58 Mr W. M. Rice''s account of an ancient Vessel 



ft. in. 



Breadth - - - - - - 15 



Height of foremost beam from flat of inside 'planking, 4 11 



Height of midship beam from the same, - - 4 2 



Height of the after beam, - - - - 4 7 



Height of the bulwark above the beams, - - 1 2 

 above which were wash-boards. 



She is built entirely of oak, which is perfectly sound, and 

 very hard, but much blackened ; her head and stern are sound, 

 and framed nearly alike, but in a very rude manner ; stem and 

 sternpost nearly upright ; flat-floored, and clinker built. The 

 planks riveted together with iron, and fastened to the timbers 

 with oak treenails, wedged at both ends with wood of the same 

 nature, which is now quite as hard as, and bears much the ap- 

 pearance of ebony. The planks, inside and out, are If inch- 

 thick, and some of them of surprising dimensions ; one on the 

 starboard side, forward, is 18 feet 10 inches long, 2 feet 5 inches 

 broad at the fore-end, and 1 foot 9 inches at the after-end ; an- 

 other, on the larboard side aft, is 18 feet 7 inches in length, 

 and 2 feet 5 inches and 2 feet 7 inches broad at its extremities, 

 and from its texture certainly not of British growth. 



The beams, of which there are five principal ones, are very 

 ingeniously scarphed and put together, and fastened to the sides 

 with bolts, not unlike our "dog bolts," exceptmg that the plate 

 is secured to the beam with staples instead of bolts ; their mean 

 scantling is 5| by 1 foot 6 inches. 



There is a step for a mast, at about one-third of her length 

 from forward, on the foreside of the beam ; but no part of the 

 mast has been discovered ; there is evident proof also that she 

 had had a bowsprit, which has been carried away, the step be- 

 ing visible in the foremost beam, and the head of the stem a 

 little hollowed as a bed ; the cable passed over the gunwale, 

 the grooves for which are not much rubbed ; neither cable nor 

 anchor have been found ; some pieces of cordage were taken 

 out of the after-cabin, in a very decayed state, the strands of 

 which appeared to have been laid in the manner at present 

 practised. 



The caulking material is moss, and the sides of the vessel 

 are payed with a thick coat of tar or some composition, which, 



