Record ID: MAS-D100032
Object type: WATER CRAFT EQUIPMENT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
A wooden belaying pin, approximately 0.4 m in length. Belaying pins are either solid metal or wooden objects used on sailing ships to secure the running rigging. They are still seen today on traditional square rigged ships and replica vessels. More modern sailing vessels have tended to replace them with fixed cleats. Their design has little changed, comprising a rounded handle and cylindrical shaft of varying length and thickness, dependant on the workload placed on it. The shaft would fit into holes in pinrails, which lined the inside of the bulwarks around the base of the ship's mas…
Created on: Tuesday 14th March 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
No spatial data available.

Record ID: MAS-D100049
Object type: WATER CRAFT EQUIPMENT
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Workflow stage: Published
Two circular wooden pulley sheaves. It is not clear whether these wooden pulley sheaves were a pair or from single sheave pulleys. Generally made from ash (Fraxinus), hickory (Carya) in the case of North America, or Lignum vitae. Lignum vitae, Latin for 'wood of life', is a trade wood, also called Guayacan or Guaiacum from the trees of the genus Guaiacum. The trees are indigenous to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America and have been an important export crop to Europe since the beginning of the 16th century due to its extraordinary combination of strength, toughness, an…
Created on: Tuesday 14th March 2017
Last updated: Tuesday 26th September 2017
No spatial data available.

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.

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-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-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-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.