NO. 2 LAST CRUISE OF H.M.S. LOO — PETERSON 3 



or stolen by the enemies of Britain. But until further evidence proved 

 the contrary, we could consider the ship to have been British.^ In the 

 basket 12-pound, i -pound, and ^-pound shot were also found, giving 

 additional information on the ship's batteries. The broad arrow also 

 appeared on the 12-pound shot. 



On Thursday, May 31, and Friday, June i, numerous small objects 

 were brought up, including more porcelain fragments, parts of clay 

 pipes and rum bottles, the wooden knob of a walking stick, the eye- 

 piece of a navigation instrument, pieces of stoneware decorated with 

 blue flowers, and animal bones (later identified as pig and cow) from 

 the pickled-meat stores of the ship. (See pis. 8, 9, and 10.) 



On Saturday, June 2, the party remained ashore to sort, clean, and 

 begin the preservation process on the objects recovered. Fragments of 

 wood were packed in fresh water for shipment to the National Mu- 

 seum, the sand crust was cleaned from the cast-iron and other large 

 iron objects by light hammering, and the objects were placed in baths 

 of fresh water to leach out the sea salts. 



The cast iron was found to have been oxidized to a depth of one- 

 half to three-fourths of an inch. The removal of the sand crust from 

 all surfaces (those portions having been converted to crystalline mag- 

 netite, which was very friable) had to be done with great care. The 

 porous oxidized layer was saturated with chlorides, and to break these 

 down the cleaned shot were placed in baths of sodium hydroxide. 

 Most of the shot were packed with the sand crust on them, the crust 

 protecting them from excessive drying while on the way to the 

 Museum. 



On Sunday and Monday (June 3 and 4) a continual stream of ma- 

 terial came up from the wreck and was added to the piles ashore at 

 our base (pis. 11, 12), There was such a quantity of specimens that 

 it was decided that the author should devote a full day to identifying, 

 sorting, cleaning, and preserving those that were to be retained. The 

 boats went out as usual and that evening returned with one of the 

 cannon barrels. Mr. Link had rigged the main boom of the Blue 

 Heron and had lifted it to her side with block and tackle (pis. 13, 

 14). Through skillful seamanship and favorable weather the 2,000- 

 pound barrel was brought to Marathon, hanging beside the delicate 

 mahogany hull of the yawl, which was protected with rope fenders. 

 As soon as the barrel was on the ground at our base we began re- 

 moving the sand crust with a hammer. As the crust fell away (pi. 15) 



^ Later a ehain plate, which was originally bolted to the ship's hull, was found 

 by a salvage party from Miami. It also bore the broad arrow. 



