The brass watch which, when X-rayed, showed 

 the time of the Port Royai earthqual^e. 



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which were made of greenish-black glass, and one ladle made of 

 brass. 



Working forty feet down in the inky blackness of the mud 

 stirred up by the air-lift, the divers soon began to uncover the 

 brick walls of the old town. They had to work entirely by feel, and 

 the risk of the collapse of the walls was added to the usual dangers 

 of diving in tropical waters. Only in the early morning, before 

 the work day had started, was it possible to see through the water, 

 which became cloudier as the day wore on. 



Among the finds were many cooking pots, one of which still 

 contained several bones left from a stew. The divers also found 

 charred bricks, and an iron grill, which must have been part of a 

 cooking range for a large kitchen. This kitchen possibly supplied 

 the fort or, alternatively, a house marked on the chart as belonging 

 to a Mr. Littleton, who may have been a tavern-keeper. During a 

 systematic survey of the entire site, divers found in Fort James 

 several cannon balls, including two joined with an iron bar so that 

 they would smash through the rigging of a ship. On the site of 

 Freeman's House they found an onion bottle with the cork still in 

 place and secured by twisted wire. Some of the rum was extracted 

 with a hypodermic syringe, but on sampling it Ed Link proclaimed 

 that 1692 must have been a bad year. 



The number of bottles dredged up seems to indicate that the 

 inhabitants of Port Royal had been conscientious drinkers at all 



148 



