Treasures lost in time waiting to be discovered.

So what is it?

Continued from last week........ 

In 1997 a Nor'easter hit the Virginia shores and washed in a piece of history. George Brown, who was working at the Cape Henry Lighthouse, discovered a piece of fine driftwood. It was obvious that this driftwood was very old, but how old? George's curiosity was sparked so he decided to take the piece of wood to the archeologist who was working in the harbor of Olde Town Portsmouth at the time.The Archeologist told Mr. Brown that this was definitely part of a ship and most likely prior to 1750. He also shared that there were over 130 sunken ships from the Colonial era in the port of Norfolk from the Elizabeth River to the North River.  Treasures lost in time waiting to be discovered.

from this side, you can see the bored path for a trunnel and the peened over end of a hand forged iron pin.

You can visibly see multiple hand-forged iron spikes in the wood which have had their ends flattened, or peened, to secure them in the wood. This is the equivalent of nuts and washers on a modern bolt.  

to the right of the split at the bottom of the wood is a hole where the trunnel fits. while you can't see it from this angle, there is one buried deep within. 

Wooden trunnels, or tree nails, are also seen. A trunnel is a wooden dowel used to secure pieces of wood together.A hole is drilled into the two pieces of wood and the dowel is inserted. The ends of the dowel were split before being inserted and a wedge shaped piece of wood is driven in. This wedge forces the ends of the dowel apart, locking it in place.

There is also a square bronze drift pin protruding from one side. It can be seen towards the top center of the beam. What is visible is a 1/2 inch square shaft driven into the wood, but we don't know how long it is. Maybe this was used to hang a sailors hammock or a lantern below deck? It seems that the combination of the trunnel and brass drift pin are the keys to help determine the age of our mystery piece, but we still don't know exactly why.

Outside of the engineering and construction wonders of the 18th century, we also have the effects of 300 years of salt water,weather and sealife.

Shipworms have done their share of dammage which is evident by the tunnels bored into the wood. Shipworms are not worms at all, but rather a group of unusual saltwater clams with very small shells, notorious for boring into (and eventually destroying) wooden structures that are immersed in sea water, such as piers, docks and wooden ships. Sometimes called "termites of the sea", they are marine bivalve molluscs (Eulamellibranchiata) in the familyTeredinidae, also often known as Teredo Worms.

 We will never know what ship this came from or where it fit on the ship, but our mystery beam makes for a great teaching tool and conversation starter. Thank you, George, for your generous donation to the Colonial Seaport Foundation. It is a rare piece of history from which we can learn about our past. Thank you to our Foundation members Grace and Susan for striking up the conversation with George which led to this donation, collecting the information and taking the photos. Once stabilized in a traveling case, the mystery beam will be travelling with the Foundation at various living history programs and presentations, so please stop by and see for yourself!