Record ID: MAS-100009
Object type: SHOT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
This is an assemblage of six round cast iron and stone projectiles of varying sizes. Due to the ubiquitous nature of their design, it is difficult to accurately date cannonballs with any certainty. This issue is compounded by the wide variation in designs and calibres of the cannons that fired them and the lifespan of the weapon, with obsolete designs often still in use on merchant ships long after they had fallen out of service with the various navies of Northern Europe, who also used captured weapons on their vessels. Cast iron cannonballs are thought to have appeared at some point d…
Created on: Wednesday 28th September 2016
Last updated: Thursday 13th April 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100026
Object type: SHIPS TIMBER
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: North Yorkshire
Workflow stage: Published
Two fragments of waterlogged wood with two copper fasteners dating from the post-medieval period onwards. The wood may be the remains of two planks of wood used in the construction of a ship as the planks are secured with one copper fastening and a hole is visible where another fastening may have also been used. Copper rivets are the standard method of fastening the planks to each other in clinker constructed vessels, or in the planks to the ribs or frames (Traditional Maritime Skills website, accessed September 2017). Clinker is a method of constructing the hull of a boat by fixing w…
Created on: Saturday 28th January 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 22nd May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100175
Object type: SHIP FITTINGS
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Two brass deck water filler plates and one ceramic door number (45). The water filler plates are 150 mm in diameter and approximately 100 mm thick. They are both heavily degraded and concreted, distorting their 'mushroom-shaped' original form. It appears they have screws running through the wider top surface and hanging down below next to the tinner plug interior. The screws are approximately 50 mm long and 5 mm in diameter. This type of ships fiitting is used to provide an access point by which to fill water tanks on a vessel and are common on many vessels, from pleasure craft to com…
Created on: Wednesday 9th May 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100104
Object type: SHELL CASES
Broad period: MODERN
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
The shell case measures 660 mm long and is 152 mm in diameter at the base, and 116 mm in diameter at the neck though this has been buckled and stretched. The shell case appears to have been either constructed without a base, or it has been removed at some point in the past. The diameter of the neck and its overall size point to it being a 4.5-inch or possibly a 4.7-inch shell case. Without the base with the details of type, manufacturer and date of manufacture, the history and origin of this case is not clear. It would have been part of a fixed round, i.e. the shell was attached to the…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100036
Object type: SAUCER
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
Pewter bowl measuring 15 inches in diameter by 2 1/2 inches in depth. This find is a pewter dish or saucer (the term 'saucer' is used here to describe vessels used to contain sauces, in order to disguise or enhance the taste of food), probably dating somewhere between the 16th and 18th centuries - there are very similar examples, for instance, in 16th century contexts from Nonsuch Palace in Surrey (Rosemary Weinstein, 'Pewter vessels', in Biddle 2005). That doesn't mean that this vessel is a high-status object - saucers and dishes were among the most commonly made pewter items, and wo…
Created on: Tuesday 25th April 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-D100076
Object type: ROUNDED BOWL
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Six small convex bowls that may have also functioned as cups or tea bowls. All the bowls are made of a refined whiteware and three of them display a hand painted decoration.The term 'whiteware' is used in historical archaeology to denote refined ceramics with a whiter and denser body than pearlware that generally postdates c.1830. Whiteware is a class of ceramic products that include porcelain and china. They are usually, but not necessarily, white and consist typically of clays, feldspar, potter's flint, and whiting (calcium carbonate). It is thought that these examples may be tea war…
Created on: Monday 24th July 2017
Last updated: Thursday 5th October 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100110
Object type: POST
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
Heavily eroded and abraded timber fragment with marine borer and growth present. As it is so worn, it is difficult to tell what type of wood it is and whether this fragment was originally completely shaped and worked, or just partially worked to achieve its function. The timber does not exhibit any evidence or staining from fastenings, however, there is one hole that could have been a fastening point at some stage. It is thought that this fragment may be a broken post or groyne timber that has come from a beach rather than material relating to a wreck. Groynes are wooden barriers bui…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100108
Object type: PORTHOLE
Broad period: MODERN
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
This object is the remains of a brass porthole ring measuring 250 mm across with a brass rim 28 mm wide. It is thought that this frame would have been on the outside of the hull of the vessel while an internal frame on the inside of the vessel would have contained the glass element and a hinged deadlight (a metal plate that was both a curtain and a reinforcement against heavy seas). Portholes have been used for centuries to allow light and ventilation to enter the lower, darker levels of vessels and in some early cases, as a means of seeing out of a submersible. Portholes are waterti…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100192
Object type: PERSONAL ACCESSORY
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
One gold T piece to believe part of a watch chain. These pieces were used to fasten the watch chain to an item of clothing, most often a wasitcoat. The T piece has a rounded embossing in the centre of the strip, with a small ring attached at this point for attaching the piece to a chain. The right end of the piece has a single ringed pattern shortly before terminating in a straight clean end. The left side of the piece has steps from the thicker piece to a thinner section extruding out a short distance. Given the date of sinking of the vessel from which it was recovered this item can r…
Created on: Thursday 21st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100080
Object type: PERFUME BOTTLE
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Two clear glass perfume bottles. One has a square tapered body and measures 85 mm by 35 mm while the other measures 95 mm by 40 mm and has a round body complete with a round stopper and still contains yellow liquid. Perfume bottles were part of the vessel's cargo and many other bottles have been salvaged from the wreck by divers during recent years. Their form would be entirely consistent with a date around the turn of the 19th/20th century.
Created on: Saturday 15th July 2017
Last updated: Monday 30th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100179
Object type: ORDNANCE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
This find consists of 12 lead balls varying in diameter between c. 15 mm and 21mm. All appear unfired and bear the mould lines and sprue marks from being hand moulded in a 2 part mould. The balls themselves are in fair condition, though some bear concretion/encrustation. Images of the finds were sent to Charles Trollop, an expert in historical ordnance, who advised that in all likelihood these are English Standard Musket (0.775 " or 19.79 mm) and Carbine (0.615 " or 15.64 mm) Balls. These standards relate to most of the black powder/smooth bore period from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Created on: Friday 1st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100189
Object type: NAIL
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Greater London Authority
Workflow stage: Published
The find consists of 8 iron nails and an unidentifiable object that contains one further nail and is made of, or covered in, what appears to be fur. The nails range in length from 135 - 175 mm, and c. 10 - 20 mm in width at their widest point below the head. All 8 nails have a rose type head and taper to a broad point. These features suggest that the nails were hand wrought, rather than cut or wire, a method where each nail is manufactured individually by hand on a blacksmiths anvil. The invention of the slitting mill c. 1590 simplified this process by manufacturing iron rods from whi…
Created on: Wednesday 13th June 2018
Last updated: Monday 30th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100017
Object type: MAMMAL REMAINS
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Essex
Workflow stage: Published
This cattle mandible, or lower jaw, is comprised of two incomplete sections; cattle mandibles are rarely encountered in the archaeological record as conjoined pairs (Zhang et al. 2013). The smaller piece is an incomplete section featuring both pre-molars and molars. The larger piece is fairly complete, with the exception of teeth, extending all the way to the part in which the incisors and canines would be located. This front section is separated from the molar and pre-molar root holes by the diastema. Providing a relative date for this cattle mandible is challenging without further e…
Created on: Tuesday 18th October 2016
Last updated: Monday 16th January 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-100008
Object type: MAMMAL REMAINS
Broad period: UNKNOWN
County: Northumberland
Workflow stage: Published
This tooth is a cattle (Bos spp) molar from the upper jaw. It has four crescentic cusps (polycuspid) forming a square crown, as well as four root elements. These characteristics are typical of selenodont teeth which are found in ruminant herbivores (e.g. cattle, goats, sheep, or deer). Viewed from the side, the crown of the tooth forms triangular profiles which, in combination with ridges, makes the sideways jaw motion of ruminants an effective way to break-up tough plant matter. Thus their function as crushing and grinding teeth. The alternating layers of enamel, dentine and cementum…
Created on: Monday 12th September 2016
Last updated: Tuesday 27th September 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100150
Object type: LID
Broad period: MODERN
Workflow stage: Published
One copper item, thought to be a lid by discoverer. It is around 180 mm in diameter with greenish brown discolouration from the oxidising of the copper. At its centre there is a raised disc that has been possibly beaten out of the original shape. This circular embossed disc is approximately 90 mm in diameter and has a small circular aperture in its centre (roughly 10 mm diameter). Other than a lid, the item could be a lamp shade of some sort or a hub of some wheeled apparatus.
Created on: Monday 9th October 2017
Last updated: Friday 27th March 2020
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-100012
Object type: LANDING CRAFT INFANTRY
Broad period: MODERN
County: Suffolk
Workflow stage: Published
This hulk is situated on the River Deben, just outside of Melton (Suffolk) and is estimated to measure 11.5 m in length and 3 m in width. The structure is rectangular in shape with squared edges and straight sides. One end suggests the presence of a bulkhead and a hatch or doorway, while the other end is missing. Parts of possible rudder components are located close to the bulkhead, suggesting that this is the stern. Internal frames can be seen throughout the remaining structure; estimated measurements reveal a spacing of approximately 0.42 m. The hull is constructed of wood in a doubl…
Created on: Friday 30th September 2016
Last updated: Monday 10th October 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100106
Object type: LADDER
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
These two timbers are two components of a companion ladder. The larger piece measures 1.14 m long by 0.15 m wide and based on the visible ridges to accommodate the stairs, would have been the left-hand side banister of the ladder. The smaller piece measures 0.56 m wide and is 20 mm thick. This piece is one of the stairs that would have fitted between both banisters and still slots in to one of the grooves on the remaining banister. The join is step and groove radiused rather than square cut. Companion ladders or a companion way is usually steep but has treads or stairs rather than run…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 8th May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100169
Object type: KNIFE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Isle of Wight
Workflow stage: Published
Double edged blade covered with concretions, around 25 mm wide and 280 mm long. Displays iron oxidation, and the item has not been preserved well. The blade is roughly 200 mm long and the thicker handle is approximately 80 mm long. Following consultation with Henry Yallop of The Royal Armouries museum, this object can only be discribed as roughly the shape of a common blade form , i.e. roughly lenticular, and about 25 mm broad. What is not clear is whether it was once the complete blade, or that this is part of one, or alternatively that it was the part of another forged object, and o…
Created on: Saturday 20th January 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100054
Object type: JUG
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Four milk jugs with a Chinese style design and a light grey coloured pattern and appear to be made of porcelain (although this has not been confirmed). Similar in decorative style to the bowls recorded as MAS-D100047, it is assumed that the these milk jugs were made by either Charles Meigh of Hanley, Staffordshire (1835-49), the preceding company, J. Meigh and Son (c.1805-34), or the succeeding company, Charles Meigh and Son (1851-61) (Godden 1964, 428-429).
Created on: Sunday 4th June 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100052
Object type: JUG
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
One badly damaged ceramic jug with marine encrustration. The vessel is probably stoneware, but possibly glazed redware as there appears to be the characteristic 'orange peel' texture of salt-glazed stoneware visible in the photo, with the 'reeding' that you get round the rims of stoneware vessels. If this is the case it is almost certainly German in origin. The rounded shape would place it somewhere in the second half of the 16th century or first half of the 17th century.
Created on: Tuesday 23rd May 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 3rd October 2017
No spatial data available.