Page 43 - TVH 2000 Anniversary Shipwreck Project

Trenches 2 and 3 Introduction Only nine days were spent excavating trenches 2 and 3, the area chosen had been as a result of an earlier ROV survey that revealed bricks. Due to the compact nature of the bricks observed during this dive7 it was assumed that this area was the galley. The first dive in this area8 revealed so many bricks that it was immediately clear that this was not the galley, but the top levels of a cargo of bricks at 12-14m forward of the stern. This would equate to the area of the after hold or if on the orlop (lower gun deck) the crews quarters and armaments. It seems likely that the Feature (3) represents the top level of a cargo of bricks in the after hold9. Our aim was to try and excavate across the vessel from the port side to the starboard side around the galley area. The cargo of bricks prevented the finding of any structure towards the starboard side due to the depth of the bricks that increased towards the west. We concentrated excavating from the centre of the vessel towards the east to delineate the port side first. The bricks were stored lengthways parallel with the hull, at an orientation of 330°. Towards the west (starboard) they are stacked flat, towards the port side they are canted over to present their side faces uppermost. These are rationally stored on the west side becoming more random towards the port side, some at ninety degrees to the main cargo. This would correspond to a cargo stored flat being turned on edge and slipping towards the port side as the vessel sank10. Exploration and excavation to try and delineate the spread of the bricks extended to the North, South and West covering grid squares from B4A and B in the north to B8A and A in the south, a distance of 10 metres. There was no obvious end to the spread of bricks in any direction other than towards the port side, where they appeared more randomly distributed and amongst both collapsed and coherent structure. In areas B7 and B8 evidence of deck supports and deck planks (all 50mm in thickness) were recorded but other than being parallel with the bricks their coherency could not be demonstrated without removing a substantial number of bricks. In square B7B it appeared as though some of the bricks were lying on the deck planks11 so at least some structural elements from the orlop deck survive. For this to be so the cargo would have had to burst through the orlop deck during the sinking with some of the bricks preserving portions of the orlop deck. Over 350 bricks were recovered for analysis and display (A0420 1-350, dive 108) these were in grid square B7B. Although the predominant feature was the bricks forming an impenetrable layer that may offer excellent protection to anything stored beneath, there were a few features amongst the bricks. The features included an area of stored barrel elements (B6A, B5A/B) with staves stored flat and separate from ends12 (A0147 parts 1-7). Many apparently quartered logs were apparent which still retained the bark, some of this was excavated having been mistaken for leather. Wood was part of the cargo. A notable feature (5) consisted of iron stained white clay taking the form of barrels with stave impressions within the concretion, this overlay the bricks and one deck plank. Here it would appear that a barrel or iron element had corroded, the wood eroding away but leaving the stave impressions. The iron seems to have preferentially preserved a deck plank within or on top of the bricks13. Other than the barrels and logs, the only other major feature was a large cylindrical object (Feature 4) lying across the ship at right angles to the bricks in area B10D. This appears to be a composite of wood and iron, some of which appears to be staves of wrought iron so it may be the remains of a winch system or capstan(s). The composite is in four parts with gaps between, a diameter of 650-700mm and total combined length of 1588mm14. 7 23 July 2000 8 Grid B7B 9 See video survey dive 85 10 Video log dive 112 & 113. 11 Video log dive 102 12 Video log dive 83 13 Video log dive 118 14 Video log dives 61, 106, 117, 125. - 37 -