Page 126 - Kennemerland VOC ship, 1664 - Published Reports

TheInternational JournalofNautical Archaeology and UnderwaterExploration (1980), 9.1: 1-25 The Kennemerland site
A report on the lead ingots Richard Price
Heath House, Bollington Ooss, Macclesfield, Cheshire Keith Muckelroy
Jesus College, Cambridge
Lynn Willies
Hilderston, Dales Road, Matlock Bath, Derbyshire
Introduction
The collection of 119 lead ingots found on the sea-bed off Stoura Stack in the Out Skerries, Shetland, is important both from the viewpoint of studies on the wreck of the Kennemerland (1664), and with respect to research into 17th century lead production. The main implications arising from the former have been discussed elsewhere(Price & Muckelroy, 1977: 199-201); this paper seeks to present the basic data rel- evant to a consideration of the latter, together with some preliminary analysis and discussion.
That this assemblage comes from the cargolballast of the Dutch East Indiaman Kennemerland, wrecked on Dec. 20 1664 (NS), there can be no doubt, on account of its lo- cation off the recorded point of wrecking, Stoura Stack (Bruce, 1907: 127), and the date ‘1664‘ stamped on several ingots. This wreck site was first identified in 1971 and has sub- sequently been excavated over four seasons (Forster & Higgs, 1973; Price & Muckelroy, 1974; 1977; 1979). The total of 119 ingots now recovered represents all those visible on the sea-bed; however, it should be noted that the large area of metaldetector contacts north-west of the Stack may prove to represent, at least in part, additional ingots (Price & Muckelroy, 1979). There are also indications in the documentary records that some lead may have been recovered soon after the wreck- ing; Patrick Blair writes in a letter of 19 June
1665 of ‘much iron and lead lying there’, and mentions arrangements made with local boat-
men for them to have a share in anything they recover. It would thus be unwise to assume that this collection represents the sum total of the vessel’s cargo of lead.
This report begins with a brief note on how Richard Price achieved the recovery of the ingots, given the small scale of the unit oper- ating on this site; the method used may be of interest to other excavators. The assemblage is then described, and this is followed by an archaeological analysis of it, undertaken by Keith Muckelroy. Finally, a short commentary on the significance of the group in terms of research in the history of lead production is contributed by Lynn Willies.
The recovery of the ingots
Diving on the Kennemerland site is undertaken using a surfacedemand unit mounted in a small inflatable, a flexible system allowing excavators to achieve the maximum bottom time. How- ever, the absence of a large boat or heavy lifting gear meant that a self-contained recovery method had to be devised, with fail-safe facili- ties at every stage. Fortunately, the Out Skerries are well endowed with empty tar barrels, discarded after use in road repair, and a number of these were obtained to provide the basic lifting capacity.
The leads on this site were mostly packed in the bottom of a deep gully south of Stoura Stack, or piled up on the deeper sea-floor nearby (Fig. 1); before attaching to barrels, they had to be freed from the sediments and
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