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-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-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-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-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-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-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-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-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-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-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-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-100007
Object type: SPOON
Broad period: MODERN
County: Devon
Workflow stage: Published
This spoon is made of a metal alloy, possibly copper alloy, and was probably originally plated. Its manufacture would have been cast. The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) crest is stamped into the end of the spoon. The crest features the RAAF monogram with a laurel wreath surmounted by a crown. This crest is the same style as that used for cap badges and is modelled from a Royal Air Force (RAF) crest. The more widely adopted RAAF crest was commissioned and designed in 1937 and accepted in 1939. It is composed of the imperial crown mounted on a circle featuring the words 'Royal Austra…
Created on: Thursday 8th September 2016
Last updated: Wednesday 14th December 2016
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100105
Object type: STRUCTURAL TIMBER
Broad period: NINETEENTH CENTURY
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
These two unidentified timbers measure 790 x 75 x 90 mm and 160 x 100 x 60 mm and were recovered from a boat's trawl nets whilst working out of Newhaven, East Sussex. The small piece shows evidence of a longer period of immersion in terms of abrasion and marine borer damage, though this may also be due to the relative hardness and variety of the two woods, or any treatment that might have been received to protect the timber. Neither timber appears to be of ship related origin, with the larger darker piece looking as if it might have been a post and rail fence board originally, rather t…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 22nd May 2018
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-O100031
Object type: TIMBER
Broad period: MODERN
County: Hampshire
Workflow stage: Published
Possible ships timber or part of other marine or land based structure. Truncated rounded timber with hole and evidence of mounting plate for furniture, broken or rotted off at one end exposing heart wood and a knot in the wood. Approximately 2000 mm long and 600 mm in diameter. The undamaged half of the timber appears in good condition, implying a more recent date for the timber, whereas the other part appears to have suffered extensive degradation. The arrangement of damage to the timber suggests it may have been partially submerged during its useful life, possibly as part of a shore …
Created on: Thursday 9th March 2017
Last updated: Friday 21st February 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100181
Object type: TIMBER
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
Find consists of two sections of timber or wood. The first measures approximately 1650 mm in length, 85 mm in width and 90 mm in depth. There are no diagnostic elements visible upon the timber, such as tool marks or fixing points, and therefore its function remains unknown. It does, however, appear to be faced and is therefore unlikely to be a piece of natural driftwood. The second piece of wood measures approximately 196 mm in length and 20 mm in width. There is at least one possible nail hole visible and again it appears to have been faced or worked by human hands. It is heavily deg…
Created on: Friday 1st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100177
Object type: TIMBER
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
Section of highly degraded timber measuring approximately 216 mm in length by 31 mm at its widest point. The ends taper to a point, in a regular fashion that seems a deliberate aspect of the timber rather than part of the process of degredation. At least five nail or bolt holes are apparent in the face of the timber, further differentiating the piece from a section of unworked natural wood. The function of the timber is unidentifiable from the data available. As it has been recovered from a wreck it is likely to relate to the vessel itself and can tentatively be interpreted as a ships …
Created on: Friday 1st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100205
Object type: TOBACCO PIPE
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Kent
Workflow stage: Published
Complete example of a clay tobacco pipe of the bent billiard style, probably dating to the 19th century. Overall length of 80 mm, with the stem being 50 mm in length. The "short stem" is circular in profile at the heel, changing to a hexaganol profile 20 mm from the mouth piece, which bears beading around the aperture. The left hand side of the stem, from the users perspective, bears a cartouche comprising an embossed diamond lozenge in turn enclosing an incised inscription of SQUATTERS OWN. The opposite side of the stem bears an identical lozenge enclosing the incised word SYDNEY. The…
Created on: Wednesday 29th August 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-D100178
Object type: TOOTHBRUSH
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: Dorset
Workflow stage: Published
This find consists of a brush handle and head manufactured from either bone, horn or ivory, with the bristles missing. The item is approximately 160 mm in overall length, with the head being c. 60 mm, a neck of c. 20 mm and a handle of 80 mm. The head of the brush is c. 15 mm wide, the neck c. 8mm and the handle c.10 mm. There is a small hole in the end of the handle, presumably for accomodating a lanyard or for hanging the brush from. In the head there are 32 holes for accomodating the bristles, with channels recessed and filled on the rear face where the bristles would have been secu…
Created on: Friday 1st June 2018
Last updated: Thursday 26th March 2020
Spatial data recorded.

Record ID: MAS-F100107
Object type: TRANSPORT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
County: East Sussex
Workflow stage: Published
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 notc…
Created on: Wednesday 23rd August 2017
Last updated: Wednesday 23rd May 2018
Spatial data recorded.