A Late18thCentury Merchantman Wrecked in the South Edinburgh

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The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (2013) 42.1: 137–149
doi: 10.1111/j.1095-9270.2012.00364.x
A Late-18th-Century Merchantman Wrecked in the South
Edinburgh Channel, Thames Estuary, England
David Parham and Elizabeth Rundell
School of Applied Science, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole BH12 5BB, England
Pieter van der Merwe
National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, London SE10 9NF, England
The South Edinburgh Channel wreck consists of the remains of a large, unidentified armed merchant ship whose cargo included
a rare consignment of Swedish plate-money, among other goods. The wreck was lost some time in the later part of the 18th
century in the Thames Estuary and was uncovered briefly by natural means between 1972 and 1977. This allowed archaeological
investigation, which was undertaken in very poor environmental conditions in the early days of maritime archaeology in the
UK.
© 2012 The Authors
Key words: post-medieval, Sweden, London, East Indies, plate-money, Long Sand.
T
he North Shingles Bank in the Thames Estuary,
seen here in Stanier’s 1789 chart of the Thames
Estuary (Fig. 1), was first accurately surveyed
by Beaufort as part of a grand survey of the coastal
waters of the British Isles during his appointment as
Hydrographer of the Navy between 1829 and 1855
(Courtney, 2002: 212). Subsequent surveys have shown
that since this date the bank has been gradually retreating on its northern and eastern flanks. Between autumn
1969 and spring 1974 the bank retreated some 400 m
westwards, thereby extending the width of the adjacent
South Edinburgh Channel. In response to this the Port
of London Authority (PLA) undertook a number of
surveys of the channel and in the autumn of 1972
located an obstruction 40 m long and standing 2.5 m
proud of the sea-bed in 11 m of water (at Low Water
Neaps), emerging from the eastern side of the bank,
50–100 m to the west of the shipping channel (Fig. 2).
It was estimated that if the regression of the bank
continued at the same rate the obstruction would have
become a hazard to the safe navigation of the channel
by 1977. The PLA is duty-bound to ensure safe navigation of the channel and therefore, before it became a
hazard, the obstruction would have to be removed. An
assessment of the obstruction was urgently required in
order to decide how best to deal with it. As the area
from which the obstruction was emerging had been a
drying shoal for at least 150 years, the PLA considered
that it might well have some historic value and, to its
credit, invited the National Maritime Museum to send
an observer to assist in their initial diving investigation.
History of site investigations
This initial assessment was undertaken on 19–21 May
1975 using between two and four PLA divers in the
presence of a representative from the National Maritime Museum (NMM), Pieter van der Merwe, who
briefed the divers to look for certain constructional
and archaeological features and recorded their postdive comments. The divers were deployed along a
single jackstay in underwater visibility of less than
300 mm. A number of finds were recovered and the
divers reported that the obstruction was a large, partially intact wreck of an armed wooden sailing vessel,
which exceeded 20 m in length. On 20 May no diving
was undertaken, but soundings were taken around the
site.
The results showed that the wreck and its cargo were
of archaeological interest, but there was insufficient
evidence to support an application for designation
under the Protection of Wrecks Act. The PLA had to
ensure safe navigation through the channel by 1977,
and it was considered that designation of the wreck
might lead to difficulties. The PLA decided that they
would keep the NMM advised of their plans for the
wreck and that the two bodies would devise a method
of approaching the wreck in the best interests of both
© 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2012 The Nautical Archaeology Society.
Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
NAUTICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, 42.1
Figure 1.
Plan of the Thames Estuary by Richard Stanier, 1790 (G218:8/1). (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
archaeology and safe navigation (Minutes of meeting
held at NMM, 28 May 1975).
Further investigations were undertaken on 4 June by
a team of four PLA divers (including two from the
May team) plus David Lyon of the NMM. On this
occasion underwater visibility was excellent, in excess
of 18 m. The wreck was less intact than originally
thought, but there was much surviving structure and
the cargo was substantially intact, despite there being
some dispersal of artefacts at the edges of the site. All
the divers’ observations were compiled in a sketch
survey of the wreck, which was further enhanced with
data from all the site investigations undertaken. This
forms the basis of the description and site-plan (Fig. 3).
In the light of this enhanced knowledge, and using
contemporary values, it was decided that the wreck
was not worthy of designation or large-scale excavation, as much was already known about ships of this
period. However, as the interests of navigation
required the removal of a substantial portion of the
site, it was considered that a rescue investigation was
warranted. This was to be funded by the NMM and
undertaken jointly by the NMM and the St Andrews
Institute of Maritime Archaeology (later the Scottish
Institute of Maritime Studies), and would involve the
conservation and monitoring of those items already
recovered, monitoring work undertaken by the PLA
on the site and a two-week archaeological project to
record the wreck and recover a representative sample
138
of her cargo (Minutes of meeting at NMM, 5
September 1975).
On 30–31 October 1975 the PLA undertook initial
clearance work on the site under the archaeological
supervision of David Lyon of the NMM, who dived on
the site but was unable to undertake any recording
work owing to zero visibility (a complete black-out
where you have no perception of vision at all). The
PLA divers attempted to locate the two vertical posts
at the highest point of the wreck. Only one was found;
the second was assumed to have collapsed, but was
seen on later dives. A section of wreck timbers and the
2.4-m-long vertical post located (between the copper
pile and the anchors) were recovered to the deck of the
PLA salvage vessel Crossness. The section consisted of
two frames (one 3.4 m and the other 2.45 m long)
attached to a 5.66-m-long inboard strake. These structural elements were recorded and a section from the
end of the larger frame (including a well-preserved
rebate) and the top 100 mm of the vertical post (including the tenon) were sawn off and retained (both are
now lost). The remainder of the material recovered was
then discarded.
The two-week joint NMM/Institute of Maritime
Archaeology field-season was undertaken between 23
March and 6 April 1976, the team consisting of Pieter
van der Merwe and David Lyon from the NMM, and
Colin Martin, Keith Muckelroy, Paula Williams
and Tony Long from St Andrews. The Royal Navy
© 2012 The Authors. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology © 2012 The Nautical Archaeology Society
D. PARHAM ET AL.: LATE-18TH-CENTURY MERCHANTMAN WRECK IN THE THAMES ESTUARY
Figure 2. Location map (contains Ordnance Survey data, ©
Crown copyright and database right 2012); inset detail from
Admiralty chart. (© Crown Copyright/SeaZone Solutions
Ltd 2012. All Rights Reserved. Not to be Used for
Navigation)
supplied a boom-defence vessel (MFV 1256) and crew
to act as a diving support vessel. Vessel availability,
journey time from the shore-base (Ramsgate), bad
weather and zero underwater visibility meant that the
season was largely ineffective. Thirteen man-dives were
undertaken, a few more finds recovered and lessons
learnt for the future.
Following the results of the 1976 field season,
however, on 31 December the NMM and PLA made a
joint application for designation of the site under the
Protection of Wrecks Act 1973. Two major reasons
were given in support of the application, namely that
the cargo of Swedish plate-money was of the greatest
interest to economic historians and numismatists, and
that archaeological investigation of the site would not
only provide a context for the plate-money, but would
also provide much information about the stowage and
make-up of the cargo of a late-18th-century merchantman. It was also felt that the site would make a good
test-bed for studies of the process of degradation of
wreck-sites from both a mechanical and a biological
point of view, and provide areas to experiment with
techniques for low-visibility underwater archaeology.
Concern was also expressed that the plate-money
might attract looters.
The South Edinburgh Channel wreck was the 13th
wreck to be designated as a Historic Wreck under the
Protection of Wrecks Act 1973, on 27 May 1977 under
order 1977 No1:1977/764. The protected area is a circle
of 100 m radius centred on position 5131.73’, 01
14.88’E within the South Edinburgh Channel of the
Thames Estuary, 10 miles north of the town of
Margate in Kent (Fig. 2).
Following completion of the 1976 season, eastward
movement of the North Shingles Bank covered the site
once more, and the PLA abandoned plans for any
future clearance. Inspections by the Archaeological
Diving Unit (ADU) in 1988, 1995, 1997 and 1999
(ADU, 1988, 1995, 1997 and 1999) and Wessex
Archaeology in 2009 (Wessex Archaeology, 2010) confirmed the position of the site by magnetometer survey.
Soundings were taken of the depth of water and hence
the depth of sand over the site. These visits have confirmed that no part of the site is visible above the
sea-bed, and that the depth of sand over the wreck has
gradually increased from 2 m in 1988, and 3 m in 1995,
to 6 m in 1999, 5 m higher than it was during the
investigations in the 1970s.
A magnetometer survey conducted by the ADU in
1999 suggests that the site lies 50 m north-east of
the centre of the designated area at 51°31.775N
001°14.79E (WGS 84). In 2009 Wessex Archaeology
conducted a geophysical survey which revealed a highamplitude magnetometer anomaly of 1768nT, ‘likely
to represent the remains of the wreck’ (Wessex Archaeology, 2010: 20), but no sea-bed surface wreckage was
seen on a sidescan survey conducted at the same time,
suggesting that the wreck was still buried. This was
confirmed by a parametric sonar survey, which
revealed 5–6 m of thick, sandy deposit on top of a
possible strong reflector.
Description of the wreck
The site covers an area c.35 ¥ 15 m, divided into three
sections: north, centre and south. During the survey in
1975 there was an apparent drop of c.3 m on the east
side of the centre section, with a deep scour to the
north-west of the wreck. The centre section forms the
main body of the wreck, 15–20 m long and orientated
10° and 120° (true). The smaller north and south sections appear to be heavily broken-up and scattered
wreckage orientated 170° and 350° (true). The
minimum depth of water over the wreck was 7.3 m
when first dived; this increased to 9.5 m following the
clearance operation in October 1975.
The wreck lies on the then-edge of a shoal, roughly
parallel to its west-east slope. Its northernmost
recorded point was in c.7 m of water, and its southernmost in c.11–12 m. The northern point consists of a
single iron gun and a number of timber beams protruding from the sea-bed with voids beneath them through
which entries into the wreck up to c.900 mm high could
be seen. One diver reported finding fabric in this area
139
Figure 3. Site-plan. (Rebecca Causer)
which disintegrated when touched. About 7 m to the
south the sea-bed dropped by c.2 m, revealing a single
c.2.5-m-high vertical post (171 ¥ 184 mm cross-section)
with a tenon joint (49 mm high, 43 mm wide) on its
upper surface (recovered and recorded on the surface).
From this point the wreck could be seen to have split
open and consisted of a cargo mound c.2 m high,
beneath which the collapsed outer hull could be seen.
On both sides this consisted of frames (c.300 ¥ 245 mm
cross-section) spaced c.300–400 mm apart, and c.37mm-thick planking. On the eastern side at least there
was a vertical post projecting upwards from these
frames. About 7 m south of the first vertical post
another similar post was situated. Between these two
features lay at least four stacks of copper plate-money,
each covering an area of c.1.6 m2. Directly south of this
second post is a transverse ‘stout beam’ lying beneath
four stacks of anchors, three tiers high, each anchor
measuring c.1.75 m from fluke-tip to fluke-tip. Projecting from this beam for at least 14 m south was a large
longitudinal timber. Lying across the easternmost
anchor-stack lay another iron gun, square bottles,
fragments of pearlware, creamware and grey salt140
glazed stoneware. Concretions were recovered, in
which were found a spherical-headed brass pin, two
small cannon balls, an iron-headed hammer, remains
of a copper key on a wooden matrix (gun furniture?),
cut brushwood dunnage and casts of iron nails. To the
north-east of the transverse beam a pulley-sheave was
located.
South of the anchors the mound was less visible as
the sea-bed drops away gradually over c.18 m horizontally to the general depth of 11 m. To the east of the
longitudinal timber lay bundles of flat iron rods,
c.85 mm wide ¥ c.2.5 m long ¥ c.3–4 mm thick. To the
west of the longitudinal timber lay bales, possibly of
c.600mm2 glass panes. After c.13 m the longitudinal
timber disappeared under a mass of timberwork,
beneath which entries into the wreck could be seen.
Here there was evidence of hanging knees still supporting the deck with possible iron reinforcing. One diver
reported entering a hole in this area and encountering
a bale of smooth dishes. Directly south of this were at
least three rows of round, long-necked bottles of two
apparent sizes, at least two tiers deep and laid horizontally with their necks to the north. Two drinking
Table 1. Details of the Swedish plate-money found on the South Edinburgh Channel wreck
Date
1716
1717
1720
1720
1723
1742
1745
1748
1749
Unreadable
Total
No. of examples
Monarch
Reign
Notes
1
1
2
Karl XII
Karl XII
Ulrika Eleonora
Fredrik I
Fredrik I
Fredrik I
Fredrik I
Fredrik I
Fredrik I
1697–1718
1697–1718
1719–1720
1720–1771
1720–1771
1720–1771
1720–1771
1720–1771
1720–1771
Stamp front and back
1
1
1
12
13
2
34
glasses were found and raised from this area. No
recording was undertaken beyond this point, though
further confused areas of wreckage whose limits were
not defined were noted.
The ship
The wreck is the remains of a vessel at least 35 m long,
constructed from frames of c.300 ¥ 245 mm crosssection, their centres c.300–400 mm apart, and c.37mm-thick planking. The centre section of the wreck
has collapsed outwards, revealing, at least in part,
details of its construction and the general make-up of
the cargo and its pattern of distribution, which appears
to be largely undisturbed. It was not clear whether the
top layer seen was the lower hold, but given the heavy
nature of the cargo, the presence of vertical posts,
interpreted here as stanchions for supporting upper
decks now collapsed, and the presence of a heavy longitudinal timber, possibly a keelson, this would appear
to be the case. The voids beneath the timberwork at the
north and south extremes of the recorded structure
may be areas were the ship’s orlop deck has survived.
The finds
Swedish plate-coins
The objects raised include 34 Swedish plate-coins made
of flat sheets of copper c.6 mm thick, the largest and
heaviest coinage ever produced (Table 1). The use of
such coins dates back to 1624 when Sweden was
depleted of silver as a result of reparations paid to
Denmark following defeat in the 1611–1613 Kalmar
War. Sweden’s only contemporary resource was
copper, a metal in which it is rich. In the 1620s they
turned this surplus into low-denomination coinage
which allowed them to make up the shortfall of silver
and to control the supply, and hence the price, of
copper. More than 44,000 tons of coins were struck
between 1644 and 1759 when large-scale minting
stopped. The coins remained in circulation until 1776
when they were suspended as currency by the Coinage
Act of that year. The export of plate-money was
forbidden in 1743 when the Swedish National Bank
began to stockpile it and, following the coinage suspension, the bank sold the plate-money abroad as bullion
to obtain silver. This trade continued until 1812 with
more that 5 000,000 daler in stamped plates exported
(Herbert and Tingstrom, 1999: 28), the majority before
1800 (Sherlock, 1981: 65). Plate-money’s downfall
came with the introduction of paper money; a much
more convenient method of conducting transactions
(Herbert and Tingstrom, 1999: 28).
Plate-money was made from pure copper and produced in denominations of 8, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 1⁄2 daler.
Throughout its use it had intrinsic value, the weight of
the metal equalled the denomination, and it served
both as money and as bullion for re-use (Herbert and
Tingstrom, 1999: 17). Coinage acts determined the
weight of each plate and, until 1715, with each new act
the weight of the plate was reduced, with older and
heavier plates being either recycled or counter-marked
with their new denomination. Each plate was struck
only on one side with a stamp in each corner to prevent
clipping and one in the centre. The corner stamps identify the name or initials of the sovereign and the year of
issue, and the centre stamp gives the denomination and
identifies the mint or place of origin of the copper
(Fig. 4) Occasionally a stamp on the back may give
details of the plate’s weight or parity (Tingstrom, 1969:
225) (Fig 5).
On the wreck plate-coins were found packed faceto-face vertically, in groups of c.50, arranged in blocks
c.1.2–1.8 m2, of which four were observed under good
visibility in 1975. Some scattering had occurred but
where still packed the plates were in good condition,
those scattered being relatively more abraded and corroded. All of the 34 recovered were of 2 daler denomination, c.200 mm2, and weighing c.1.8 kg. Their dates
and associated sovereign are noted in Table 1. Of particular rarity is the 1716 coin which is stamped front
and back. By the end of Karl XII’s reign the crown
needed to raise cash, so tokens were issued and
attempts made to exchange money in circulation in
141
Figure 4. Plate money; a) NMM REL0665 (clipped-corner plate, dated 1723) front; (b) NMM REL0655 (unclipped plate,
dated 1720), front central stamp and (c) front corner stamp. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
silver and copper plates for ‘necessity’ money. As the
large plates were not exchanged sufficiently for the
tokens, in 1717 it was decided to reduce the value of
those not redeemed by a certain date. In the spring
of 1718 these were counter-stamped with the Lion of
Göta. That autumn the same plates were counterstamped on the reverse with the Three Crowns (Tingstrom, 1969: 19). The South Edinburgh Channel site’s
collection of plate-money represents an unusual survival of this currency. Examples of the various stamps
are reproduced in Figure 6.
Outside Sweden the plates were never considered as
currency and were always treated as copper bullion for
re-use (Herbert and Tingstrom, 1999: 22). The plates
were popular as ingots as they were easy to handle,
known for their purity and of a guaranteed weight
(Herbert and Tingstrom, 1999: 31). A considerable
number of them were purchased by the English, Dutch
and Danish East India companies for export to the
East Indies in the latter part of the 18th century (Tingstrom, 1969: 28) and a number that may have been
associated with this trade have been found.
For example, 60 plates have been dredged from
Madras harbour with the possible remains of a small
wooden boat. Prior to the construction of the harbour
142
in the 19th century, cargo was brought ashore from
ships in the roadstead in small boats, and these finds
may represent the loss of such a boat (Herbert and
Tingstrom, 1999: 29). The Nicobar, a ship of the
Danish Asiatic Company (Dansk Asiatisk Kompagni),
wrecked in June 1783 off Quoin Point, South Africa,
had a cargo which included 5000 plates (Herbert and
Tingstrom, 1999: 137). The Ernst Schimmelmann, also
of the Danish Asiatic Company, was lost in 1781 on
Cape Verde en route to China. Finds from salvage
conducted in 1999 included 846 copper plates (Arqueonautas Worldwide, 2009).
In addition to the South Edinburgh Channel wreck,
the UK has two other maritime finds of copper platemoney: three plates found on Orford Ness beach,
Suffolk, in 1913, with dates between 1711 and 1716,
now in Ipswich Museum (Sherlock, 1981: 63) and a
single plate ‘washed up with others’ from a wreck at
Felixstowe (Sherlock, 1981: 65).
Iron guns
Three guns have been seen on the site. The first found,
which was lying across the eastern anchor stack, was
recorded in detail. It was c.1.6 m long, c.270 mm diameter at the breech, 170 mm diameter at the muzzle, and
Figure 5. Plate money, NMM REL0634. a) front; b) back; c) front, central stamp; d) stamp on back; e) front, ‘extra’ stamp,
in shape of a shield; f) front, corner stamp. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
Figure 6. Plate-money, three examples of stamps: scale in cm. a) NMM REL0643 (1748) centre and b) corner. c) NMM
REL0659 (1717) centre. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
had an internal muzzle diameter of c.100 mm. The two
cannon balls recovered were found adjacent to this gun.
Iron bars
A number of fragments of iron bars were recovered
and were conserved in 1975. They measured c.2.5 m
long and c.85 mm wide and c.3 mm thick (that is to
say, they were ‘strips’ rather than ‘bars’). They are
highly corroded with no distinctive surviving ends or
any evident producer’s stamp. Chris Salter of the
Material Based Archaeology Group at Oxford University considers that they may well have been steel, but
the conservation process may have removed the evidence which could have confirmed this.
143
Figure 7. Lead cloth seal, ZBA0441. (© National Maritime
Museum, Greenwich, UK)
Lead cloth-seal
A single large, four-disc lead seal was found (NMM
REL0441) (Fig. 7) with a trace of gilding and a cast
device of a conventional VEIC (United East India
Company) mark in a heart-shaped surround with a
4-shaped finial. This is a cloth-seal used to mark bolts
of English woollen cloth for export to the Far East by
the London-based ‘Honourable East India Company’
(HEIC), as it was generally known. A number of these
have been found at wreck sites of broadly similar date
(for example, Egan 1990, fig. 3 right, shows a similar,
large VEIC seal, one of several from the 1805 wreck of
the Earl of Abergavenny). There was a trade in heavy
woollens to India and China around the turn of the
19th century and this object is a rare find in the UK as
most were transported to the East. It is the find most
immediately connected with trade from this wreck.
However, as an isolated item, it is not possible to say
whether it was part of a larger consignment or a
remnant from an earlier voyage.
Mollusca shell
The Mollusca shell recovered from a concretion is
Cypraea moneta Linnaeus, the ‘money cowrie’, widely
used as currency across the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean
and western Pacific, and also to a lesser extent in
Africa, the near East and south-eastern Europe.
144
Figure 8. Bottle, NMM REL0683. The bottle is c.25cm tall.
(© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
Bottles
A small sample was recovered of the many bottles seen
(Fig. 8). The majority are dark green and of standard
form, 850–860 ml capacity, with an applied collar at
the top and a pushed-in base, of a type regularly used
for wine. The string rims of the collar are usually more
rounded on French bottles and angular on the English
versions, though there is probably some overlap in this
detail (Van den Bossche, 2001: 97). The sample features both types, but the majority seem on balance to
be English. One (NMM REL0683) has a double and
rounded collar, while others (NMM REL0628–30,
REL0632) have single, angular collars. They presumably represent a cargo of wine.
One bottle (NMM REL0683) retained its original
contents, which had lost much of their colour. There
was a dark reddish-black sediment of precipitated
tannins and pigments which would account for the pale
red colour. It is recognizable as wine and was probably
a table wine as opposed to a fortified wine. The sample
was found to be 17.2% proof (9.9% v/v) compared with
normal table wines today of 10–15% v/v. It had few
bacteria, no yeasts and a good deal of debris/fibrous
material as it was produced before the widespread use
of filtration. Gas chromatographic analysis, which
Figure 10. Pearlware tureen, NMM REL0676. (© National
Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
Figure 9. Tumbler (NMM REL0679) and stem of glass
(NMM REL0680). (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
measures the flowering substances formed during the
fermentation process, showed results very similar to
wines produced today. The sample showed a sodium
content of 2240 parts per million (ppm). Wine usually
contains 20–40 ppm of sodium, while seawater contains 10,500 ppm. This suggests that the sample was
contaminated by about 20% seawater through a crack
in the punt of the bottle. It produced a sewage-like
smell when opened and was not tasted, but a faint
fruity blackcurrant odour was also detected, described
as claret.
In addition there were two bases of square casebottles (NMM REL0672, REL0675), probably for
spirits, perhaps gin. It is difficult to say whether these
were part of a larger consignment within the cargo or
represent the crew’s personal property.
Drinking glasses
Two pieces of drinking glasses were recovered from the
site (Fig. 9). The first (NMM REL0680) is a colourless
broken stem and base of a medium-weight, cut wineglass; the stem is moulded with six facets and it has a
hand-blown foot (71 mm diameter). The second
(NMM REL0679) was a 95-mm-high colourless
tumbler with slightly flared sides and a 14.5-mm-high
cut floral device repeated around the top. It has a rim
diameter of 81 mm and a base diameter of 60 mm. It
has been dated to c.1780 and it emits a ringing tone
when struck.
Ceramics
The small number of sherds recovered consist mainly
of vessels from dinner services in creamware and pearlware. Twenty creamware dinner-plate sherds were
found on the site, all of which have the typical palecream glaze perfected by Josiah Wedgwood in the
1760s. One has the impressed mark ‘Wedgwood’ in a
form used by the factory between c.1759 and 1769
(Godden, 1991: 657). These plates show clear signs of
regular and robust use in the form of knife-cuts across
their upper surfaces. Pearlware was developed c.1780,
and quickly became very popular and continued in
production well into the 19th century. There are four
sherds, dating to c.1780–1810, from a tureen with blue
shell-edge decoration in the Rococo style and underglaze blue painted decoration on top of the one surviving simple, looped handle (Fig. 10). Both creamware
and pearlware were serviceable, fashionable and widely
available wares which would have belonged to the
ship’s officers or passengers rather than the crew. The
presence of knife-cuts on the plates demonstrates
objects in use as on-board utensils or in personal
baggage rather than items of cargo.
In addition to the English-made tablewares, four
small sherds of Chinese export porcelain tea-wares
were recovered. All are decorated in blue and white
and one has a Batavian brown external glaze.
Although dating is difficult from such small fragments,
they were probably made in the mid-to-late 18th
century. If they represent vessels in use on board rather
than cargo, which seems likely, then these sherds also
show that good-quality ceramics were available to the
officers and that some, at least, were accustomed to
taking tea. One sherd of grey salt-glazed stoneware
may have come from a selzer bottle, of the kind made
in the Rhineland for bottled mineral waters. Overall,
the date of deposition of the collected ceramics can be
given as c.1780–1800.
Gun furniture
Also found, in concretions, were a brass trigger-guard
(NMM REL0444) of bulbous-finial type with no hole
for sling-swivels, a flat sideplate with tail (NMM
ZBA0444) which is faintly marked with the name of
J[onathan] BUTTALL, a known London maker, the
butt-plate (NMM ZBA0443) of the handrail-tang, and
an end ramrod pipe (NMM ZBA0445) (Fig. 11). These
would all fit a sea-service musket of c.1771–1818
(Harding, 1997: 265). It should be noted that Buttall is
not recorded as a supplier to the HEIC.
Other finds
Other finds include a copper-alloy pin or needle-point
and a copper-alloy spigot (NMM ZBA0439) (Fig. 12)
145
Figure 11. Gun furniture, ZBA0442–5. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
(probably ebony or lignum vitae), with inlaid organic
decoration set in what looks like lead or tin.
Historical research
Figure 12. Copper-alloy spigot, NMM ZBA0439. (©
National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
with a relatively plain, bi-lobed tap with two round
holes and no evident maker’s stamp (the practice had
probably ceased by this time, pers. comm. G. Egan).
There was a plain, wooden rounded-bar tool-handle
(NMM REL0633) with an iron wedge used to retain
the main metal part which is represented by concretion
(most lost through corrosion): it was probably a
hammer. Also recovered was a wooden razor-handle
(NMM ZBA0440) (Fig. 13) of a hard, organic material
146
The lead cloth-seal provides a tantalizing link with the
English East India Company. The nature of the cargo
present on the wreck suggests an outward- rather than
inward-bound vessel. The finds so far suggest a late18th or early 19th century date for the wreck. The East
India Company records identify only three vessels
wrecked in the Thames Estuary while outward-bound
during this period, all en route to Madras: the Admiral
Gardner, 816 tons, lost 25 January 1809 on the
Goodwin Sands; the Britannia, 1273 tons, lost 25
January 1809 on the Goodwin Sands; and the Hindostan, 1518 tons, lost 11 January 1803 on Wedge
Sand, Queen’s Channel, Margate Roads. All three
have been located some distance from the South Edinburgh Channel.
The Swedish connection
It has been suggested (Fenwick and Gale, 1998: 78)
that the ‘best fit’ for the South Edinburgh Channel
wreck was an unidentified ship, sailing under the
Swedish flag, noted as having been wrecked on Long
Sands (the large Thames Estuary shoal within which
Figure 13.
Wooden razor handle, NMM ZBA0440. (© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK)
the South Edinburgh Channel lies) on 16 October 1787
(Lloyds List no 1925, 26 October 1787).
The Swedish East India Company was active from
1731 to 1813 trading to China and other places east of
the Cape of Good Hope, usually via the north-about
route around the north of Scotland, then to Cadiz to
purchase silver which was the only acceptable payment
for goods, and then to the East. Records in the India
Office at the British Library contain a reference to the
Swedish East India Company involving a revision of
the rules applied to them, confirming that Swedish East
India Company ships were transporting goods to
English ports (Minutes of Court, B/136, 1802–03).
During its operations the Company embarked on 127
voyages. Most of the documentation from this period
was burned by the management of the Company,
reputedly to conceal the enormous size of the profits.
Kjellbergs (1974) lists eight Swedish East Indiamen
lost; the only one in the English Channel being the
Drottning Sophia Magdalena, lost on 27 October 1801,
inbound to Sweden from Canton (pers. comm. H.
Havner 2008, Gothenburg University Library). This
ship can be eliminated as the South Edinburgh
Channel wreck because the nature of the cargo found
suggests an outward-bound vessel.
The history of the relationship between the Swedish
iron-making trade and its English counterpart is well
documented, with a steady stream of Swedish metallurgists visiting England from the latter part of the 17th
century and throughout the 18th century (Birch, 1955).
In the 18th century, Sweden was one of the world’s
major suppliers of iron, largely in bar form, which it
exported to Western Europe. Not surprisingly,
England, in practical terms the only country where the
age of mechanical power had got under way by the
late-18th century, was taking the greatest share of Sweden’s iron exports at this time (Rice, 1965: 88–9).
The success of the Swedish merchant marine in the
second half of the 18th century, during which it more
than doubled its tonnage, was brought about in part as
a result of British involvement in the American War of
Independence, which made the export of bulky commodities to western Europe possible, and a protectionist policy determined to maintain exports of the
country’s rich natural resources in Swedish vessels.
Swedish ships passing west through the sound between
Elsinore and Helsingborg in 1787 alone totalled more
than 110,000 tons. The route of the larger merchant
vessels was outward to Britain, the Netherlands or
France, then in ballast to a southerly port, where goods
were loaded for the return voyage to Sweden
(Johansen, 1992: 484–5; pers. comm. Göran Ekberg,
2008, Archaeological Unit, National Maritime
Museum, Stockholm). The English East India
Company purchased Swedish iron through Andrew
and Charles Lindegren, naturalized merchants based in
Upper Thames Street, London and later through
various other London firms (Bowen, 2002: 480–81).
This iron then formed part of cargoes sent to Madras
and China.
Discussion
The size of the South Edinburgh Channel wreck, of
which a length of at least 35 m of hull survives, indicating a burden of more than 1000 tons, suggests a
large armed merchantman. East Indiamen ranged
from 400 tons in the mid-18th century to 1200 tons or
more by the end of the century. Other trade routes did
not need or could not afford such big ships and,
without oriental manpower, would have been hardpressed to man them (Bovill, 1950: 246), suggesting
that this wreck may have been engaged in trade to the
East.
The finds assemblage is too limited to suggest any
particular route, much less any specific destination.
The iron bars were almost certainly components of the
last cargo, but this is far less certain for the textile
represented by the single cloth-seal with all its specific
indication of an exotic destination in the Far East. The
Swedish plate-money (the most precisely dated of all
the finds) was probably a further metal component of
the cargo as copper ingots. The assemblage is significant for its rarity and is a major maritime find.
While the round wine bottles are likely to represent
some of the cargo (as their stowage in crates implies)
this is less certain for the square bottles recovered. The
spigot, which is plain, like the majority in use at this
time, could have been set in a ship’s water-barrel. The
tool-handle and the needle-point probably also represent implements for routine use on board. The gun
furnishings (one with the stamp of a known London
maker) suggest a shipboard rather than land use, but
give no unequivocal indication of a military milieu, and
may well represent the usual complement of weapons
needed to protect any commercial vessel.
The small number of ceramic sherds mainly represent dinner services in creamware and pearlware. Both
serviceable and elegant, their popularity boosted by
royal and aristocratic patronage, they were the ceramic
147
of choice for the dinner table during the mid-to-late
18th century. The plates show clear signs of regular use
and it is therefore probable that they were for use on
the ship rather than carried as cargo. In addition to the
English-made tablewares, four small sherds of
Chinese-export porcelain tea-wares were recovered. If
they represent objects in use on board ship rather than
cargo, which seems likely, they show that good-quality
ceramics were available to the officers or passengers
and that some at least were accustomed to taking tea.
Archaeological studies of the use of Chinese-export
porcelain (Hume, 1982; Staniforth, 1995; Staniforth
and Nash, 1998; Elkin et al., 2007) suggest that by the
late-18th century the use of porcelain in Europe had
spread to groups of lower socio-economic status.
Although the ware was therefore not necessarily a
luxury item, it served to reinforce British identity and
status in the world (Staniforth, 2003: 48; Dellino, 2004:
116).
The few glass vessels may well have belonged to the
officers or passengers; the tumbler is ornamented
enough to raise it above the everyday. The razorhandle, an unusual example and probably of an exotic
wood, might have been acquired somewhere beyond
Europe (pers. comm. G. Egan).
The site’s discovery and investigation occurred
almost 40 years ago, at the very beginnings of maritime
archaeology in the United Kingdom. Prior to the discovery of the site, all excavated underwater archaeological wrecks in the UK were in conditions of at least
moderate visibility. While the discipline has moved on,
it is worth noting the thoughts of those involved at the
time:
Difficult tides and zero visibility made conventional
methods of survey impractical, especially since much of
the wreck and its cargo stands hazardously proud of the
seabed. All that was achieved from an archaeological
point of view was to confirm the results of the PLA’s
excellent preliminary survey . . . the site serves to remind
us that many of the best preserved wrecks are likely to be
the most difficult to work on. Experience gained on this
site has generated new thinking on the development of
techniques to deal with such sites (St Andrews Institute of
Maritime Archaeology Newsletter 1976).
Work on site required the techniques used by clearance divers rather than those developed in Mediterranean underwater archaeology. This suggested that the
way forward lay in the use of electronic aids such as
echo-sounders and sidescan sonar to map the site initially and to allow a survey grid to be laid from the
diving vessel. It was recognised that other important
sites would be found in similar conditions, and it was
felt that experience of relatively high-visibility sites was
of little use in a world of darkness, shifting sand and
unstable wreckage. The PLA approach to investigation
(as described above) was seen as the best way forward
if these conditions were to be overcome (McGrail and
van der Merwe, 1976).
Conclusion
The evidence that this ship was heading out from
London bound for the East Indies is compelling, if not
conclusive. Iron bars, anchors and Swedish plate
money are known to be regular components of export
cargoes during this period but might equally have been
imported to London for later transport to the East.
The wine bottles could represent part of a cargo or, in
common with the ceramics and glassware, personal
property to be consumed and used to make a long,
tedious voyage more bearable. The tantalizing evidence of one lead cloth-seal, indicative of an English
export cargo, was not recorded from a secure context
and therefore cannot be definitely assigned to the
wreck.
The surviving historical records of the English East
India Company do not offer a likely candidate among
outgoing vessels lost in the Thames Estuary.
However, the iron bars and anchors are recognised
export goods from Göteborg to London and point to
a Swedish origin for the ship. From London, the ship
may have been set to visit other more southerly
ports in Europe which were also involved in trade
with Sweden in this period, and the plate-money may
have been destined for another port. We can not discount a Swedish origin purely on the evidence of
English finds from the wreck, as items such as the
Wedgewood china was widely exported at this time to
many countries as far afield as Russia and North
America, and it is reasonable to assume that it would
have been available in Sweden through the established trade relationship with London (pers. comm. J.
Pearce). By the same token, the presence of the
cowrie shell does not rule out an English vessel, as the
shell was most likely from the Indian or Pacific Ocean
and ships of both countries sailed through the Indian
Ocean.
It is, therefore, possible to make a case for the vessel
being English or Swedish, outbound or inbound.
Unless further archaeological investigation takes
place, which seems highly unlikely at this juncture, an
educated guess is all that can be made.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank: PLA Diving Inspector A. Bradley, and divers R. Adkins, E. Grey, J. Hanson, R. C. Healy and Mr
Woodcott; Lt Cdr J. White (PLA Hydrographic Officer), V. Heasman (PLA Senior Surveyor), E. Hobday (PLA Surveyor),
Capt. D. Roberts (PLA Salvage & Services Officer) and his assistant K. Murray; Royal Navy Flag Officer Medway, and Lt S.
Green and the crew of MFV 1256. Thanks are also due to T. Cousins, M. Dover and E. Rundle, colleagues at Bournemouth
University; D. Lyon and S. McGrail, colleagues at the National Maritime Museum; J. Berry (MAST), M. Dean (Archaeological
148
Diving Unit), G. Egan and J. Pearce (Museum of London), K. M. Way (Natural History Museum) and International Distillers
& Vintners Ltd. (now part of Diageo Scotland plc). The publication of this work was made possible by a Caird Short-Term
Research Fellowship from the National Maritime Museum.
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A Late18thCentury Merchantman Wrecked in the South Edinburgh

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