One Hamilton bottle also known as a torpedo or egg bottle. These bottles are named after their English inventor, William Francis Hamilton who took out a patent in 1809 for a method of bottling soda and other mineral waters, involving ovate bottles (although use of ovate bottle probably pre-dated his patent by at least 20 years). These bottles became common in the 1840s when the manufacturing of mineral water became very popular. Before this date, carbonated water was only sold on a small scale. The bottle was invented as a way of keeping the gas in fizzy drinks. The pointed base meant that the cork or stopper was always airtight as it was always wet and swollen due to being laid on its side (Dale 2012). A Swiss chemist, Jacob Schwepper, set up a chemist's shop in London and was selling the newly invited artificial fizzy spring water known as aerated water in the early years of the 19th century, and was an early user of the Hamilton bottles to keep in schweppervescence. However, bottles with a pointed base were difficult to transport and could not be stood upright (Dale 2012). Common use of ovate bottles runs from the 1830s through to the end of the century. One Hamilton bottle also known as a torpedo or egg bottle. These bottles are named after their English inventor, William Francis Hamilton who took out a patent in 1809 for a method of bottling soda and other mineral waters, involving ovate bottles (although use of ovate bottle probably pre-dated his patent by at least 20 years). These bottles became common in the 1840s when the manufacturing of mineral water became very popular. Before this date, carbonated water was only sold on a small scale. The bottle was invented as a way of keeping the gas in fizzy drinks. The pointed base meant that the cork or stopper was always airtight as it was always wet and swollen due to being laid on its side (Dale 2012). A Swiss chemist, Jacob Schwepper, set up a chemist's shop in London and was selling the newly invited artificial fizzy spring water known as aerated water in the early years of the 19th century, and was an early user of the Hamilton bottles to keep in schweppervescence. However, bottles with a pointed base were difficult to transport and could not be stood upright (Dale 2012). Common use of ovate bottles runs from the 1830s through to the end of the century. This item was found with six stoneware seltzer bottles (MAS-D100065), four stoneware beverage bottles (MAS-D100066), two green glass wine bottles (MAS-D100068), 3 aqua glass bottles (MAS-D100071), four small stoneware ink bottles (MAS-D100074), six small bowls (MAS-D100076) and one egg cup (MAS-D100078). All of these items were recovered from the wreck of SS Strathclyde, a British trading steamship built in 1871 in Blackwood, Port Glasgow. The ship sank in 1876 off Dover whilst carrying 23 passengers and 47 crew for Bombay, following a collision with Franconia and resulting in the loss of 38 lives. NRHE and Kent HER reference numbers cited in this record refer to the wreck of SS Strathclyde. The location of SS Strathclyde was taken from the British National Grid co-ordinate from the National Record of the Historic Environment. A RDF representation of MAS-D100072 2017-07-24T21:26:17+01:00 2017-10-05T11:54:23+01:00 MAS-D100072 MAS-D100072 GB en-GB The Trustees of the British Museum The Trustees of the British Museum 1 The period from for the object http://purl.org/NET/Claros/vocab#Thumbnail Attribute as courtesy of the British Museum A thumbnail image of MAS-D100072 With finder MAS Created by MAS L M L M Identified by L M V L Identified by V L Glass Primary material of object Complete By Attribution 3.0 Attribute as courtesy of the British Museum A full resolution image of MAS-D100072 Classification of object