passed under bridges in the canals. In order to
facilitate this movement, the mast would have pivoted in
the tabernacle upon a large bolt. Just such a bolt was found
abaft the mast assembly within the upper sediments. No
similar example of such a counterweight attached to a mast
has been excavated to date.
Underneath the mast, a beam and bulkhead were pre-
served. Below these lay a bolster and the pump shaft. Sev-
eral folds of linen or canvas rested over the foot of the
pump shaft. This material seems too small to have been a
sail, but might represent a tarp used to cover a hatch or


INA Quarterly 21.3










cargo. Also surviving in the bow area were planks and a
beam from the interior cabin.
In the stern, just below the scupper, fragments of H
107's decking survived. Ceiling planking was not used in
the hold of the ship, a possible indication that a loose cargo
such as peat might have been hauled. However, beneath
the stern decking, frames, or planks used as frames, were
placed side-by-side to make a solid floor. Like planks, these
timbers were much wider than they were thick and many
appeared to have been reused. This unprecedented con-
struction suggests the use of framing planks in place of a
ceiling, or may represent repairs to a weak area of the bot-
tom.
Dutch inland freighters typically used leeboards to
correct for the lateral drift of their shallow hulls. In coor-
dination with the stem rudder, these leeboards kept the
vessel on course. Although iron gudgeons were present
on the sterpost and the port leeboard fastener was dis-
covered, neither port nor starboard leeboards nor the rud-
der were preserved with the wreckage. Some rigging ele-
ments for the raising and lowering of the port leeboard,
including two cheekblocks, a single block, and a length of
tackle running from the helm forward towards the
leeboard, were recovered.
The relatively small number of repairs observed on H
107's hull suggests that the vessel was no more than one
or two decades old when it sank. H 107 did not have the
scarred aspect of a sea-worn vessel and lacked the numer-
ous repairs that an older hull would possess. However,
the number of barnacles and bryozoan colonies attached
to the bottom of H 107's hull may attest to sailing patterns
outside the Zuiderzee in the more saline waters of the
Waddenzee or North Sea.
H 107 was found close to the city of Kampen, along
the former eastern shore of the Zuiderzee. This location
suggests that when it sank, H 107 was traveling along the
northern trade route, perhaps to the southern cities of
Kampen or Zwolle in Overijssel or farther north to
Friesland and Groningen. The trade route between the
northern and southern provinces was vital to the Dutch
economy. Peat shippers from Groningen and Friesland
were known to travel as far south as Antwerp and other
Flemish cities to sell their cargo. A relatively cheap and
plentiful source of energy, peat fueled the Dutch indus-
tries and played an important role in regional trade. Ship-
ments of peat to industrial centers were also attractive be-
cause they insured a return cargo of a manufactured prod-
uct. H 107 may represent a rare example of a peat-carry-
ing freighter following such routes.

Artifact Assemblage
Past excavations of Zuiderzee sailing vessels have re-
vealed that personal artifacts generally are found in the
bow and stern. These locations housed the living quar-


Photo: R Neyland
Fig. 3. The wreck of H 107, viewed from the bow. The port side
was well-preserved, but the starboard side had almost completely
disappeared. The two slots in the mast step are the mortises for
the ends of the tabernacle planks which held the mast.

ters, hearth and galley, and equipment storage lockers; the
majority of the central space was reserved for cargo. Our
systematic excavation of H 107 from bow to stern sup-
ported these assumptions.
Excavation in the bow area yielded a rich array of ar-
tifacts (fig. 4). A compass, carpenter's brace, decorated
Rhenish bowl, green-glazed tiles, and an unusual green-
glass bottle within a wicker jacket were some of the first
finds to appear. Further excavation revealed a jumbled
pile of tiles and bricks that had been the hearth. Con-
structed of bricks overlaid with the green tiles, the hearth
probably utilized additional tiles for a firewall. A few
pieces of the box that contained the hearth were recov-
ered, as were three to four planks that made up the hood
and flue for the chimney. These were thin, well-finished
boards fitted together with lap joints, coated with a resi-
due of resin from the hearth's fires. Just outboard of the
port caprail lay a well-preserved cast iron pot and a three-
legged bronze skillet. The bow area also contained galley
ceramics, numerous kaolin pipe fragments, leather shoes
in at least three sizes, an adze, an ice skate, a knife and
whetstone, a writing pen, a wooden handled brush, a few


[NA Quarerly 21.3










copper coins (called duits), and lead tokens. Many of these
artifacts had tumbled into the bilge when H 107 listed to
port.
An entirely different assemblage of artifacts, limited
both in quantity and quality, was excavated from the stem.
Two ceramic vessels were found. One evidently saw reuse
as a tar pot; the other presented a form commonly used for
food storage. However, its location in the stern suggests
that the latter vessel may have been damaged earlier than
H 107's wrecking and reused as an ash or chamber pot.
Although a jumble of bricks was also found in the stern, it
is unclear whether these represent a second hearth, per-
haps for heating tar, or simply a brick floor for the stern
compartment. No other health or galley equipment was
found within the stern area. A caulking iron lay close to
the tar pot, and a hammer was found lodged, head first,
inside the port scupper. The hammer probably lay on deck
when H 107 sank and slid into the scupper as the hull ca-
reened onto its port side. The remainder of the artifacts
represent spare ship's equipment such as iron fittings, rig-
ging, pump parts, and scrap leather probably destined to
be cut into pump washers. The stern assemblage suggests
that this area was used for equipment storage and perhaps


Photo: R. Neyland
Fig. 4. View towards the bow ofH 107 as it appeared after the
removal of the frames. Many of the artifacts were discovered in
the bow area.


afforded some shelter and convenience for the helmsman.
Analysis of H 107's artifact assemblage will take
months or years to complete, but already some intriguing
aspects of life on board the vessel and the trade routes it
followed can be illuminated. Leather shoes and wooden-
soled clogs in large, medium, and small sizes indicate at
least three individuals on board, perhaps a man, his wife,
and a child. It is not unusual for inland vessels of the
Zuiderzee to be crewed by a family.
The majority of the ceramics are of typical Dutch manu-
facture and the lead tokens are a strong indication of trade
with the city of Haarlem. However, a small number of ar-
tifacts are atypical and suggest connections with the south-
ern provinces (present-day Belgium) and the lower Rhine
region. A tobacco pipe bearing the Jesuit mark of the
Societate Jesu (the letters IHS with abstracted nails of the
cross beneath) is an unusual find in the Calvinist-domi-
nated northern Netherlands. The design was known
around 1700 from mainly Catholic areas and used prima-
rily on ceramics manufactured in the lower Rhine region.
A large ceramic bowl, or tureen, highly decorated on the
interior, also has its closest parallels to examples from the
lower Rhine region. The green glass bottle within its wo-
ven wicker sheath may have once contained mineral wa-
ter and is of a type known only as a luxury item exported
from the southern provinces. Such bottles were commonly
referred to as "French Bottles" during the 17th century.
Another artifact with a possible Flemish origin is the
wooden handle to a brush, which has an identical parallel
from an archaeological site in Bruges dated to about 1700.

Dating H107
The 1989 survey yielded ceramic sherds from which a
date of approximately A.D. 1700 was suggested for the
wreck. This date was confirmed during our excavation by
the discovery of two lead tokens and by dendrochrono-
logical analysis of ten wood samples removed from H 107's
strakes. The oaks used to build the hull were felled some-
time between 1685 and 1693. The two lead tokens recov-
ered from the wreck prove that H 107 sank sometime after
1692. One face of both tokens depicts the coat of arms of
the Dutch city of Haarlem. The ciphers 91 and 92 appear
on the obverse face of the tokens, apparently representing
abbreviations of the dates 1691 and 1692 (fig. 5). The func-
tion of the tokens is uncertain, but they may have been
used as annual toll payments to the industrial city of
Haarlem for the use of locks and canals.
A turn-of-the-century date is confirmed by the style
and form of other artifacts found with H 107. A slightly
ovoid pipe, first manufactured in about 1710, could indi- -
cate that H 107 did not sink until the early 18th century.
Other artifacts, such as the ceramics and compass, have
very close parallels with materials from other early 18th-
century Zuiderzee shipwrecks excavated by the Center.


INA Quarterly 21.3










Many of the ceramics suggest transitional styles
between the 17th and 18th centuries.
The lengthy investigation into the history
and construction of H 107 has justbegun. Com-
plete analysis of H 107 and its artifact assem-
blage will take much longer than the excava-
tion and recording of its hull timbers and arti-
facts. It is evident from preliminary analysis
that H 107 can reveal a great deal about the na-
ture of interregional trade between the Neth-
erlands and its neighboring states at the close
of the 17th century. Since there are indications
that H 107 sailed outside the Zuiderzee, its hull
construction could reflect adaptations to a sea- Fig. 5.
going or coastal livelihood. The final evalua- ciphers
tion of H 107 will provide further insights into on the
developments in Dutch shipbuilding and the Crusat
innovative vessel types that appeared in the late
17th century.

Acknowledgements. Credit for the successful 1993 field sea-
son belongs to the Center for Ship Archaeology, which
provided the financial, technical, and logistical support for
the excavation, recording, and conservation of H 107. The
Center also provided lodging and per diem, through the
International Association for the Exchange of Students for
Technical Experience (IAESTE), for the Texas A&M Uni-
versity and Tubingen University graduate students who
trained there. We especially want to thank all of the staff
at the Center and the Museum, many of whom helped to
excavate the site, record the hull timbers, and conserve ar-
tifacts. Dr. Jaap Morel, Rob Oosting, Karel Vlierman, Lucas


Photo: R. Neyland
Two lead tokens were recovered from H 107. These bore numerical
Son one side (91 and 92) and the coat of arms of the city of Haarlem
other. The coat of arms, believed to have originated during the
ies, consists of a cross above a sword with two stars on each side.


van Dijk and many others provided expertise, advice, and
encouragement. Special appreciation is also due KLM air-
lines, which assisted the project by providing some re-
duced fare tickets at short notice.
Through the excavation of shipwrecks such as H 107
the Center for Ship Archaeology has provided exceptional
opportunities for the training of graduate students in the
excavation and recording of shipwrecks. In the past, the
Center has also generously given permission for archaeo-
logical material to be studied by students from Texas A&M
University, which has resulted in several master's theses
and doctoral dissertations in both the Nautical Archaeol-
ogy Program and the Department of Anthropology.


Suggested Reading


Hocker, F.M.
1990 Nautical Archaeology in Northern Europe. INA
Newsletter 17.1:12-17.

McLaughlin-Neyland, K. and R.S. Neyland
1993 Two Sixteenth-Century Ship Excavations in the
Netherlands: 1992 Field Report. INA Quarterly
20.1:3-7.

Molen, J.R. and H. Vreeken
1990 Pre-Industrial Utensils: 1150-1800. Museum
Boymans-va Beunigen. Rotterdam.

Neyland, R.S.
1994 Technological Continuity and Change: A Study
of Cultural Adaptation in Pram-Class Boatbuilding


in the Netherlands. Dissertation. Department of Anthro-
pology, Texas A&M University.

Reinders, R.
1982 Shipwrecks of the Zuiderzee. Flevobericht 197.
Lelystad, The Netherlands.

Zeeuw, J.W.
1978 Peat and the Dutch Golden age: The Historical
Meaning of Energy Attainability. A.A.G.
Bijdragen 21: 3-32

Zwiers, P.B. and K. Vlierman
1988 De "Lutina". Een Overijssels Vrachtschip, vergaan
in 1888. Flevobericht 292. Lelystad, The Nether-
lands.


N A Quarterly 21. 3












The Reader's Point Vessel:

Preliminary Field Report on the Excavation of an

Eighteenth-Century Sloop in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica


by Gregory D. Cook


The Rastafarian fisherman watched me through dan-
gling dreadlocks as I exited the water after a two hour dive
on the wreck. "What you find 'pon de boat today, mon?"
he asked. I showed him the pipe stems, ceramic sherds
and a few pieces of lead shot that I had retrieved while
excavating. He and his son, David, peered intently at the
artifacts I had raised as he explained to the boy in patois,
the local dialect, that people used to smoke from white
clay pipes. Johnny and his son frequently came to visit
our site, walking the mile or so from the nearby fishing
village, following the sound of our compressor and pumps.
Some local fishermen believed that the old vessel we were
excavating must have been laden with gold. Why else
would we have come so far to work so hard on the site?


Others were concerned that we would disturb the duppies,
ghosts of dead sailors. This was so worrisome to our Ja-
maican staff that we performed a traditional ceremony in
which we placated the duppies by pouring white rum on
the site as a gesture of respect to them. But many, like
Johnny, harbored a sincere interest in the project. They
appreciated the artifacts not for their dollar value, but for
their ability to tell us about life on board a ship from 200
years ago. We had many memorable discussions about
Jamaica's history with visitors to our site, shaded by man-
groves on the shore of St. Ann's Bay.
Access to visitors was one of the advantages of work-
ing on a site so close to land. We excavated an 18th-cen-
tury British sloop situated just ten meters from shore, near


READER'S POA. '
LOO S .
i ... .... e


S" R' Poi t




.-, t.rvec S't
---------------------------------------------------




Map: G. Cook
The 18th-century sloop lies just off Reader's Point, in St. Ann's Bay Jamaica.


a projection of land known as
"Reader's Point." It was one of
six 18th-century ships discovered
on a survey of the bay conducted
in 1991 and 1992 during the Co-
lumbus Caravels Archaeological
Project (CCAP), directed by Dr.
James Parrent (see INA Quarterly
20.1: 8-14). Test trenches on the
vessels indicated that each of the
hulls had been heavily used, with
evidence of wear and repairs
abundant among the remains.
Their close proximity to each
other, away from the eastern half
of the bay where most maritime
activity occurred, suggested that
we had come across an 18th-cen-
tury ship graveyard, or disposal
area, for vessels that were no
longer seaworthy.
The ships were discovered
using sub-bottom sonar, which
penetrates the seafloor with
sound waves. This technology al-
lows us to locate targets that may


INA Quarterly 21.3










be buried under several meters of
sediment. Our vessel, designated
"Site 16" in the CCAP survey, was
discovered in 1991. Test excavations
revealed a medium-sized vessel, not
heavily built, but capable of with-
standing the forces of the open sea.
Since all of the vessels found on the
CCAP project had been stripped of
cargo and useful items, we did not
expect to find an abundance of arti-
facts. However, more than enough
material remained to date the ves-
sel securely. We uncovered only a
small area of the hull and were in-
trigued by our discoveries. The in-
tegrity and preservation of the hull
combined to make the site an inter-
esting example of 18th-century ship
construction.
Despite the magnitude of mari-
time commerce in the West Indies
during the 18th century, our knowl- Clive Chapman unc
edge of contemporary shipbuilding bottle dating to the 1
is extremely limited. This was a teroften reduced visib
time of dynamic hull evolution and
adaptation. Instead of using ships
sent over from Europe, colonists began to build vessels
adapted to conditions in the West Indies. Sloops in par-
ticular gained a wide reputation as fast, maneuverable
vessels capable of avoiding larger, more heavily-armed
ships in unfriendly waters. However, only a few archaeo-
logical studies have been conducted on ships of this pe-
riod and none of these were from the Caribbean. Although
we reburied the site and concentrated on other targets
during the 1991 survey, I was not alone in my desire to see
more of this interesting vessel.
That chance came in March of 1994 after I secured fund-
ing to return to St Ann's Bay and excavate "Site 16," or
the Reader's Point vessel. We began the excavation with
a core crew of four: Dorrick Gray, Director of Field Re-
search for the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, Clive
Chapman, a Nautical Archaeology Program graduate stu-
dent, Amy Rubenstein, from the Maritime History Program
at East Carolina University, and myself. Additional vol-
unteers worked on the site for periods ranging from one
week to two months. These included David Ames, Norine
Carroll, Karl Gottschamer, Darren Hurst, Mike Krivor,
Mike Lenardi, Daria Merwin, Tom Shannon, Juan Vera, and
Richard Wills.
My field duties as project director began with retriev-
ing the equipment that we had purchased in the United
States and shipped to Jamaica. We elected to use a surface
supplied air system, rather than typical SCUBA tanks. Our


ov
8t
iil


compressor sat on a boat anchored
over the site, providing enough air
for two divers and the pneumatic air
scribe used to chip away concretions
which form on iron artifacts in salt
water. The other major purchase was
a water pump to power two water
induction dredges. With our equip-
ment running smoothly, we began
the excavation.
Initially, we uncovered the areas
that had been previously excavated
for the CCAP test trenches and were
"sterile" with regard to artifacts.
Having firmly determined the orien-
tation of the vessel, we established
permanent datum points around the
perimeter of the site. These datums
were used in conjunction with the
Direct Survey Measurement (DSM)
computer program, developed by
Photo:G. Cook Nick Rule during the Mary Rose
ers an intact glass project in Great Britain. This innova-
h century. Silty wa- tive software system applies best-fit
ty to less than 15 cm. algorithms to raw field data, provid-
ing an accurate site plan and alerting
archaeologists to erroneous measure-
ments. Using this program, we mapped artifacts as well
as the hull structure and were able to get quick verifica-
tions on the accuracy of our measurements.
Our ship lay in only one meter of water, but under
two meters of soft mud and clay, which contributed to ex-
cellent preservation of the remains. A substantial ballast
pile remained amidships, requiring an underwater bucket
brigade to remove the stones. Because of over 200 years
of commercial activity in St Ann's Bay, we were concerned
about intrusive objects that may have migrated down to
18th-century levels in the soft sediments of the bay. For
this reason, we considered only those objects found within
or under the ballast pile as definitely associated with the
vessel. Even with these parameters, we retrieved nearly
700 artifacts from the site. These items included typical
18th-century finds such as white kaolin pipes, ceramics
and glass bottles, as well as a few surprises. A discarded
wood plane, possibly used by the ship's carpenter, lay con-
cealed within the ballast pile. Our conservator, Amy
Rubenstein, used an air scribe to break apart a strange,
triangular concretion, only to find herself holding a 200-
year-old clothing iron in excellent condition.
Some iron artifacts had decayed to the point that no
metal remained inside the concretion. Epoxy casts of these
hollow concretions produced exact copies of the objects
they once contained. One of these casts proved to be a
chisel, with a shallow maker's mark discernible on its


INA Quarterly 21.3










blade. Clive Chapman, the project divemaster, found two
complete bottles, one with its stopper and contents intact.
Personal items included buttons, buckles, shoes, and a bone
comb. All the artifacts were conserved in our field labora-
tory and turned over to the Jamaica National Heritage
Trust. Research on these objects will continue long after
the excavation is finished, providing information about the
ship's cargo and crew.
The largest and most complex artifact was the hull it-
self. Once the overlying sediment, ballast, and artifacts
were removed, we began to record the vessel's structure.
Bringing the timbers to shore was impractical in terms of
time and money, but the shallow depth of the remains al-
lowed us to spend many hours underwater, recording each
detail of the hull. On slates and mylar film, we produced
measured sketches of every hull component, mapped in
locations of timbers, and recorded sections to show the
hull's curvature. Additionally, we created a photomosaic
of the site. After the initial recording, portions of the bow,
maststep and ceiling planking were disassembled to gain
a better understanding of the ship's construction and fram-
ing pattern.
In general, the construction of the sloop shows a high
degree of regularity and workmanship. As we had hoped,
almost the entire length of the vessel was preserved, ex-
tending 18 m from the bow timbers to the stern knee. The


rnoto: U. LOOK
View forward of the mast step and buttress timbers.


keelson is made of a single timber over 11 m long. A rect-
angular mortise is cut into the keelson for the foot of the
mast, located approximately one third of the vessel's length
from the bow. Small wooden chocks that kept the mast
foot in position remain in the after part of the mortise.
Frames are generally cut very evenly and square, with a
few exceptions that are most likely repairs. "Made" frames,
consisting of floors and futtocks joined with horizontal tree-
nails, were erected on the keel and defined the shape of
the hull before the outer hull planking was added. For-
ward of midships, floors are fixed to futtocks situated aft
of them, and aft of midships they are joined to the futtocks
forward of them. At the bow and stern every second floor
is a made frame. This changes to every third floor amid-
ships, where hull curvature is not as drastic. The remain-
ing futtocks are not attached to floors, but are simply
treenailed to the hull planking. Although a few iron nails
are present, hull and ceiling planking are predominantly
fixed to frames with unwedged treenails.
Evidence suggests that the hull had been heavily used
before it sank. Besides the repaired frames mentioned
above, numerous ceiling planks show repairs and addi-
tions. Lead patches indicate that there were weak or leak-
ing spots in the outer planking. The keel shows heavy
wear. The most striking damage occurred at the mast step,
where a split on the starboard side of the keelson runs for
nearly three meters. This may indicate that the vessel was
violently dismasted, one of the most serious and damag-
ing accidents that can occur to a ship. Several measures
were taken to repair the fractured keelson: two large iron
bolts were driven horizontally through the keelson to close
the gap, two smaller sister keelsons were spiked on either
side of the maststep mortise, and heavy buttress timbers
were added on both sides of these sister keelsons.
Research on the artifacts and hull of the Reader's Point
sloop has just begun, and promises to give us a cearer
understanding of the vessel's origin, purpose and sailing
characteristics. I am currently conducting research at the
West Indian archives in Spanish Town, Jamaica. Contem-
porary records and newspaper accounts may contain in-
formation about 18th-century commerce conducted by
small vessels like ours. Hull drawings and profiles will be
analyzed, producing lines drawings and reconstructions
of the ship. Identification of wood samples may suggest
where the vessel was built and repaired. Eighteenth-cen-
tury accounts of ships known as "Jamaica" or "Bermuda"
sloops describe the great demand for these vessels due to
their speed. Historians have long recognized the impact
of these small vessels on the development of colonies in
the Americas. It is too early to tell if the Reader's Point .
wreck is an example of this famous type of sloop, but it is
already proving an important addition to our knowledge
of eighteenth-century ship construction.


INA Quarterly 21.3

































Drawing: G. Cook
The mast step of the Reader's Point sloop. Damage is evident here, suggesting that the vessel may have been violently dismasted.


Acknowledgements. The success of the Reader's Point Sloop
excavation is in large part due to the assistance provided
by numerous individuals and organizations. I am indebted
to the following groups: The Reader's Point crew and vol-
unteers; the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the Jamaica
National Heritage Trust, the Discovery Bay Marine Labo-
ratory, Paradise Scuba, and Seascape Dive Resort. Several
individuals provided invaluable advice and assistance,
including George Bass, Kevin Crisman, Mary Ann
Franklin, Peter Gail, Dorrick Gray, Jerome Hall, Donny


Hamilton, Fred Hocker, Becky Holloway, Phil Janca, Peggy
Leshikar-Denton, John William Morris III, James Parrent,
Maureen Brown-Parrent, Wayne Smith, and Chip Vincent
Project funding came from several sources. The In-
stitute of International Education granted me a ten-month
Fulbright Fellowship to cover project costs and my living
expenses in Jamaica. A Marian M. Cook Fellowship and
a gracious donation by INA board member Frederick R.
Mayer fulfilled our funding requirements, making the
project a reality.


Suggested Reading


Baker, W.
1966 Sloops and Shallops. Barre, Massachusetts.

Chapelle, H.
1967 The Search for Speed Under Sail. New York.

Crisman, K.J.
1988 Struggle for a Continent: Naval Battles of the
French and Indian Wars. In Ships and Ship-
wrecks of the Americas, Edited by G.E Bass, 129-
148. London.


Goldenburg, J.
1976 Shipbuilding in Colonial America.
Charlottesville, Va.

MacGregor, D.
1980 Merchant Sailing Ships, 1775-1815; Their Design
and Construction. Annapolis, Md.

Parrent, J. and M. Brown-Parrent
1992 The Search Continues for Columbus's
Caravels: 1992 Field Report. INA Quarterly
20.1:8-14.


N A Quarterly 21.3


0 3


o I









News & Notes


Conservation Internship
In June and July 1994, with funding
from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, INA conducted an in-
ternship program in marine conserva-
tion in the laboratory of the Bodrum
Museum of Underwater Archaeology.
The program instructors were Claire
Dean of Dean & Associates Conserva-
tion Services, Nautical Archaeology
Program student Claire Peachey, and
INA conservator Jane Pannell. This
unique program combined formal in-
struction with practical work to teach
the principles and techniques of ma-
rine conservation, a topic not covered
in most conservation degree pro-
grams. Students were exposed to vari-
ous types of waterlogged artifacts in-
cluding organic, glass, metal, ce-
ramic, and stone from INA's excava-
tions in Turkey. Representatives from
the United States, Israel, Great Britain,
and Egypt were included in the pro-
gram, and housed in the new dormi-
tory facility at the Institute in Bodrum.
The internship program was a success,
and INA hopes to conduct another in
1996.

Pedersen To Teach Seafaring Course
Ralph K. Pedersen, INA Research As-
sociate and Texas A&M doctoral stu-
dent, will be teaching a non-credit


course this spring at New York Uni-
versity. Entitled "Nautical Archaeol-
ogy: History Beneath the Sea," the ten
session class will be a survey of ship-
wreck excavations from the Bronze
Age through the period of the U.S.
Civil War. The course is open to all
and begins February 9,1995. For more
information, INA members in the
New York metropolitan area may con-
tact: The School of Continuing Edu-
cation, New York University, 50 West
4th Street, Room 326, New York, NY
10012-9879.

Bronze Age Shipwreck Hall
In anticipation of the completion of
the final season of excavation on the
Uluburun Shipwreck, directed by
Cemal Pulak and George Bass, ground
was broken this summer for a Bronze
Age Shipwreck Hall in the Bodrum
Museum of Underwater Archaeology.
Planned by museum director Oguz
Alp6zen, the exhibit will display arti-
facts found during the Uluburun ex-
cavation (see plan below).
Additionally, in the museum this
summer, construction began on a full
scale model of the seventh-century
Yassiada vessel, housed in the
museum's chapel. Designed and di-
rected by Fred Hocker, the project was
undertaken with the assistance of


TAMU students Stefan Claesson,
Tommi Mikela, and Taras Pevny, as
well as two Turkish archaeology stu-
dents, Ozlem Buyuran and Cagdas
Oralkan. The winter edition of the
Quarterly will describe the ambitious
reconstruction project.

INA Scholarships Granted
The Institute of Nautical Archaeology
is pleased to support the education of
several Nautical Archaeology Pro-
gram students annually. Clive
Chapman, Stefan Claesson, George
Indruszewski, Anne Lessmann,
Tommi Mikela, Colin O'Bannon, and
Brett Phaneuf were awarded INA
Scholarships this year. Michael P.
Scafuri and Brian A. Jordan were
named as Mr. and Mrs. J. Brown Cook
Graduate Fellows.

INA-Egypt Newsletter Available
The Institute's new regional center in
Egypt, INA- Egypt, has published the
first issue of its English-Arabic news-
letter, El Bahri (Of the Sea). Copies are
available from: Cheryl Haldane, El
Bahri, c/o INA at PO Drawer HG,
College Station, TX 77841.

Elizabeth Caskey, 1910-1994
We note with sadness the passing of
Elizabeth Caskey, INA's first member.


Courtesy of the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology
Plan of the Ka4- Uluburun Shipwreck Exhibit Hall in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.


INA Quarterly 21.3


a) Injormalion Room 0) Shipwreck ExhihWon c) &chibltlon of SOIowreck finds di ExhihLIion uiewine balcony.


a) In/ormalion Roorn b) Shlpwreck Exhibition


c) Exhibition ofShlpwreck finds d) Exhibitfon uvefmng balcony,










INSTITUTE OF NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY



OFFICERS ADMINISTRATION


George F. Bass, Archaeological Director
Gregory M. Cook, Treasurer


John H. Baird
George Bass
Edward O. Boshell, Jr.
Gregory M. Cook
Harlan Crow
Claude Duthult
Daniel Fallon
Danielle J. Feeney
Donald G. Geddes HII
William Graves
Bengt O. Jansson


Frederick M. Hocker, President
Rebecca H. Holloway, Secretary



BOARD OF DIRECTORS


Harry C. Kahn II
Michael L. Katzev
Jack W. Kelley, Chair
Sally R. Lancaster
Norma S. Langworthy
Samuel J. LePrak
Robert E. Lorton
Frederick R. Mayer
William A. McKenzie
William H. Mobley


Donald A. Prey, Vice President
Cemal M. Pulak, Vice President


Alex G. Nasson
Ray H. Seigfried II
Ayhan Sicimoglu
William T. Sturgis
Robert L. Walker
Lew O. Ward, Vice Chair
Peter M. Way
Garry M. Weber
Martin A. Wilcox
Richard A. Williford
George O. Yamini


FACULTY


George E Bass
George T. & Gladys H. Abel Professor of Nautical Archaeology/ Yamini Family Professor of Liberal Arts
Kevin J. Crisman, Assistant Professor
Donny L. Hamilton, Associate Professor
Frederick M. Hocker, Sara W. & George O. Yamini Faculty Fellow
J. Richard Steffy, Sara W. & George O. Yamini Professor of Nautical Archaeology, Emeritus
Frederick H. van Doorninck, Jr., Frederick R. Mayer Professor of Nautical Archaeology
Shelley Wachsmann, Meadows Assistant Professor of Biblical Archaeology


GRADUATE FELLOWS

Mr. and Mrs. Ray H. Seigfried II
Graduate Fellow:
Cemal M. Pulak

Mr. and Mrs. J. Brown Cook
Graduate Fellows:
Brian A. Jordan
Michael P. Scafuri

STAFF

Hassan Cakir
Marion Degmend
Sheila D. Matthews, MA.
Selma Ouz
Robin C.M. Piercy
Cemal M. Pulak, M.S., M.A.
Sema Pulak, M.A.
Edward Rogers
Tufan U. Turanh
Patricida A. Turner
Jane Pannell


RESEARCH ASSOCIATES

Jeremy Green
Cheryl W. Haldane, Ph.D.
Douglas Haldane, M.A.
Margaret E. Leshikar-Denton, Ph.D.
Kathleen McLaughin-Neyland, M.A.
John C. Neville
Robert S. Neyland, Ph.D.
James M. Parrent, M.A.
Ralph K. Pedersen, M.A.
Donald Rosenkrantz

ADJUNCT PROFESSORS

Cynthia J. Eiseman, Ph.D.
John A. Gifford, Ph.D.
Faith D. Hentschel, Ph.D.
Carolyn C. Koehler, Ph.D.
David I. Owen, Ph.D.
David C. Switzer, Ph.D.
Gordon P. Watts, Jr., M.A.

QUARTERLY EDITORS


SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS

Australian Institute of Maritime Archaeology
Boston University
Brown University
Bryn Mawr College
University of California, Berkeley
University of Cincinnati
Cornell University
Corning Museum of Glass
Department de Arqueol6gia Subacuatica de
la I.N.A.H., Mexico
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
New York University, Institute of Fine Arts
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Partners for Livable Places
University Museum, University of
Pennsylvania
Shell of Turkey, Ltd.
Texas A&M Research Foundation
University of Texas, Austin


COUNSEL James A. Goold


Elizabeth Greene
David J. Stewart