Page 44 - TVH 2000 Anniversary Shipwreck Project

Structure Trench 2 Structural Survey The positions of the first dive in trench 2 placed us within the vessel 2m east of the transom and 12- 14m to the south15, assuming that the stern section was not out of line or twisted away from the rest of the vessel. Exploration of the surrounding area suggested nothing visible to the west except bricks with wooden structural elements visible to the east. Excavation in the first instance was confined to the brick feature and trying to locate an intact portion of port side hull structure, a sandwich formed of inner hull planking or ceiling planking, frames, outer planking and sacrificial sheathing. Structural Indicators Control points were placed on the major items of structure, with the exception of CP3, a large roll of lead within grid B8B. A substantial longitudinal beam (CP8 to south, 11 on middle and 12 on north end) may be a longitudinal deck support or a stringer for the port side. The beam is 120mm x 120mm but is broken at two nail positions 140mm apart so it may have been wider or thicker, this lies at 330° and has a length of three metres. At its north end stored barrel ends were found. To the west of this a similar size longitudinal beam was found and a point was put on its southern, broken end (CP10). A second substantial element was a carling16 was found with five slots for half beams, four of which were present. The carling was also aligned at 330° and had a width of 90mm, a depth of 140mm and a length of 2896mm. The spacing of the half beams varied, one with only 80mm and one up to 200mm. Two of these half beams had compass bearings measured at 235° and 240°. The slots varied between 80mm and 100. CP7 was placed on the broken southern end. At the north end where it disappeared into the sediment and jumble of timber, including deck planks of 50mm in thickness and between 170mm and 200mm wide. This is undoubtedly a deck support structure, or some form of half deck support structure. The most unusual feature of this is that the half beams are rebated into the western face of the timber. If this represents an intact structural element, the fair face of the timber should represent the side of a hatch (hence no half beams). The timber is too close to the position of the port side for a hatch, unless it has slipped dramatically towards the port side. The other possibility is that the eastern (non-rebated) edge lay on a stringer against the port side, and was not itself a beam shelf, in which case it is nearly a metre west of where the port side should be. The other possibility is that it is upside down. It would appear that this is an isolated portion of deck support, further excavation to the north dislodged it and the half beams became loose and displaced during the excavation. The other substantial timbers were associated with a longitudinal heavy timber, marked CP4 on its southern, torn end. The timber was oriented at angle of 340° and had a width of 450mm and thickness of 100mm and it rested on broken wooden planks. This could be a stringer on the inside of the hull or an outer hull plank. Above and behind CP4 were a number of thinner smaller planks that could be outer hull sheathing. Nearly meeting this timber was a curved element CP5 which was 250mm x 220mm, this looks like the top of a rider or large internal floor timber but could also be a portion of a rib with the planking displaced. Although there were a number of elements of structure that were identified, the port side of the vessel in a coherent form was never found. For this reason, an excavation to the east or outboard of the projected line of the hull (trench 3) was undertaken to see whether the hull was detached and had collapsed to the east and to assess the nature of the stratigraphy, and the artefact assemblage. Several areas were tested, with excavations in the north outboard of CP9 (W4A, W4B) during dives 88-92. Areas W5A and W6A in dives 95, 96, 123 and 124 and a number of dives in W8A (120,121,126,128). 15 B7B, dive 73 16 Longitudinal support into which the half beams which support deck planks are rebated. - 38 -