406 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
has been fished up which indicates that the age of the vessel is 
about 250 years. This is borne out by Mr. Watson's description 
of the timbers ; and his opinion that the vessel was comparatively 
short, deer), and broad, and of great transverse strength, thus 
enabling it to carry with greater security the enormously high 
stern superstructures in vogue both in men-of-war and merchant 
ships of the seventeenth century, tallies with this estimate of the 
age. 
These superstructures were formed by two and three terraced 
decks, springing from the upper deck abaft the mainmast, and 
were used as living quarters, and for the lighter ordnance. 
The ballast-pebbles are heavy, and composed of an exceedingly 
hard stone. They have been examined by Mr. Worth, who pro- 
nounces them to be granophyre, a felspathic rock, somewhat akin 
to granite, evidently coming from some shore where the cliffs were 
formed of this rock. Mr. Worth says, "I am not aware and 
cannot discover that it forms part of the coast anywhere in 
England. It does occur at Mull, and other places on the west 
coast of Scotland ; but the examples I have thence do not agree 
with this. There is, however, the bay called Carlingford Lough, 
in Ireland, and that seems a very likely spot, though I have seen 
no example of the granophyre from that locality. Most of the 
Continental localities, at any rate, are inland, and I know of none 
on the* coast ; but the rock is of somewhat wide distribution, and 
no doubt occurs in such situations, probably in the north of 
Europe. It occurs in England, at Carrock Fell, in Cumberland ; 
but that is inland. Carlingford seems the most probable locality. 
The flints are chalk flints, not greensand, and may have come 
from many places." 
The quantity and character of the ballast clearly indicates a 
vessel of some importance, and the latter most probably points to 
the presumption that she was not a local craft. 
Warships, owing to their heavy top-hamper, carried enormous 
quantities of ballast, and it is significant that for this purpose 
shingle was employed. 
Whether built or not for a man-of-war pure and simple cannot, 
of course, be actually determined ; but all large vessels, whether 
trading or otherwise, were very fully armed; and that this 
vessel was capable of acting as a warship may very reasonably be 
inferred. 
