Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
I recently was doing some research on some newly found spikes and wanted to learn more about the evolution and variety of nautical spikes. I didn't find exactly what I wanted but I found a lot of interesting and useful information. I'll give you some of those this morning.
First, here is a great thesis that provides a variety of good useful information on shipwrecks and artifacts. It is around 150 pages with many illustrations and additional references. I'd recommend browsing it.
AN ANALYSIS OF THE PORT ROYAL SHIPWRECK AND ITS ROLE IN THE MARITIME HISTORY OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY PORT ROY AL, JAMAICA: A Thesis by SHEILA ALICIA CLIFFORD.
Here is the link.
clifford1476970.pdf (tamu.edu)
It is possible that I posted that one some time in the past, but thee is so much good information it is worth looking at again even if I did post it some time before.
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Below is another that you might want to browse.
The Influence of Iron in Ship Construction: 1660 to 1830, by Peter Goodwin.
Today the hull of Victory is braced with considerable amount of iron work, either in the form of Robert's plate knees, various designs of breast hooks and other supportive strapping. Popular consensus is such that most of this iron work was present at the period of 1805, however closer analysis of the ship and supportive evidence suggests that this is not entirely true. What we do see on Victory is a transition in ship construction technique, albeit a preliminary countermeasure to strengthen weakened hull fabric, the form of which is merely a improvement on earlier methods.
With exception to bolts and nails and other more minor fittings, the first serious indication we have of iron being used as a substitute for timber components was circa 1670 when the naval shipwright Sir Anthony Deane, a protege of Samuel Pepys, built the 1st rate Royal James at Portsmouth...
Here is that link.
The Influence of Iron in Ship Construction:1660 to 1830. (maritime.org)
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And here is another good reference.
THE STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH WOODEN SHIPS: WILLIAM SUTHERLAND'S SHIP, CIRCA 17101 by Trevor Kenchington
And a brief excerpt follows.
Beginning early in the sixteenth century, English shipbuilding methods underwent a major revolution with the introduction of Mediterranean/Iberian carvel, or plank-on-frame, techniques in place of the earlier, northern European clinker or lapstrake approach. In the older method, the lower edge of each strake of the planking overlapped on the outside the upper part of the strake below, and clenches (turned over or riveted nails) were driven through this overlap. These fastenings provided much of the strength of the finished hull.
The southern method, which had its roots in the late Roman era but was not fully developed until the Middle Ages, depended on a rigid framework to which planks were subsequently fastened, there being no direct fastenings between adjacent strakes. The strength and rigidity of the frame allowed larger ships to be built and, perhaps more importantly, permitted them to carry heavy guns.
Some three and one-half centuries after this revolution, an even more profound change began in which wood was replaced as the primary material for ship construction by iron. The new material encouraged wholly new structural arrangements, such as watertight bulkheads and longitudinal framing, and thus led to fundamental change in every aspect of ship construction. Between these two eras of rapid technological change there was relative stability. Indeed, there is an unfortunate tendency in the current literature to suppose that this era was characterized by absolute stability of ship structures; in effect, to suppose that the structures of late Tudor ships differed only in detail from those of nineteenth or early twentieth century wooden hulls. This was not so...
Here is that link.
tnm_3_1_1-43.pdf (cnrs-scrn.org)
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And here one more.
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY COLONIAL AMERICAN MERCHANT SHIP CONSTRUCTION: A Thesis by KELLIE MICHELLE VANHORN.
This one begins as follows.
The eighteenth century was an important period in the age of the wooden sailing ship. Shipwrights were expanding on design innovations from the seventeenth century and building vessels of increasingly larger size. As steam engines would not be introduced until the nineteenth century, ships were still powered completely by sail, or occasionally with sweeps. In the pursuit of various qualities such as speed or economy, shipbuilders experimented with new types of rigs. England’s Royal Navy was the dominant force on the seas, although multiple wars during the eighteenth century periodically threatened its power. This period also saw England’s dominance in the New World and the expansion of its colonies, until that authority collapsed during the American Revolution. Shipbuilding and the shipping industry were critical elements of the economy, wars, and colonization efforts of England and the other major world powers. Despite the importance of shipbuilding during the eighteenth century, the subject has not been extensively studied. Although a fair amount is known about British and American eighteenth-century warships, much less has been written about merchantmen from the period. R. Davis observed this problem in 1962, writing, “No expert on ship design has ever examined in any detail the ordinary merchant ship of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries…”
And here is that link.
https://nautarch.tamu.edu/pdf-files/VanHorn-MA2004.pdf
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I found reference to one book that I'd like to read, but haven't read it yet.
Ships' Fastenings - Google Books
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And here is what I regard as one of the most interesting spikes I've found. It is a double-clinched spike.
I saw a double-clinched spike like it in an illustration shown in one of the above references. I'm trying to find it again.
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| Double-Clinched Shipwreck Spike Find. |
I showed this one before in a previous post that you can find by using the following link.