The Ship That Held Up Wall Street by Riess Warren Curtis;Smith Sheli O.;

Author:Riess, Warren Curtis;Smith, Sheli O.; [Riess, Warren C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

A 1717 engraving of New York’s East River showing what appears to be a storage hulk along the quay. Detail from A view of New York from Brooklyn Heights (William Burgis, c. 1717). Collection of the New-York Historical Society, image 32098.

In a third course of analysis I examined the hull remains to determine the ship’s age. I found physical evidence that she was abandoned because of age, use, and possibly accidental damage. No charred timbers or other indications suggested that the ship was even partially burned. However, the remains did show evidence of a number of repairs. The foremast step, which held the forward of three masts, had split and was crudely covered by a new step. The amidships waterway had been split and repaired. Damage to the outer planking indicated that the one-inch-thick outer sheathing, usually replaced every few years, had been replaced at least once. Probably because of earlier damage to the sheathing, shipworms had found their way through the sheathing, hair, and pitch to colonize some of the outer planking and the stem itself. Damage to the oak planking had been caulked and covered again with pitch and sheathing.

The repairs indicated that the ship served for a few years as a sailing merchantman before being either abandoned or used as a moored hulk. Colonial merchantmen had an average life span of approximately eight years.16 Ships that could not be sailed anymore were often used as floating warehouses and sometimes as retail venues in harbors. If used as a storage hulk, like some of the ships in the 1717 Burgis view of New York, the Ronson ship may have remained afloat for a number of years before being placed parallel to the shore to crib fill.

ARTIFACT ANALYSIS

Although only a few of the artifacts found in the ship are considered to be associated with the ship during her sailing life, I felt that an analysis of all the artifacts might help lead me to the ship’s identity. Artifacts found in the bottom of the hull, and in fairly inaccessible areas of the hull, were likely associated with the vessel’s life and might indicate the origin and uses of the ship. A study of the fill, placed in the hull when it was positioned to crib fill in New York, could conceivably allow us to date the burying of the hull and might thereby direct my archival research to a particular time slot.

Unfortunately, most of the artifacts that were probably associated with the ship’s life are not definitely assignable to a country or time period, within a few decades. Two wooden buckets, a leather armlet, a leather protective mask, and a nautical pulley block are all artifact types that have been associated with several countries throughout the 1700s. An intact spirits bottle, found in the stern under the cabin, may relate to the life of the ship. It is associated with English sites from 1720 to 1757.17 Clay pipe sherds found in the lowest layer within the ship, which therefore

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