Page 189 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

Supplies for the Company in the Indies
The Batavia portico
Figure 43. One of the building bloclcs lying on the edge of the exposed hull limbo"" note the
mason's mark 'B 6'.
Tbe excavation of the portico fac;ade
When theBalavia site was fustdiscoveredin 1963,one
of the fust groups of items observed on the site was a numberofshapedstonebuildingblocks.Itwassuggested, atthetime,thattheblockswerea'fa~adeforanimportant building in the East lndies and they were shipping it OUlto Java as ballast aboard theBalavia' (Edwards, 1966). This observation was remarkably astute, as later work showed that these blocks did, indeed, make up a fa~ade for an important building in Batavia.
During the 1972-76excavation,137 shapedsandslOne building blocks were recovered from the site. Each block was raised by winch from the wreck site, onto the expedi- tion workboat. The blocks were then transported to the Museum's base camp on a nearby island, where they were unloaded for storage until theendoftheexcavation.ln all, 37 tonnes of blocks were raised. It soon became apparent thattheblocksformedpartofaporticof~ade.Matching bases and capitals and half drums for the columns showed a classic Tuscan order. Parrs of the pediment were also identified. Because the individual blocks were so heavy, initialattemptsontheislands10matchtheblocksandmake a theoretical reconstruction were disappointing. However, when the blocks were brought to the Maritime Archaeol- ogy Department at Fremantle, a fork-lift truck was used to handle the blocks. With this, it was possible to erect small sections of the facade (Fig. 45), and try out various ap- proaches, 10 determine how the portico Was constructed. Masons' marks (B2 to B8) on the drums indicated the sequence for the columns, and it became obvious that the columnsconsistedofalternatinglayersofhalf-drumswith two flanking blocks and quarter-blocks with the flanking blocksattached.Thus,thelayersofthecolumnsalternated between one with a vertical split down the cenlre of the drumandonewithoutasplitThepediment,however,was unmarked and had to be fitted by trial and error. Once the size of the pediment was determined, it was possible to fit
the semi-circular arch between the columns. As work pro- gressed, it became obvious that a full reconstruction was possible.
Six strange, bronze objects were found on the wreck .. site.Thesearethought10bedoorpintlesthatwouldhave beensetbetweenthelayersoftheportico,atthetop,inthe
middle and at the bottom, 10 act as hinges for the massive
wooden doors. As no matching gimbals were found, it is likelythatsocketswouldhavebeencutintothewoodofthe doors themselves.
At the time that work was progressing on the recon- stroction of the portico, a new Maritime Museum was in the planning stage. The old, historic Commissariat Build- ing in Fremantle, dating from 1851, was being renovated to house a reconstruction of the Balavia timbers and 10 act as a museum, in association with offices for the Maritime ArchaeologyDepartmentandConservationLaboratory.It was, therefore, decided to rebuild the portico fa~adeon the inside wall of the gallery which was to house theBalavia. Here, on the south Wall, the proportions of the fa~ade would match the wall ofthe building and pleasantly frame an existing doorway (Fig. 46).
There was, however, a structural problem. There was concernthattheblocksmaynotstanduptobearingweight, particularlyasthesandslOnewasrathersoft.Itwasdecided that each block should be individually supported. A com- plex, steel, supporting framework was constructed, with two doublepil\arssupportingthewholeportico. Each half- column drum was mounted on a steel plate, which, in turn, was welded to the columns. The arch under the pediment was supported in a similar manner. In most cases, the blocks thatwere securewere simply placed in the support- ingframework,butblocksthatwerelooseorinsecurewere pinnedtothesteelsupportforadditionalsecurity.Thus,no block was weight-bearing, the load of the block above being taken by the steel plates.
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