Page 77 - Loss of the VOC Retourschip Batavia, Western Australia, 1629

Gunpowder bag BAT4573 (SCALE1:4)
During the cleaning out of the barrel of the iron gun No. 2 (BAT 8721), the contents of the barrel were recovered. ThisisshowninFig.32,andconsistsofthefollowingitems,inorderofrecovery: woodenlampionorbarrelplug,covered in a linen material (BA T 4572); hemp wadding; the shot; wadding; a linen powder bag (BA T 4573); and a further piece of wadding. The latter is extremely unusual, since it would have caused problems in priming the charge. Fig. 32 shows the powder bag prior to conservation, the illustration here shows the bag after treatment. The treatmen~ which involved washingin7.5%oxalicacidsolutionandthenneutralizationwitha5%EDTAsolution, wascarriedoutbytheConser- vation Laboratory (I am grateful to Rinske Car for the identification of the material and the conservation notes).
Cannon tampion or wooden bore plug and covering material BAT 4572
SCALE 10:1
A number of these bore plugs have been found during the cleaning of the iron guns. In most cases, the guns have been found loaded. Starting at the muzzle, the guns usually had a plug, then wadding, shot, more wadding and then the gun powder (Fig. 32). In one case the powder was preserved in a material bag (see below). The dimensions of the plug (BA T 4493)were: diame- ter 144 mm, thickness 32 mm and it was covered in plain weave linen B A T 4572.
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