THE STUDY OF SIX ARTEFACT CATEGORIES FROM THE WRECK SITE OF THE EARL OF ABERGAVENNY

HYPERLINKED CONTENTS

Section - 1 - ANIMAL BONES

Section - 2 - HUMAN BONES

Section - 3 - METAL INGOTS

Section - 4 -ENGLISH CERAMICS

Section- 5 - CHINESE PORCELAIN

Section - 6 - LEAD CLOTH SEALS

STUDY OF THE ANIMAL BONES - Section 1

Dr Philip Armitage

DINING ON BOARD SHIP

For those passengers whose social standing and financial situation enabled them to berth in the spacious and comfortably furnished roundhouse cabins located beneath the poop deck, dining on board the English East Indiaman could be a delightful experience.  Having paid substantial sums (ranging from over two hundred to a thousand pounds) for their passage and accommodation, these passengers were accorded the privilege of dining at the captain’s table.  Even given the somewhat limited cooking facilities available on such ships, the Commander’s cook performed remarkable well, providing an array of respectable dishes (often three main meat courses followed by dessert) when dinner was served at the Commander’s table between noon and 2 pm.  The dinner menu (for 16 persons) noted by Lady Anne Barnard, one of these privileged passengers, on board the East Indiaman Sir Edward Hughes, in 1797, well illustrates just how sumptuous such meals could be.

The menu [1] included “pea soup, roast leg of mutton, hogs’ puddings, two fowl, two hams, two ducks, corned round of beef, mutton pies, mutton chops, stewed cabbages and potatoes, followed by an enormous plum pudding and washed down with porter, spruce beer, port, wine, sherry, gin, rum ___”.

While the wealthy passengers and highest-ranking ship’s officers, when dining at the captain’s table, were enjoying such culinary pleasures, their less fortunate counterparts in steerage, together with the ordinary sailors at their messes below decks, had to make do with boiled rations of salted beef and salted pork, often of very unappetising quality - English sailor Samuel Kelly (1781) described [2] such provisions “of infamous quality”, noting that the “barrels of pork consisted of pigs’ heads with the iron rings in the nose, pigs’ feet and pigs’ tails with much hair thereon”.

Procurement of the requisite supplies of salted beef and pork - along with other basic provisions - for outward bound East Indiamen apparently was a routine though major operation; the ship’s husband overseeing their lading at Gravesend in quantities regulated by the tonnage of the vessel, as directed by articles (victualling bills) issued by the East India Company [3] .

Responsibility for ensuring that adequate and proper arrangement was made to feed the higher ranking passengers traveling on board was, however, entirely the captain’s, and formed one further burden to the many demands made of him in preparing his ship for the voyage.  Just how vexing this task could be was well illustrated in the letter [4] written by John Wordsworth to his brother William shortly before the Abergavenny left the Thames on its last voyage:

            “The passengers are all down and we are anxiously expecting to sail.... we shall muster at my table 36 to 38 persons.... this alone have given me a great deal of trouble to procure provisions etc. for them..”

One logistical solution to meet the special victualling requirements for the higher ranking passengers was to take on board livestock as a convenient source of fresh meat throughout the voyage when the vessel was some distance for shore-based supply-stations.  Carrying sheep was especially important as these live animals served as the only source of mutton for the captain’s table:  unlike cattle and pigs, meat from sheep was unsuitable for preserving by salting.  In addition to sheep, an incredible variety of animals selected to serve as “walking larders”, often turned East Indiamen into veritable “floating farmyards” according to Lubbock [5] who quotes as evidence of this, the contemporary eyewitness account of a typical outward bound East Indiaman recorded by Royal Naval Captain Frederick Marryat:

            “The Indiaman was a 1200-ton ship....the poop was crowded with coops, tenanted by every variety of domestic fowls awaiting the day when they should be required to supply the luxurious table provided by the captain....the launch contained about fifty sheep....the barge and yawl were filled with goats and two calves....between the hatchways of the deck below were three milch cows; where also were fowls and rabbits....the manger forward had been dedicated to the pigs....”

On the Earl of Abergavenny, “some sheep and a cow”, providentially penned in one of the few launches safely lowered before the ship became submerged, apparently survived after the loss of the vessel [6] .  Their fellow animals, located below decks, were presumably not so fortunate and must have drowned;  and their skeletal remains are probably included among the animal bone samples recovered during excavations of the shipwreck.  Other recovered groups of animal bones are identified as discarded debris from meals eaten on board, probably thrown into the bilges.  The shipwreck also yielded cattle and pig bones derived from the barrels of packed, salted beef and pork stored in the hold at the time of the vessel’s loss. 

Figure 1

Animal Bones

Top row, left to right; tibia of a pig with evidence of butchery; humerus of a pig; innominate bone (pelvis) of a pig; complete dog femur; humerus of a domestic turkey; innominate bone from a dog; buchered cattle femur.  
Bottom row, left to right; femur of a large sheep; humerus of a domestic chicken.

 Scientific analysis of all this faunal material is providing fascinating insight into early 19th-century maritime diet and foodways, revealing information in more detail than has previously been possible to obtain from historical sources alone, about the types of livestock and the quality of the meat provisions carried on board an outward bound British East Indiaman.

Notwithstanding Commander Marryat’s mention of rabbits on board the East Indiaman he saw leaving the Thames, the discovery of a rabbit femur in this shipwreck was unexpected as the maritime literature indicates that many British sailors believed these animals would bring bad luck to any ship foolish enough to carry them.  Even the speaking of their name was considered taboo, and sailors generally referred to them as “furry things” - as illustrated by the following entry recorded [7] in the log of the ill-fated ship Felicity, a West Indiaman of Truro, Robert Oakapple, Master:

In his log entry dated July 12th 1820 Oakapple wrote:

“Mate reports that seaman had brought one of those furry things on board in a covered cage.  Ordered its neck wrung and body thrown overboard”.

This strong superstitious aversion to rabbits extended also to French mariners [8] , who in the late 18th century apparently refused to carry such animals on their ships, believing them the cause of misfortune at sea.

In addition to the one rabbit femur, the discovery in the shipwreck of several avian bone elements - identified as domestic fowl and domestic turkey - serve to further illustrate the variety of fresh meat enjoyed by those passengers dining at Commander Wordsworth’s table.  Measurement of the specimens of turkey wing-bones revealed them to be comparable in size to those from modern turkeys whose dressed weight was 12 lb.  While the shipwreck turkeys were not as heavy as the plumpest individuals available today (with dressed weights over 20 lb.) those served up on the Earl of Abergavenny were nevertheless of respectable size by early 19th-century culinary standards

Consumption of mutton on board was well attested by the recovery from the shipwreck of over fifty mature sheep bones, among which were limb bone elements from at least two, possibly three, individuals whose shoulder heights in the living animals (estimated from the lengths of the bones) ranged 69 - 72 cm.  The exceptional stature of these particular sheep fitted well with contemporary (late 18th/early 19th century) descriptions of the unimproved Romney Marsh (also known as the Old Kent) breed [9] .  Based on our knowledge of late 18th/early 19th century European maritime dietary tradition/protocol, the presence of Romney Marsh sheep on board an English East Indiaman at first seemed highly anomalous.  However, to better understand why this should be considered so, it is important to recognise that mutton consumption was the prerogative of ships’ captains and their dining companions who would expect only the very best quality meat - which at that period came from improved South Down and Welsh Mountain sheep, whose fine-grained mutton was much esteemed by the wealthier classes.  Mutton from Romney Marsh (and other unimproved long woolled) sheep was considered by the English upper and middle classes as “shocking” coarse-grained and insipid in taste, and therefore fit only for feeding the lower working classes - certainly not the sort of meat to serve the higher ranking passengers at Commander Wordsworth’s table.  Yet, the bones of such sheep were found in the shipwreck, suggesting that attributes other than meat-quality may have governed their selection by those responsible for stocking the Earl of Abergavenny.  Researching further into the characteristics of the Romney Marsh sheep revealed them to have been widely recognised by the early 19th-century writers on agriculture as an extremely hardy breed with a tough constitution that well suited them for survival in the “bleak windswept marshes of Kent”.  Also, their unusually hard hooves enabled them to resist foot rot even in marshy conditions.  Together, these traits would certainly have proved advantageous to any sheep being kept penned on the open, rain and sea-swept decks of an East Indiaman.  Furthermore, although their meat may have been considered somewhat coarse, their exceptionally large body frame and lanky legs would have yielded a plentiful supply of mutton to Commander Wordsworth’s table.

Despite mariner Samuel Kelly’s disparaging remarks concerning the “infamous quality” of packed, salted pork supplied to English ships (see above), some of these provisions carried on board the Earl of Abergavenny were of the highest grade, according to the results of the analysis carried out on the pig bones recovered from the stern - which revealed higher proportional representation of bones associated with the better quality (more meatier) cuts (roast ham, and hind leg).  A similar preponderance was documented for the pig bones excavated from the shipwreck of the steamboat Bertrand (1865), Missouri River (USA), representative of the remains of barrelled mess pork.  In marked contrast to the pig bones from the stern, those recovered from the bow of the shipwreck Earl of Abergavenny included skulls, lower jawbones, and extremity foot-bones (noticeably absent in the stern assemblage).  Interpreted as remains of heads, jowls, and feet, their presence indicated that the salt pork stored in the bow had been of the lowest grade (somewhat misleadingly graded by meat purveyors in the 19th century as “prime pork”).  A similar pig-bone assemblage containing quantities of elements from these less desirable cuts - and representative of barreled “prime pork” - was excavated at the Hoff Store site, San Francisco (USA) (1850s).

One explanation for the presence on board the Earl of Abergavenny of the two grades of packed, salted pork is suggested by the differences in the locations of the two distinctly different pig-bone assemblages (described above):  the assemblage in the stern perhaps represents part of the stored meat intended to supply Commander Wordsworth’s table, while that in the bow represents preserved meat forming part of the ship’s general stores intended for feeding the ordinary crew members and less important passengers on board (hence its noticeably inferior quality).

Among the cattle bones from the Earl of Abergavenny was one stylohyoid (part of the hyoid bone).  Interestingly, another shipwreck of an outward bound East Indiaman, VOC (Dutch) ship Amsterdam (1749) excavated on the shore near Hastings, East Sussex, also yielded cattle hyoid bones (5 Thyrohyoids and 1 basihyoid) interpreted by Armitage as remains of ox tongues intended for supplying the Commander’s table.  In modern butchery practice, it is common to cut the tongue in cattle [10] “short in the root” thus excluding the hyoid bones but butchers in the late 18th/early 19th century may well have cut beef tongues “longer” with the larynx, epiglottis, and two or three rings of the trachea attached (thereby including the hyoid bones with the tongue).  Then (as now) ox tongue was considered a culinary delicacy; and was included in the victualling bills of provisions authorised for loading onto East Indiamen at the “India Wharf” [11] .  British naval vessels in the 18th century apparently also were supplied with this meat; as indicated in a letter [12] from the Victualling Office to the Admiralty, dated 27th April. 1703, which includes reference to the distribution to the British fleet of “ox tongues.....which by ancient custome hath been allowed the ship of each rate on their first victualling”.

Analysis of the other cattle bones recovered from the ship revealed a preponderance (high proportional representation) of ribs that according to the criteria proposed by archaeozoologist van Wijngaarden-Baker [13] indicates remains of salted beef.  Together with salted pork, the packed, salted beef would have formed the bulk of the meat provisions stored on board the vessel in preparation for the long voyage to India and China.  From the reconstructed patterns of primary butchering, the ribs revealed two very different (distinctive) ways the midsections of the ox carcasses had been cut up into portions for salting:

1) - Some of the ribs bore evidence of multiple-cutting (by axe, cleaver, and saw), below the proximal articular head and again further down the shaft towards the distal end - indicating removal of clean-cut, square portions of rib meat.

2) - Other ribs were virtually complete except for the distal ends removed by means of cleaver, axe, or (less commonly) a saw.  These bone elements represented larger portions of rib meat removed with sections of backbone (i.e. the ribs in the cuts of meat would still have been articulated with their respective thoracic vertebrae) - a pattern of butchering documented by English [14] (1990:p 64) in the assemblages of cattle bones (identified as remains of “Prime Mess Beef”) from the shipwreck of the brig William Salthouse (1841) excavated in Australian Waters.

Extant late 18th/early 19th century victualling bills for English East Indiamen provide only very limited information concerning the types of preserved fish carried on board such vessels as part of their stores of provisions.  Apart from herrings and salmons such foodstuffs appear in these listings under the general  (non-specific) category “fish”.  Recovery from the bow area of the shipwreck Earl of Abergavenny of fish bones identified as cod has therefore contributed to our otherwise scanty knowledge of this subject:  revealing that at least one outward bound English East Indiamen was provisioned with stockfish (cod in preserved form, either dried or salted).

Dog Bones

Not all the animal remains were associated with the meat provisions on board.  Also recovered were two femora, an innominate bone (part of a pelvis), and one lower premolar tooth, all identified as domestic dog and probably from one animal.  This evidence for the presence on board of a dog was not totally unexpected as several historical sources make mention on such animals on English East Indiamen; as the following accounts illustrate:

In the Plassey [15] outward bound in 1769, there is mention of:  “an enormous dog of the Newfoundland breed called Beau" - being transported to India by his owner Mr Jacob Rider, Factor.

In the Prince of Wales [16] outward bound in 1776, there is a mention of, “foxhounds”, being taken by the ship’s captain to Bengal, for sale”.

In the Gatton [17] outward bound in 1778, a “large and noisy pack of foxhounds”, being taken to India for sale.

In the Antelope [18] homeward bound in 1783, there is the following note;  “Among the ship’s company was a huge Newfoundland dog”.

From published descriptions [19] of these breeds neither is a likely candidate for the dog represented by the bones from the Abergavenny - whose shoulder height in the living animal is estimated [20] at 41 cm: both the Newfoundland and Foxhound are of greater stature (66-71cm and 59 cm, respectively).  Comparisons made with stature data of modern breeds in the osteological collections of the Natural History Museum, London, examined by Armitage [21] , suggest a terrier-sized dog; very similar in height to the larger of the two dogs documented from the Dutch East Indiaman Amsterdam (1749).  This interpretation of a terrier-sized dog is further supported by comparison of size in the innominate bones of modern breeds [22] .  If indeed this animal was of the terrier breed-type, then, its role on board the Abergavenny may primarily have been as a rat-destroyer.  Although no skeletal remains of either black rat Rattus rattus or its larger, more aggressive cousin, the brown rat Rattus norvegicus have been found in the shipwreck, it is well documented that both these commensal rodent species commonly infested European sailing vessels at this period.  Then [23] (as now [24] ) terrier dogs would have proved the ideal choice for controlling such noxious vermin.  Other suggested explanations for the presence on board the ship of this dog include the following:  it was the ship’s mascot, or pet of one of the ship’s officers or passengers.  Whatever its role or status, this unfortunate animal presumably perished when the ship went down.

HUMAN SKELETAL REMAINS - Section 2

(Dr Philip Armitage)

Contemporary (1805) accounts indicate that up to 270 persons out of the total 387 on board, perished when the Earl of Abergavenny, engulfed in a swell, plunged beneath the waves.  An unspecified number of corpses of those drowned, following the sinking of the vessel, apparently were washed ashore along with the wreckage and debris; others were recovered later, during dragging of the wreck site, and even as late as March 20th, the body of Commander John Wordsworth [25] was found and positively identified.

Continued efforts to recover further bodies apparently were unsuccessful as many of the corpses of those unfortunate people who had been trapped and drowned below decks, were now located deep within the sunken hull, and therefore inaccessible to grappling hooks: their skeletal remains were destined to lie entombed in the shipwreck until, over 190 years later, they were discovered during archaeological investigations of the wreck.  Unfortunately, from the viewpoint of the interests of anthropological research, post depositional disturbances, particularly the destruction wrought to the integrity of the hull structure and its contents during Braithwaite’s salvage operations, and more recently in the 1960s when explosives were used to recover copper fastenings, [26] had resulted in disarticulation of these skeletons, accompanied by the scattering and intermixing throughout the wreck site of their component bone elements.  Thus rendering it impossible to distinguish individual remains of sailors, from those of the soldiers and other passengers.  None of the originally articulated skeletons had survived intact whose presence otherwise would have allowed separation for analytical purposes of the different groups of persons represented.  Had such complete skeletons been found in situ, their individual identities might have been established from associated artefactual evidence (e.g. skeletons found with military accoutrements would indicate remains of soldiers rather than sailors).  Intermixing of the various skeletal remains and artefacts however precluded such determinations.

Despite limitations imposed by the post-depositional history of the human skeletal material found in the wreck site (represented by the collected sample of 188 bone elements) their scientific analysis has nonetheless yielded interesting and useful information on such aspects as age composition, stature, and dental health of the human population as a whole on board the Earl of Abergavenny at the time of its loss.  Together with the documentary evidence, the results of the analyses of the skeletal remains have helped form a more complete picture of early 19th-century maritime lifeways; as demonstrated by the following selected preliminary findings:

Sex composition of the sample

Gender could be positively determined in the three pelvic bones recovered from the shipwreck:  all of which were recognised from their wide sciatic notch [27] as males.  All the limb bone specimens also were tentatively recognised as males on the basis of their general robust appearance and size.

For the purposes of the scientific analysis it therefore seemed reasonable to assume that all 188 collected bone elements derived from the sailors and soldiers who lost their lives in the wreck - and that none came from the one female passenger (Mrs. Blair) who refused to leave the sinking ship and is known to have been among those drowned.

Age composition

Apart from three crania from individuals aged 28 - 35 years, the majority (86.4%) of the collected skeletal elements fell within the age range 16 - 25 years [28] Assuming these mostly are the remains of sailors, their relative youthfulness comes as no great surprise:  M. Rediker in his book ‘Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’ [29] in discussing the characteristics of 18th-century European seamen makes the observation that “high mortality rates and the rigors of maritime work made seafaring a young man's occupation”.  Most seamen were in their twenties or thirties, the average age of the common tar was twenty-seven.  Ship’s lesser officers tended to be in their late twenties.  Minimum age requirements set by the English India Company for the appointment of its ships' officers (20 - 25 years) [30] also indicates recognition that seafaring was the prerogative of younger men.

The age-profile documented for the Earl of Abergavenny human remains fits very well the contemporary (1805) mortality lists compiled for the ship’s company.  These data record, besides Commander John Wordsworth, the names, ranks and ages of the 81 officers and ordinary sailors who were drowned whose ages ranged 16-56 years, with the average 28.5 years.  Inspection of the distribution pattern of the recorded ages for these 81 members of the ship’s company, reveals a preponderance (noticeable clustering) of individuals in the lower end of the age range (16 - 27 years) : in statistical terms, there is significant negative skewness exhibited by these data.  There seemed therefore remarkable concordance between the historical and the skeletal evidence, with both characterised by a high proportion of younger aged individuals.  It must be remembered however that the corpses of an unspecified number of those named in the 1805 mortality lists either washed ashore or were recovered during dragging of the wreck site.  These data provide therefore an approximate guide only to the expected age composition of the sailors/soldiers presented by the excavated bone sample.  Furthermore, it should be acknowledged that some of the human bone elements collected during the archaeological investigations may be those of soldiers who drowned - though (like their sailor counterparts) these also would be expected to comprise a high proportion of young men, especially if they represent remains of the cadets known to have been on board, who could have been as young as 14 - 16 years.

Stature

Recovery from the shipwreck of several intact (unbroken) leg and arm bones (femora, fibulae, radii and ulnae) with fused proximal and distal epiphyses, allowed estimation of stature in the individuals represented; whose heights ranged between 5 ft 3 in. and 5 ft 11 in., with the average at 5 ft 7 in [31] .

These data compare remarkably well with the stature of the 24 mutineers on the infamous HMS Bounty (1789); whose heights as documented by Captain Bligh (in his descriptions intended to aid in their recognition and arrest by Naval authorities also ranged between 5 ft 3 in. and 5 ft 11 in., with the average at 5 ft 7 in [32] .

The men on the Earl of Abergavenny were, however, apparently slightly taller, on average, than their American counterparts serving on board privateers a quarter of a century earlier, as revealed by an 1780 muster list where the “average sailor was only between 5 ft 5 in and 5 ft 6 in. tall” [33]

In view of possible inclusion in the Earl of Abergavenny human bone sample of elements derived from soldiers (and cadets), comparison was made also with heights documented in 175 British Army conscripts in 1914 (used in the absence of any specific data on East India Company soldiers) these ranged between 4 ft 10 in. and 6 ft 2 in. with a mean of 5 ft 7 in. [34]

Dental health

Three lower jawbones, recovered from the shipwreck, exhibited evidence of loss of one or more molar teeth.  In each specimen, the alveoli (sockets) of the missing teeth were completely healed over indicating that the loss occurred while the individual was still living - perhaps as a result of severely infected gums or, surgical extraction’s of badly decayed teeth - and not post-mortem from post-depositional damage.  Captain Bligh's description of Edward Young (aged 22 years) one of the mutineers on board H.M.S.Bounty (1789) [35] well illustrates the often poor condition of sailors’ teeth.  This individual had apparently “lost several of his fore teeth and those remaining [were] rotten”.  At sea, extraction of any such rotten teeth was often carried out with very little ceremony - or indeed regard for pain caused to the unfortunate patient: as exemplified by the following graphic first-hand account of such crude corrective “dentistry” as experienced by Nelson Cole Haley [36] ,' harpooner on board the American whaler Charles W. Morgan in the 185Os:-

 “___ during the night I had had the toothache.  It was still causing me a great deal of pain, so I went to the Mate and asked him to pull it out.  He was always willing to do anything in the dentist or surgeon's line for anyone on board the ship.  He seemed to take pleasure in cutting or hacking the human frame.  Using old-fashioned tooth pullers he found the right tooth, shoved the instrument of torture over it, and bringing a sudden jerk on it, brought it out of my mouth with the tooth in its claw.  Thinking by the shock he gave me he must have taken the jaw with it, I remarked, that if he had no further use for my jaw to please put it back where he had taken it from.  ‘Pooh’, he said, ‘you will not miss the piece I have.  It is no more than an inch long’.  He was right, I did not miss it, or some three or four pieces that afterwards came out from the place he had fractured by letting the claw catch below the tooth, I suppose”

Surgical extraction of a bad tooth even when carried out on land by a supposedly trained surgeon seems to have been just as barbaric and painful in the late 18th century, as indicated by the treatment English sailor Samuel Kelley [37] received while on shore at Malaga, in 1792:-

“Having been much troubled with a decayed tooth for several days I determined to have it extracted, for which purpose... a barber surgeon was sent for, who secured my head under his arm and over the back of a chair.  Being determined to accomplish his undertaking he grasped the jawbone with his instrument and not only drew the tooth, but splintered the bone, a piece of which I shewed him”.

Visual inspection of the three human jawbones with pre-mortem teeth loss from the Earl of Abergavenny failed to detect, in the regions of the healed alveoli, any evidence of pre-mortem splintering of the bone or other physical damage - as would have been expected had these individuals suffered injury to the ramus during their tooth extraction procedure.  Unlike sailors Haley and Kelley (above), then, it appears these individuals on the Earl of Abergavenny had been more fortunate in having proficient practitioners involved in the removal of their rotten teeth.  It must be assumed though, that such surgeries performed without benefit of modern oral anesthetics, were not entirely lacking in pain!!

Evidence of occupational stress ?

Special mention should be made of one human humerus recovered from the shipwreck that despite its overall slender (gracile) build, exhibits a very much (abnormally) developed pectoral ridge.  Attached to the pectoral ridge in the human humerus is the pectoralis major muscle that is involved when lifting heavy objects.  The noticeably enhanced development of this bony ridge in this particular specimen from the shipwreck, therefore may indicate evidence of occupational work stress. [38]   The individual in question apparently was a wiry man with strong muscular development in the upper arms resulting from repeated strenuous lifting or perhaps pulling on ropes (attending the rigging) and sails (i.e. the routine, often heavy work-load expected of a sailor).

METAL INGOTS FROM THE EIC EARL OF ABERGAVENNY - Section 3

(P. T. Craddock*, E. M. Cumming and D. R. Hook*)

(*Department of Scientific Research, The British Museum, London, WC1B 3DG.)

INTRODUCTION

Prior to the excavations of the project team, the wreck attracted the attention of many amateur divers.  Quantities of the small cigar-shaped copper bars were recovered at this time, and one was even sent to the British Museum where it was examined and qualitatively analysed by the first author of this note, employing emission spectroscopy.  At that time the Museum did not actively collect ingot material and no attempt was made to acquire it for the collection.

Since then, the Earl of Abergavenny team has recovered several hundred ingots of copper, 10 ingots of lead and a single ingot of tin, and the British Museum has begun to collect ingots of metal from dated contexts [39] , including ingots from the Earl of Abergavenny [40] .  The most important of these contexts are documented shipwrecks.  The value of shipwrecks as well documented time capsules is now increasingly appreciated [41] .  This is especially true of artefacts with no distinguishing features to allow them to be categorised, or which usually had only a short existence, such that they are no longer recognised.  Many of the ingots fall into this category, such as the small copper bars from the Earl of Abergavenny.  Without the context of the wreck they could be of any date from the Bronze Age onwards.  This is true for examples of the copper ingots recovered from the seabed off Plymouth, they had no context and thus no date, despite detailed scientific examination [42] .  The same is true of the majority of the ‘ancient’ tin ingots found in the south-west [43] .  Without a date their value is severely compromised.

A bonus with the material from shipwrecks is the potential of documentation giving additional information on where the metal was mined and smelted and where it was destined for.  In fact the material that failed to reach its destination in a shipwreck is often far more use for research purposes than that which did arrive only to be preserved in some totally anonymous context, as work [44] on the copper alloy manillas intended for the West Africa trade has demonstrated.  The study of metal ingots from wrecks is shedding new light on international trade in the post medieval-period, through the direct evidence of the ingots themselves.

The British Museum began actively collecting ingot material in 1985 [45] with the purchase of a group of ingots from a number of wrecks, including a single copper ingot [46] from the Earl of Abergavenny and since then several other ingots of copper have been donated to the Museum by the team, together with two ingots of lead. Studies have been carried out on the single tin ingot to be found so far, together with some copper discs and an iron ballast block.

The ingots also form an invaluable source material for the study of the metallurgy of the post-medieval period.  One tends to think that the later the material, the more that is known about it, but this is not necessarily so.  Relatively little is known of either the composition or of the metallographic structure of most post-medieval metals.  Most modern archaeometric research has focused on the distant past, such that, we now have a fair knowledge of the composition and structure of the metals used from the Bronze Age through to the Romans, but this peters out by the end of the medieval period.  There seems to have been a perception that more recent material would have little of interest to tell us, and that anyway the information was likely to be contained in contemporary records.  In fact nothing could be further from the truth, the post-medieval period was a time of experimentation, with new sources, new treatments and even new metals coming into use.  As for contemporary records of these developments, it is well to remember that this was the great age of technical secrecy and of the industrial spy, also real metallurgical knowledge and investigational techniques were in their infancy.  For example, at the time that the Earl of Abergavenny sank, English ironmasters were still not convinced that it was the carbon in the iron which dictated whether it was cast iron, wrought iron or steel, and had even less perception of the presence of other elements in the iron, as exemplified by the phosphorus in the iron blocks from the Earl of Abergavenny (see below).  The science of metallography, revealing the structure of metals, only began in the late 19th century, and the analytical chemistry capable of detecting the trace elements which often dictated the properties of the metal as a whole, as exemplified by the bismuth content of the copper bars from the wreck (see below and Table 1), came even later.

COPPER

The EIC Commercial Journal for 2 January 1805 indicates that apart from the consignment of Broad Cloth at £21,508. 12s. 1d, the copper at £18,344. 6s. 3d, was the next most expensive item of cargo.  All this copper, 2000cwt, was destined for Bengal.  As mentioned above the copper has been recovered in two forms, a small quantity of round discs of various sizes and several hundred small copper ingots weighing approximately half a pound (200 to 250 g).  The ingots were found on the starboard side of the wrecksite about fifteen meters from the keel, scattered over a very large area.  They may have been blown away from the wreck during an explosion or, the case they were in, may have broken up near the surface while being salvaged, probably by Braithwaite.

At about £9 per hundred weight the East India Company were determined to avoid theft if at all possible as can be seen from the following extract from the “INSTRUCTIONS  TO A COMMANDER”

“That from the time of any part of the Company’s cargo being received on board your ship, your Chief or Second Mate, with other sworn officers, do give constant attention on board.

That if any copper should be laden on board your ship on the Company’s account, you observe the following regulations which the Court of Directors have adopted, for preventing deficiencies in the delivery of that article.

That the copper be weighed at the merchant’s house or wharf, in the presence of the Purser, one of the Company’s officers from the East India Wharf and the merchant’s clerk as hitherto practised; and that an iron hoop be fixed on the inside of each case.  That the gross weight and the tare be cut on the case.  That an account be taken at the same time, of the number of each package, with these details, and the number of pieces contained therein.

That it is recommended to the owners to cause each package to be re-weighed immediately on its being received on board the ship, in the presence of the Commanding Officer, the master of the craft, the surveyor who had charge of her, and the surveyor on duty on board the ship, and in case the gross weight of any package should differ from the gross weight marked thereon, such package to be returned to the Company’s Wharf by the Commanding Officer, with an account of the number of it and the weight as taken on board the ship, signed by him, and the other persons who saw it weighed.  That on such occasions, the Warehouse Keeper at the Wharf do examine the package and take such other steps as may discover the cause of such difference in weight and report all the particulars he shall obtain to the Committee of Shipping unless it shall clearly appear to him to have been owing to a mistake in the original weight, which may easily be discovered by the condition of the chest, and the number of pieces of copper contained in it.

That the cases of copper be weighed again when delivered out of the ship in India, and an account of the weight be taken and that the Commanding Officer and other persons appointed by him be required to attend the weighing.  That when it shall be found impracticable to weigh it immediately, it be secured under 2 locks and the Commanding Officer or person appointed by him, have possession of the key of one of the locks, till the whole of the copper shall have been weighed.”

Copper seems to have been traded in three principle forms in the 18th and 19th centuries: the small bars such as those found on the Earl of Abergavenny, rectangular battery plates, so-called because they were of a shape ready to introduce to the water-powered battery trip hammers to be turned into sheet, and granulated copper such as that recovered from the EIC Winterton (sank off Madagascar 1792.) [47] that was in a convenient form with a large surface area for converting to brass by the cementation process.

So far the Earl of Abergavenny has only yielded the small bars (Figures 1&2), the seven ingots donated by the project team to the British Museum have a weight range of from 0.19 to 0.29 kg, and an average weight of 0.23 kg.  

Figure 3

Copper discs (the scale is 1 metre long)

Although none of the other recognised ingot forms have been found, there are a number of thin copper discs varying in diameter from 8in. to 28in. (20cm to 71cm).  They are of variable thickness, 0.6 to 2.5 grams per square centimetre.  These were not a recognised ingot form.  It is possible that they are copper preformed into a shape convenient for hammering into vessels, but they are rather thin to allow further hammering and extension, and thus the consensus at present would suggest these were part of the ship's stores and not cargo.  The photograph shows the copper discs, ranging in size from 8 inches (20.32cm) to 28 inches (71.12cm).  The thickness of the sheets varied from 0.63 to 2.5 grams per square centimetre.

The composition of the one copper bar to be quantitatively analysed so far from the Earl of Abergavenny (Table 1) is typical of the other late 18th century-early 19th century ingots from English East India Company vessels [48] , notably in the high arsenic and bismuth contents.  Throughout this period, the copper traded by the East India Company came from British sources, predominantly from the south west of England.  There was a significant contribution from Parys Mountain, Angelsey, especially in the late 18th century [49] and again in the 1820's [50] , although this died away almost completely during the first decade of the 19th century.  The few battery plates with identifiable stamp impressions all seem to be of copper from the south west, and generally have the distinctive arsenic and bismuth contents.  The arsenic content, although high, is not that uncommon in fire-refined copper, but the bismuth content, which typically varies between 0.1% and 1.0%, is unparalleled, and was totally unsuspected before the analysis of these ingots began.  Even quite small bismuth contents well below 0.1% seriously embrittles the copper by the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds at the boundaries of the copper grains, and no modern copper contains more than a few parts per million of the element.  There are hints that the contemporary metalworkers were aware that there was a problem, although of course they could have had no conception that it was bismuth in the copper that was to blame.  There were reports of Cornish copper failing when forged into the wrought bolts used to hold copper sheathing to ships' bottoms [51] .  Similarly analyses of contemporary cast and sheet brass, both made in the Bristol area from Cornish copper, showed that the cast items have a much higher bismuth content than that of the hammered sheet items.  The metal workers must have recognised that the copper that was to be made into brass for battery ware had to be carefully refined [52] .

Of course copper from the south west was being sent all over the world and several ‘native’ artefacts, such as the copper shields of the Indians of the North West coast of America, now in the Department of Ethnography, British Museum, which were previously believed to be of local native copper, have been shown to be probably of Cornish copper by virtue of their high bismuth content [53] .  The unusual and unexpected composition of these copper ingots shows once again the important information to be gained by the scientific study of the relatively late ‘historic metals’, from a period that was previously assumed to hold few metallurgical surprises.

Table 1

Composition of a copper ingot from the Earl of Abergavenny and other copper ingots dating from the late 18th-early 19th century.  Copper to Silver)

Table 1 continued (Iron to Bismuth)

Notes:

The analyses were carried out using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) following the procedure of Hughes [54] et al., (1976) except for the Earl of Abergavenny tin ingot and the Carnbrae Castle ingots which were analysed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICPAES) as described by Hook [55] .  The ICPAES and AAS analysis should have precisions of c.±1-2% for copper and ±10-50% for the minor and trace elements, the precision deteriorating as the respective detection limits are approached.  All elements are expressed as percent.  ‘<‘ denotes less than the value stated, i.e. the detection limit.  Manganese, cadmium, cobalt and gold were also sought but were not found to be present above their respective detection limits of c. 0.001%, 0.002%, 0.004% and 0.004%.

THE TIN INGOT

Figure 4

The one tin ingot (Figure 4)) recovered to date was found at a little distance from the wreck, but almost certainly was part of the original cargo.  The diver who found it did not realise the significance of the find at first, believing it to be a discarded zinc anode from a fairly large iron ship.  The most likely scenario is that it was recovered in one of the earlier salvage attempts only to be lost overboard from the salvor's vessel before it had gone very far from the wreck site.  The rectangular bar weighs 25.4 kg (56 lb.) and bears the trademark of the East India Company and a stamp that appears to be ‘Donithorne London’, although the tin was mined and smelted in Cornwall, before being sent to London to form part of the cargo of the Earl of Abergavenny.  The Donithorne family [55A] (sometimes spelt Donnithorne) were involved in the Cornish tin trade through several generations in the 18th and 19th centuries.  In particular Nicholas Donithorne [56] (1731-1796) was responsible, together with George Unwin, an  East India Company purser, for promoting the export of Cornish tin through the East India Company, principally for the Chinese market [57] .  The Company had begun to export small quantities of the metal from the mid-18th century but following Donithorne and Unwin’s proposals the amount rose dramatically from the last decade of the 19th century, with Donithorne undertaking to supply 1,200 tons in 1790 alone.  Through the 1790’s the amount exported by the Company averaged almost £80,000, although this declined by nearly half during the succeeding decade to an average of £48,000 12s, with much of the metal being supplied by Donithorne.  This ingot was also analysed, and is apparently the only modern analysis of a British tin ingot of the Industrial Revolution.

Additional Note: R D Penhallurik, Royal Institution of Cornwall (RIC)

Figure 5

 Ingot Stamp

 Photograph courtesy RIC

In April 2000 the RIC museum were given a partly damaged copper alloy stamp of diameter 93mm (see Figure 4).  The stamp bears the bale seal or trading mark of the United East India Company and must have been similar to the stamp used on the tin ingot detailed above.  It was found at Trembethow farm, Lelant, Cornwall in 1990.  the Cornish smelters accepted a lower price for their tin from the EIC at a time when mining was in difficulties.  Exports commenced in 1789 and continued until 1817.  A rapid decline began in 1813 when the EIC imported Chinese labour to work the deposits on the island of Banca, Far East.

The analysis in percentage (see note for copper above) was as follows:  Tin 100.4, Copper 0.21, Zinc <0.01, Lead 0.047, Silver <0.001, Iron 0.011, Nickel <0.004, Arsenic 0.09, Antmony 0.02 & Bismuth 0.02.

At first glance the metal appears quite pure, and it certainly is when compared to the copper ingot.  However compared to the composition of the very few early tin artefacts which have been analysed [58] the metal is rather impure with relatively high arsenic and copper contents.  This may seem surprising, but in fact, it is quite logical.  It is believed that ancient tin smelting processes were relatively inefficient and operated at quite low temperatures, below that required to reduce the principal impurities to metal [59] .  However, by the 19th century, much higher temperatures and more reducing processes using coal-fired reverberatory furnaces were employed [60] , and although these were much more efficient in recovering all of the tin they also reduced more of the impurities.  This problem was appreciated at the time by the tin smelters who realised that the small arsenic content was having a deleterious effect on the tin and sought to lower it by refining the metal.

THE LEAD INGOTS

Figure 6

Lead Ingots from three manufacturers.

The Earl of Abergavenny, in common with most other general cargo trading ships of this period, was carrying lead ingots.  Two hundred tons was being carried as cargo, half for Bengal and the other half for onward passage to Canton.  These were not necessarily economic trading items in their own right, as lead is very widely distributed around the world, and usually commanded only a low price.  However, the lead ingots formed a very convenient ballast cargo for the ship.

In the early post-medieval period much of the lead used in international trade by both the Dutch and English East India companies came from mines in the southern Pennines of Derbyshire and south Yorkshire [61] , such as those recovered from the VOC Campen, wrecked 1627 [62] , or the VOC Hollandia, wrecked 1743 [63] .  By the late 18th century, lead from other British sources was also regularly entering world trade [64] .  The 10 lead ingots recovered so far from the Earl of Abergavenny are all the familiar long bar ingots, cast in open moulds, and typically weigh between 70 and 75 kg.  The ingots (Photograph No. ) come from three companies, including 3 ingots each from the Durham mines of Bollihope and the famous company of W. Blackett, both using Pennine ore and 4 ingots from the Dee Bank Lead Works of North Wales, which smelted ore from the Flintshire mines.

THE IRON BLOCK

Figure 7

 Iron Kintledge

Three blocks of cast iron have been recovered from the wreck.  These are approximately 4in. (10cm) square by 11.5in (29cm) long, and pierced by a hole of about 1in (2cm) diameter at each end.  It was initially not certain whether these bars were cargo or part of the ship's permanent ballast.  Trade iron was certainly carried by the UEIC ships and other vessels, but apparently always in the form of ductile wrought iron that could be easily worked by forging.

One of the blocks was examined at the British Museum by Professor M.L. Wayman.  The iron was so hard that it proved all but impossible to cut, but it was very brittle and fractured easily, such that although an ordinary cut section proved impossible to prepare, a fracture section was no problem when one end shattered during attempts to make a more conventional section!  The section so exposed was shown to be of white cast iron, that is largely composed of the intermetallic compound cementite, Fe₃C, together with several percent of phosphorus.  This structure and composition rendered the metal extremely brittle, impossible to work and useless for almost any task.  The phosphorus, which almost certainly originated as phosphatic material in the iron ore, would depress the melting point of the metal by several hundred degrees, to around 1,000^oC.  Thus it seems that the blocks were deliberately made of a metal that was easy to cast, but would not be called upon to undergo any further work or task beyond that conferred by its present shape and weight, that is part of the permanent ballast of the ship known as ‘kintledge’.  Note that although the selection of the iron was almost certainly deliberate the iron founders could have had no conception that it was the particular mineralogical configuration of the cementite crystals and the phosphorus that was responsible.  There are later 19th century records of other items such as street bollards cast from brittle iron, which would snap in the event of a collision.  These were later shown also to be of white cast iron with a high phosphorus content, but this is the first time that such a piece of iron has been examined from a known and dated context, and adds considerably to our knowledge of late 18th century iron technology.  Thus the scientific study of ingots and associated metals from dated contexts such as the Earl of Abergavenny can very materially increase our knowledge of the contempary trade in metals and their technology.

ENGLISH CERAMICS - Section 4

Beryl Joyce

Thousands of ceramic shards have been recovered during the excavation which can be classified as follows;  stoneware, tin-glazed earthenware, creamware, Pearlware, black basalt, caneware, blue and white transfer ware, mocha ware, annulated wares and finally, Chinese wares.  Since it is a contaminated site there are also several shards out of context.  By far the greatest quantity of shards are creamware and most was undoubtedly cargo being taken out as private trade.

Circa 1800 is a specially interesting period for ceramics because in 1791 the East India Company had itself stopped importing Chinese Ceramics.  There were three main reasons for this, firstly the Government had put a tax on Chinese porcelain, secondly English potters were taking over the trade with their blue and white transfer wares and finally because fashions were changing both at home and abroad.

These shards tell us a great deal about the type and style of ceramics being exported during this period.  So far we have been able to positively identify three manufacturers; Davenport [65] , Turner and Wedgwood [66] .

STONEWARE

1          Several shards from at least 5 salt glazed tankards or measures have been recovered which imitate German salt glazed stoneware.  The necks are ringed and the incised design keeps the dark blue (cobalt) leaf like pattern from spreading, the applied Sprig medallions have George III ciphers.  They were made in the Staffordshire potteries circa 1790 to 1800, probably for private trade but may have been used on board by the passengers.

2          There are several hundred stoneware shards in various shades of brown, varying diameters, heights and neck types, most straight sided but a few with rounded sides.  These were basically containers of one sort or another containing both liquids and dry solids.  Several of the shards are marked ‘Hoffman and Sons’ and are of particular interest because their products can be seen advertised in the Calcutta Gazette.  For example;  raspberry and cherry brandy, confectionery and fruits, pearl barley, isinglass, currants, vinegar, salad oil, French olives and capers, sauces, pickles, “a large and choice assortment”, anchovies, pickled herring and salted salmon.

TIN-GLAZED EARTHENWARE

There are a large amount of shards from drug jars or ‘galley’ pots made from tin-glazed earthenware.  They have a turned over lip, are decorated with blue rings, glazed externally and internally but with no glaze on the base.  These pots are unlabelled, holding half to two pounds of solids, or up to two pints of liquid.  They made ideal general storage vessels and were known to have been widely used for pharmaceutical products like ointments.

CREAMWARE

Creamware was developed by Josiah Wedgwood around 1762 and in 1765, having supplied a large tea service for the Queen, it became extremely fashionable from that date.  Many of the creamware shards are clearly marked ‘Wedgwood’ but since he did not have a patent on his creamware it was widely copied, we have found several shards marked ‘Turner’ (John Turner & Co.).  Many of these wares were decorated but nearly two centuries immersed in salt water has removed most of the once colourful designs.  Fortunately it is possible in certain lighting conditions to identify the ghost of an outline and many can be identified from pattern books that are to be found in the Wedgwood Museum.  Judging from the number of shards recovered from all over the wreck site, this was a major item of cargo and may well have been part of John Wordsworth’s private trade allowance.  By studying the shards we have been able to identify the following pieces:

UNDECORATED SHARDS

Dinner service comprising of; soup tureens, soup tureens stands, gravy boat, ladles, hot water dishes (double dishes with an opening to add hot water to keep the food hot), dinner plates, other plates of various sizes, basins, ewers, ice-cream bucket and other useful wares like foot baths.

Numerous unmarked shards of creamware Apothecary pots [67] have also been found.  These are finely potted with a rolled rim so that parchment or a bladder could be tied over the top and, judging from the paste, they may be assumed to have been made by Wedgwood.  These could have been used by the Surgeon to hold drugs and salves but because of the large numbers recovered are more likely to have been destined for the apothecaries shops in Bengal.

Decorated Shards of Wedgwood Creamware

Gravy boats, dinner plates and dessert plates.

Dry-Bodied wares

Dry-bodied red stoneware, mainly for teawares, was developed in the mid seventeenth century and produced in various potteries, the name ‘dry’ being used because the exterior of the products was unglazed.  A variety made black by the addition of manganese and iron to earthenware, called Black Basalt, was made famous by Wedgwood.  Several small shards from possibly a teapot have been found with an engine turned pattern and neo-classical figure.

Caneware

A large number of caneware shards, have been recovered all of which appear to have been manufactured by John Davenport of Longport, Staffordshire.  His anchor mark with the name Davenport above has been found on several shards.  The shards are tan-coloured and unglazed outside and glazed inside.  This style of ware is like the black basalt above also referred to as ‘dry bodied’.  The discovery of these shards has been of great significance since it was originally thought that the Davenport name was not used as a mark prior to 1806, these were certainly manufactured in early 1804.  This pattern is known only on dessert services.  Shards are from plates, serving dishes and strawberry baskets.  One fragment of a fruit pie dish could only have been made by Wedgwood.

Those made by Davenport are [68] ;

A dish and cover, unglazed on the outside, glazed on the inside and moulded to imitate pastry.  These were made in several sizes from about 1795 to 1810 because during this period flour was in short supply [69] , on the 1st July, 1800 the consumption of flour for pastry was prohibited in the Royal Household, rice being used instead.

Three sizes of moulded teapot ranging from 13cm to 7.5cm and glazed on the inside only.  Several of the teapot lids have survived almost intact and are oval in shape.  There are also several spouts with integral strainers.

A s  Sugar box with straight sides and delicate ring handles.

A     Circularbasket with a moulded weave design.

Blue and White Transfer Ware [70]

In these wares the decoration is applied to partly biscuit fired ceramics (1st firing) by means of a transfer.  The transfer was taken from an engraved plate, filled with cobalt and oil as a flux, by means of tissue paper.  The ‘pull’ was then laid onto the biscuit, pressure applied, and the tissue paper floated off using water.  Once dried the biscuit was fired at about 600ºC to fix the cobalt and burn away the oil.  The product was then glazed and fired again at about 1000ºC.

By far the largest number of shards in this category are from Davenport’s Chinese Dragon pattern No. 2.  The dragons are thin and the border is of a single or double Greek key pattern in light blue, at one time there were minute red circles painted over the glaze but these, like the patterns on the creamware, can only be seen in certain lighting conditions to identify the ghost of the outlines.

Several of the transfer ware shards are difficult to catalogue, the pieces often being very small.  They appear to come from a variety of manufacturers but since there are no marks it is difficult to be a hundred percent sure.  So far we have identified the following from our finds;

A large dish in an early Spode pattern called ‘Forest Landscape’.  This pattern is only known on dinner wares.

A shard from a heavily potted dish of 18 cm diameter.  This pattern is from an early Chioiserie design by John Ridgway of Shelton (1792 to 1802) and is called ‘Curley Palm’

A shard from a bowl with Tendrill pattern made by Benjamin Adams of Greengates, Tunstaal, Staffordshire, 1788 to 1828.

Pearlware

From 1765 to the early 1770’s Wedgwood was experimenting with the production of a whiter ware than creamware that in 1779, he called ‘Pearl White’ [71] .  The clay of this material had increased flint content and the glaze contained a small quantity of cobalt to negate the natural yellow tint.  By 1787 several other companies were producing this type of ware and many found it an ideal product for the addition of various design by the means of transfer-printing.  Several shards of blue feather-edged serving plates have been found together with one piece of green edged.  There is no evidence of any transfer decoration that was often present on these wares.

Annulated Ware

Pearlware was also used for mugs, jugs and bowls decorated in horizontal bands of colour - black, green, light brown, etc. was often used to fill in broad, engine-turned grooves.  Several such shards have been found and these are collectively known as ‘annular wares’.

Mocha Ware

A few fragments of a ‘Mocha’ ware from a mug or jug have been recovered.  This ware is decorated by brown fern or tree like ornamentation, on a band of coloured slip.  By using a mixture of tobacco juice and urine the potter would blow this onto the still wet band of slip.  It was made from the early nineteenth century; the main producers were in the Glamorgan and Cambrian potteries.

CHINESE PORCELAIN - Section 5

The late Richard Kilburn

It is rather surprising at first sight that shards of Chinese porcelain should be found on the ‘Earl of Abergavenny’ wreck site, since the vessel was outward bound from England on a voyage to Bengal and China.  There would seem to be three possible explanations:

Firstly, that the porcelain was being used by the officers, passengers and crew, of whom 32 were Chinese.

Secondly, that already-broken pieces from the previous voyage to Canton had not been swept out from the holds:  The vessel had in fact made four consecutive voyages to Canton since she was launched in 1796.

Thirdly, that Chinese porcelain was among the ceramic wares sent out to India by the London dealers who supplied the Indian market.  This might seem unlikely, since we know that porcelain was regularly brought back by vessels owned by English and Indian merchants trading with Canton directly from Calcutta and Madras.

However, an advert in the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ for the 23rd February 1804 refers to a “large and elegant assortment of Europe, China and Queen's Ware” recently arrived from London.  It is often not entirely clear whether the word ‘china’ refers to the country, or to porcelain regardless of its origin, but in this case it seems more likely to refer to actual Chinese porcelain.  Perhaps the ladies of Calcutta were prepared to pay a higher price in order to be sure that their chinaware was from a reputable shop and in the latest London fashion.

The East India Company itself had ceased to import Chinese porcelain in the 1790s, but private trade imports continued.  The Company had also long since bequeathed to its commanders the monopoly of carriage to India of all such consumer goods, concentrating on bulk goods for their own trade.  However, private trade porcelain arriving in England still had to be sold through the Company's auctions, where it would be bought by ‘Chinamen’, wholesale dealers who specialised in chinaware and other Oriental goods.  If the goods were then re-exported to India, the dealer would be entitled to claim drawback on Customs duties.  The Company's sales were not open to private buyers.

There are 119 shards of Chinese wares, all blue and white, except for the foot of a tea cup with a wavy border in red enamel.  There is no difficulty in accepting any of them as being contemporary with the wreck.  The shards are from at least 39 different pieces, in a wide range of decorative styles, suggesting that they represent quite a large group of trade wares, rather than just the ship’s tableware.  The predominant central decoration is a view over a lake, with interchangeable features such as rocky islands, pavilions, bridges and boats.  The basic design was skilfully modified to fit the size and shape of the area to be decorated, from domed tureen covers or the centres of large serving dishes to small, rounded shapes such as teacups.

The shards can be grouped into the following categories:

'Canton' border pattern.

This pattern, with a diamond diaper border under a blue wash above a pencilled wave design, first appeared in about 1785 and continued for much of the 19th century.

  (a)       10 shards from one or more large octagonal serving dishes.

  (b)       1 shard from the side wall of a helmet-shaped jug [72] .

            (       (c)       2 shards, one from the scalloped rim of a pudding dish.  A footrim showing traces of a scalloped side wall may be from a similar dish [73] .

‘Nanking’ border pattern.

This border appeared shortly after 1750 and continued until at least the 1820s.  It occurs in a number of variations, including bands of formalised wave and fish scale patterns under a blue wash, with spear-and-post or looped motifs below.

(a)          6 shards from two or more octagonal or oval serving dishes.

(b)          3 shards from the rim of a large octagonal tureen.

(c)       (c)           5 shards from a single large, knobbed tureen or meat dish cover.  None of the shards from the cover show the border pattern, but the quality of the decoration suggests that it is probably ‘Nanking’ rather than ‘Canton’.  It is possible that some of these pieces may have been parts of a matching tureen, cover and stand, or meat dish and cover.  Serving dishes were ordered by the East India Company in up to six sizes, from 18 to 10 inches (45cm. to 25cm.), as part of matching “table sets” during the 1770s.  No records have survived for the 1800s, but the sizes are unlikely to have changed.

(d)          2 shards from the side wall of a 10-12cm. bowl or sneaker [74] ..

(e)          2 rim shards from a leaf-shaped dish [75] .

(f)           2 rim shards from a round, domed cover of about 8cm diameter.

(g)       2 side wall shards from a saucer or small dish.

(h)       3 rim shards from an upright, straight-sided form, perhaps a mug, of about 8cm diameter.

(i)        1 rim shard from a narrow, upright form, perhaps the neck of a flask, of about 4cm diameter.

(j)       13 shards from round and oval straight-sided teapots.  These include a complete lid with strawberry knop, 4 footrim shards (one showing a distinctly oval rather than round shape), 1 entwined handle shard and 9 side wall shards, several showing elaborately-moulded floral handle terminals [76] .

'Butterfly, scroll and diaper’ border pattern.

This pattern seems to have appeared first on English Caughley wares in the 1760s, before being copied in China from about 1785.  It was used with the design known as ‘Temple’ in the contemporary Spode pattern books.

A single shard, probably from the rim of a small cream jug, is decorated  with this pattern.

Other blue and white shards.

This group includes all the shards of Jingdezhen porcelain where the rim has not survived, so that the border pattern is not known, or with different border patterns.

(a)       3 foot rim shards from two round or octagonal plates.  Foot rims about 16 and 22cm diameter.  The diamond diaper border and the central landscape are noticeably better drawn than l (a) and 2(abc) above.

(b)       3 shards from the centres of dishes or plates.

(c)       2 shards from tureen or meat dish covers.

(d)       3 shards from the side wall of a fairly large bowl(s), with a design of growing plants on the inside and outside.

(e)      1 foot rim shard, undecorated except for double blue lines at junction of side wall and foot.  The foot is about 8cm diameter.

(f)     1 foot rim shard of a small octagonal dish.  Central landscape surrounded by scroll border.

(g)     1 foot rim shard of a saucer or small dish.

(h)       2 foot rim shards and 1 rim shard of a dish with overall dragon design flowing over onto the underside.  Imitation square hall mark on the base.  The design was copied by many English and European factories from 1750 onwards.

(i)        1 rim shard from 26cm plate with floral decoration in cartouche.  Brown dressing on rim.

(j)        1 rim shard of cup with casually-drawn diamond diaper border.  Brown dressing on rim.

(k)       2 side wall shards from an upright, straight-sided form, perhaps a mug, of about 8cm diameter.  Thickness and glaze appear to match 2(h) above.

(1)        1 shard with rim and 3mm on inside of rim unglazed.  Perhaps a small covered jar, like a jam pot.

(m)      1 shard of a candle stick(?).  Collar decorated with pencilled blue flower heads and tendrils.  Glazed circular recess 2cm diameter and 2.25cm deep.  Domed lower section of unknown shape, glazed inside.

(n)       2 shards unattributed.

Enameled

              1 foot rim shard of a saucer or small dish, with a wavy line in red enamel at junction of side wall and foot.  Foot about 6cm.

Coarse wares.

This type of coarse ware was made at kilns in Fujian and northern Guangdong provinces.  It was intended mainly for the domestic and South East Asian markets and was not carried to Europe in any quantity.  It may perhaps have been in use on board the ship as tableware for the lower deck.

(a)          9 shards - 2 rim, 4 side wall, 3 foot rim - from two or more bowls of about 15cm diameter decorated with either dragon or phoenix and cloud pattern in broad washes of soft blue under a greyish glaze.

(b)         8 shards - 5 rim, 2 side wall, 1 base - from a bowl or plant pot of about 10cm diameter unglazed inside and with a flat unglazed base.  Landscape decoration on the outside and brown dressing around the rim.

(c)          17 shards - 2 rim, 13 side wall, 2 foot rim - from two or more flasks with onion-shaped tops, of a type known as guglets.

(d)         The almost complete foot of a stoneware bowl with very coarse greyish glaze and stacking ring inside.

(e)          Foot rim shard of a ‘character’ bowl, with stacking ring inside.

(f)          Rim shards of two bowls.

(g)          Rim shard of a shallow bowl with unglazed stacking ring inside.

These shards provide a useful study group of Chinese export ware types that cannot have been manufactured later than 1803, although the possibility of some pieces having been made a few years earlier cannot of course be excluded.

The Earl of Abergavenny is one in a long series of East Indiamen and other vessels from which substantial quantities of Chinese porcelain have recently been recovered.  During the past 15 years, no less than twenty vessels sunk between the late 16th and mid 19th centuries have provided students of Chinese ceramics with invaluable information.  At the time of writing (Feb. 1997), several more wreck sites have been found and await excavation.  A detailed chronology of the changing shapes and decorative styles on Chinese export porcelain is beginning to emerge.  Thus finds from known vessels such as the Earl of Abergavenny can be helpful in dating unidentified wrecks, where the date of sinking has to be deduced from the artefacts recovered.

CLOTH SEALS - Section 6

Geoff Egan, Museum of London.

Some 260 of the sealed lead tags which were fixed on individual traded textiles as labels to give information about manufacture and transportation [77] have been recovered from the site of the wreck.  These are among the latest cloth seals known, and the assemblage is the largest recovered so far from the nineteenth century.  Although virtually all of the cargo of textiles they represent have perished - a few scraps which have survived between the discs of some seals require analysis - detailed information is provided about the consignments and their background by stamps and scratched numbers on the seals.

The great majority of the stamps have the UEIC mark of the United East India Company [78] which was presumably the institutional customer for almost all of the two thousand or more consignments of ‘Broad Cloth’ and ‘Long Ells’ known to have been carried on the vessel.  Most of these seals are the two-disc type, while some larger ones have four discs. Among several varieties of the former are some with the date 1804, the year the Earl of Abergavenny set sail on her last voyage 

Figure 1

Two disc seals dated 1804. 

Drawings by Hazel Martingell ©WUAG

  The smaller seals also have a series of stamped letters and numbers (3G is the commonest, and there are also ones with 3A, 3P, 3R and 2G); these are probably consignment codes [79] or perhaps indications of particular company officials or premises where the cloths were stored or checked. Either above or along with the number-and-letter stamps, are scratched numbers, usually in two sets - an initial number ranging from one to four figures, and a second one most frequently in the teens or twenties, which is sometimes accompanied by a fraction (e.g., 24 with a lower case 2 for 24½) 

Figure 2

Two disc seals without the date

Drawings by Hazel Martingell ©WUAG

These scratched numbers seem to fall into several series:  between 7 and 308, between 1014 and 1684, 2448, and between 4075 and 4134, together with second numbers between 21½ and 29½; between 2917 and 3307, and between 7078 and 7154 together with second numbers between 16 and 17½.  The second numbers, including those with fractions, are almost certainly the lengths in yards of each individual piece of cloth, as measured.  

Figure 3

Two styles of the four disc seals

Drawings by Hazel Martingell ©WUAG

The larger Company seals have the same UEIC mark and the corporate arms - a cross with an inscutcheon of the arms of sixteenth century England; several of them also retain traces of a thin coating of gold leaf (Figure 4), which seems to have been a characteristic of cloth seals used by important institutions, perhaps to emphasize their prestige and status (the tiny amount of precious metal involved would not have been particularly costly, but the additional expense would have deterred smaller scale operators from using it).  

Figure 4

This photograph shows traces of the gold leaf on the larger four disc seals.

It is not possible at present to say whether these large, gilded seals went on better-quality textiles, but they may well have been to indicate some such distinction.

Figure 5

Other non-EIC seals.

Drawings by Stephen George & Hazel Martingell ©WUAG

The other main category of seals, a small element within the total recovered, is those with the names or initials of cloth manufacturers, drapers, or others involved in textile processing, such as dyers (Figure 5).  The persons referred to are very difficult to identify, and it is likely that the limited information given on these stamps was intended to be understood only by those involved in the trade in England - there would have been no corporate image to emphasise in the way the gilded UEIC seals would have done.  There are two names - ‘I Brown’, ‘T Smith’, a firm-‘SF & Co.’ with a woolpack or dyer’s madder sack/bag as a trade symbol, and initials - GB and on its own an ornate C.  Six of the last variety have been recovered, stamped on the other side with numbers between 28 and 35½, in some cases altered slightly by scratched numbers, (including two with quarters, e.g. scratched 28¾ with stamped 28);  these six seals stand out as a group with numbers going from the high 20s to the low 30s, and they appear to be the only ones from the wreck to be concerned with quarters (i.e. nine inches) rather than halves or whole numbers - i.e. they would seem to relate to a different group of textiles from the ones to which the UEIC seals were attached.  More enigmatic is a stamp with an anchor (Figure 4, first seal on the bottom row) and an illegible word/name - the former was a common symbol of optimistic trade, but it sometimes had specifically naval overtones.

Figure 6

Two more two disc seals.  The top seal is the only one to feature the 2G & the lower one shows a letter 'B' stamped on to its face.  Several of the seals have these extra stamps.

Drawings by Hazel Martingell ©WUAG

In the early nineteenth century English textiles traded to the East included thick woollens mainly intended for the colder parts of India and China.  By the 1830s the latter market was important enough to shore up Devon’s international trade largely on its own [80] .

The cloth seals from the Earl of Abergavenny are important for wider studies as a sizeable group from a single, identified ship, of which the ports of departure and destination, of which are known, from a specific year.  They provide a fixed point for similar, loose finds in Britain or in the lands in the East to which English cloths were traded.  Other UEIC seals have been found, mainly in London, where they probably accidentally dropped off textiles owned by the Company, which were being coloured in Thames-side dyers’ premises - that is they were lost before the cloths they should have been securely fixed to were shipped overseas [81] .  The Earl of Abergavenny assemblage helps demonstrate that these seals were put on English cloths destined for the East, rather than exotic, Eastern textiles imported into England.

It remains to be seen whether diligent research, or pure good luck, will in time tease out the identity of the individuals and firms referred to in the unattributed stamps.  Documentary sources may well exist to help here, but for the present some secrets remain unsolved among these imperfectly understood labels.

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