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XIII. Account of an Ancient Vessel recently found under the old Bed of the river Rother, in Kent: In a Letter from William McPherson Rice, Esq. F.S.A. late of the College of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth, addressed to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

William McPherson Rice Esq.
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Extract

The late discovery of a Vessel under the ancient bed of the river Rother having given rise to various conjectures and contradictory statements, respecting her age and former service, and the subject being of some interest in naval architecture, I was directed by Sir Byam Martin, at the request of Lord Melville, to repair to the place where she was found, and to obtain a true account of her build and situation; in order, if possible, to ascertain the country she belonged to, and the period of her submersion. My Report has been subsequently transmitted to the Admiralty; and, at the suggestion of Mr. Barrow, I have taken the liberty of addressing to you a Letter, containing the substance of that Report; and should the subject be compatible with the regulations as to Papers usually read at the Society of Antiquaries, it will afford me much satisfaction if you will do me the favour to introduce it at the ensuing meeting.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 20 , 1824 , pp. 553 - 565
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1817

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References

page 557 note a When on duty at Sheerness dock-yard, I collected several specimens of wood taken from the old ships which have been dug out in the progress of the works carrying on there; and it may, perhaps, be worthy of remark, that among them I found a piece of oak plank with some hair adhering to its edge, a proof that hair had been used as the caulking material for that ship. I have not been able to ascertain if she was of English or foreign build; but Mr. John Knowles of the Navy Office obligingly informed me, that these ships were laid aground in the time of Charles II. and in one or two subsequent reigns, and served, some as break-waters, and others as residences for the artificers employed in that establishment, which was then in its infancy: and we find that in his work on the “Preservation of the Navy,” that hair was used in caulking for a long series of years in His Majesty's Navy, and was not discontinued till 1791.

page 559 note b Upon its side was delineated a ship in full sail, but shortly after its exposure to the atmosphere, a transparent coating peeled off, and the figure was obliterated; some persons have conjectured it to be half of an hour glass, but its rudeness of form, irregular thickness, and disproportionate size of its mouth, are sufficient contradictions to such an opinion. I did not see the delineation of the ship, nor could I learn its fashion; had an artist been on the spot at the time it was taken up, to have preserved a sketch of this curious specimen of art, we might have derived from it some satisfactory notion of the age in which it was executed.

page 560 note c The finding of this slipper has by some persons been adduced in argument against the Vessel's antiquity; but it is well known that cork was used for this purpose among the Romans; Pliny says, the women more especially used cork soles in winter:

“Usus præterea in hiberno feminarum calceatu.”

page 561 note d “Yet now it (Rye) beginneth to complain that the sea abandoneth it, (such is the variable and interchangeable course of the elements,) and in part imputeth it, that the river Rother is not contained in its channel, and so loseth its force to carry away the sands and beach, which the sea doth inbear into the haven.” Hayley's Manuscript Collections relating to Sussex.

page 563 note e Hayley's MSS. Collections relating to Sussex.

page 564 note f Sir Nathaniel Powel; Dugdale on Fens and Embankments; Somner's Treatise on the Roman Ports and Forts; Drayton's Poly-olbion, with Selden's notes; Leland's Itinerary; Stowe's Chronicle; Hasted; Harris; and the other historians of Kent may be consulted with advantage. See also Hayley's MSS. Collections for Sussex, before quoted, deposited in the British Museum.