TRANSPORT

This ship's timber is 830 mm long, 110 x 120 mm in profile, with truncated 25 mm diameter treenails; and a 385 x 65 mm slot for the supporting metal work from which the visible corrosion products suggest that they were of iron construction. The images were forwarded to ship expert and author Richard Endsor.

The timber appears to be the beam end from a small ship, with evidence of knees on both sides. The small piece of plank let into it crossways may be the remains of a waterway at the side making this face the upper side of the beam. The treenails probably secured the plank. The notch at the beam end may have fitted between the frame timbers of the ship's hull. The recessed slot may be to take a lodging fore and aft knee, and the flat section on the opposite side would be for a hanging knee.

The evidence of corrosion products on the beam suggest that it is from a modern ship, as although iron support structures in the construction of ships appeared during the latter part of the18th century, they were only initially used in warships and large merchantmen, and not until later in smaller vessels such as fishing boats and sailing barges. The retrofitting of them in warships was common during the Napoleonic wars. The uptake of iron fitting was very much linked to the availability of wood, and therefore most ships were built of wood with wooden framing components and some iron strengthening, the Cutty Sark, built in 1869, is one example of this approach. The different designs of iron knee, where they survive, also act as a useful guide to dating wreck sites, particularly in the case of British wrecks. European and American built wrecks, where good quality timber was readily available or cheaper means these are less easily dated by their metal components.