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A caroline merchants' weight from the wreck of the Swan, 1653
The International Jounlal of Nautical Archaeology (1998) 27.2:166-168 Article No. na980168
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Note A Caroline merchants' weight from the wreck of the Swan, 1653
Bryan Smith's recent article (1997) in this
Journal on merchants' weights from the Elizabethan wreck off Alderney, and his discussion of similar English weights of 16th and 17th century dates from a variety of other sources, has emphasized the value of shipwrecks in providing evidence about contemporary standards of weights and measures. It also underlines the usefulness to other workers of such analytical reports, for they enable similar finds to be placed into context, building upon and further refining the original arguments. Almost at the moment the article was published, an English merchants' weight was discovered during preliminary excavation of a wreck believed to be that of the small Cromwellian warship Swan, lost off Duart Point, Mull, during anti-royalist operations in 1653 (Martin, 1995). It seems appropriate therefore to report this item in advance of full publication, and to fit it into the descriptive typology so ably set out by Smith. The object had first been observed and recorded in situ by members of the Archaeological Diving Unit in 1992, in the course of the emergency rescue work which followed a recognition that archaeological deposits on this site were under threat from environmental destabilisation. It was not disturbed in any way, and because it lay upside-down, hiding the marks stamped on its face, the find was not recognised for what it was. Although some material judged to be at a high risk of loss was recovered at this time most of the threatened area was protected by burial, and later by the laying of sandbags over it. In 1997 a small excavation was conducted 1057-2414/98/020166+03 $30.0010
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Figure 1. Four-pound merchants' weight of lead
from the Duart Point shipwreck. (Drawing: author)
to establish the nature and extent of the deposit, during which the weight was found in precisely the context within which it had first been observed. The find is of lead, and its accession •number is DP97/0021 (Fig. 1). Weight Diameter Thickness
1814" 37 g (3"99994 lb) 104 mm 18"5-22"5 mm
There is a concavity of c. 1"5 mm in the base, probably caused by casting © 1998 The Nautical Archaeology Society
NOTE
Figure 2. Detail of markings on the top surface of the weight. (Photo: author)
Figure 3. Edge detail of the weight, showing filing marks. (Photo: author)
shrinkage, the blank having evidently been formed upside-down in an apen mould. Three marks have been stamped on the upper surface (Fig. 2). These comprise a
letter 'C' under a crown, a sword, and a winged figure holding scales. Since the wreck pre-dates Charles II's restoration in 1660, the crowned monogram can only represent Charles I, while Smith (1997: 167
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 27.2
136) identifies the sword which such weights carry as the symbol of the City of London. He also identifies the winged figure found on weights which post-date 1611 as that of the Archangel Michael. This is the seal of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers of London, granted to them by James I in that year (Smith, 1997: 137). The edges of the weight are slightly bevelled, an operation which was evidently carried out after casting with a coarse file or similar tool (Fig. 3). It may be supposed that this process allowed the value to be precisely adjusted, while at the same time providing a form of milling which would make it difficult (though by no means
impossible) for a dishonest trader to clip the edges. This example, in spite of some minuscule additions of calcareous casts and slight loss to corrosion, is so close to its obviously intended original value of four English pounds (of 453.6 g) as to attest an almost total accuracy for the Crown's control over the weight standard. I am grateful to Dr Barry Kaye of the Department of Chemistry at St Andrews for his help in weighing the object under scientifically controlled conditions.
Colin Martin School of History University of St Andrews Fife, Scotland, UK
References
Smith, B. S., 1997, Inquiry into two lead weights found on a wreck in Alderney, Channel Islands. IJNA, 26.2: 133-143. Martin, C. J. M., 1995, The Cromwellian shipwreck off Duart Point, Mull: an interim report. IJNA. 24.1: 15-32.
168
®
Note A Caroline merchants' weight from the wreck of the Swan, 1653
Bryan Smith's recent article (1997) in this
Journal on merchants' weights from the Elizabethan wreck off Alderney, and his discussion of similar English weights of 16th and 17th century dates from a variety of other sources, has emphasized the value of shipwrecks in providing evidence about contemporary standards of weights and measures. It also underlines the usefulness to other workers of such analytical reports, for they enable similar finds to be placed into context, building upon and further refining the original arguments. Almost at the moment the article was published, an English merchants' weight was discovered during preliminary excavation of a wreck believed to be that of the small Cromwellian warship Swan, lost off Duart Point, Mull, during anti-royalist operations in 1653 (Martin, 1995). It seems appropriate therefore to report this item in advance of full publication, and to fit it into the descriptive typology so ably set out by Smith. The object had first been observed and recorded in situ by members of the Archaeological Diving Unit in 1992, in the course of the emergency rescue work which followed a recognition that archaeological deposits on this site were under threat from environmental destabilisation. It was not disturbed in any way, and because it lay upside-down, hiding the marks stamped on its face, the find was not recognised for what it was. Although some material judged to be at a high risk of loss was recovered at this time most of the threatened area was protected by burial, and later by the laying of sandbags over it. In 1997 a small excavation was conducted 1057-2414/98/020166+03 $30.0010
•
":.-'F-~.-~--~aS,~
' ~.~jr///z,~/.t~,b,'_2L#.,2
0
I
,,:
5
I
I
I
I
I
em
Figure 1. Four-pound merchants' weight of lead
from the Duart Point shipwreck. (Drawing: author)
to establish the nature and extent of the deposit, during which the weight was found in precisely the context within which it had first been observed. The find is of lead, and its accession •number is DP97/0021 (Fig. 1). Weight Diameter Thickness
1814" 37 g (3"99994 lb) 104 mm 18"5-22"5 mm
There is a concavity of c. 1"5 mm in the base, probably caused by casting © 1998 The Nautical Archaeology Society
NOTE
Figure 2. Detail of markings on the top surface of the weight. (Photo: author)
Figure 3. Edge detail of the weight, showing filing marks. (Photo: author)
shrinkage, the blank having evidently been formed upside-down in an apen mould. Three marks have been stamped on the upper surface (Fig. 2). These comprise a
letter 'C' under a crown, a sword, and a winged figure holding scales. Since the wreck pre-dates Charles II's restoration in 1660, the crowned monogram can only represent Charles I, while Smith (1997: 167
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 27.2
136) identifies the sword which such weights carry as the symbol of the City of London. He also identifies the winged figure found on weights which post-date 1611 as that of the Archangel Michael. This is the seal of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers of London, granted to them by James I in that year (Smith, 1997: 137). The edges of the weight are slightly bevelled, an operation which was evidently carried out after casting with a coarse file or similar tool (Fig. 3). It may be supposed that this process allowed the value to be precisely adjusted, while at the same time providing a form of milling which would make it difficult (though by no means
impossible) for a dishonest trader to clip the edges. This example, in spite of some minuscule additions of calcareous casts and slight loss to corrosion, is so close to its obviously intended original value of four English pounds (of 453.6 g) as to attest an almost total accuracy for the Crown's control over the weight standard. I am grateful to Dr Barry Kaye of the Department of Chemistry at St Andrews for his help in weighing the object under scientifically controlled conditions.
Colin Martin School of History University of St Andrews Fife, Scotland, UK
References
Smith, B. S., 1997, Inquiry into two lead weights found on a wreck in Alderney, Channel Islands. IJNA, 26.2: 133-143. Martin, C. J. M., 1995, The Cromwellian shipwreck off Duart Point, Mull: an interim report. IJNA. 24.1: 15-32.
168