The text of this page is from "The Reader's Point Vessel." by Gregory D. Cook, INA Quarterly 21.3 (1994): 15-18. 
Edited for online publication January 2003

Images are clickable thumbnails

The Rastafarian fisherman watched me through dangling dreadlocks as I exited the water after a two-hour dive on the wreck.  "What you find 'pan de boat today, mon?" he asked. I showed him the pipe stems, ceramic sherds and a few pieces of lead shot that I had retrieved while excavating.  He and his son, David, peered intently at the artifacts as he explained to the boy in patois, the local dialect, that people used to smoke from white clay pipes.  Johnny and his son frequently came to visit our site, walking the mile or so from the nearby fishing village, following the sound of our compressor and pumps.  Some local fishermen believed that the old vessel we were excavating must have been laden with gold.  Why else would we have come so far to work so hard on the site?  Others were concerned that we would disturb the duppies, ghosts of dead sailors.  This was so worrisome to our Jamaican staff that we performed a traditional ceremony in which we placated the duppies by pouring white rum on the site as a gesture of respect to them.  But many, like Johnny, harbored a sincere interest in the project.  They appreciated the artifacts not for their dollar value, but for their ability to tell us about life on board a ship from 200 years ago.  We had many memorable discussions about Jamaica's history with visitors to our site, shaded by mangroves on the shore of St. Ann's Bay.

Access to visitors was one of the advantages of working on a site so close to land.  We excavated an 18th-century British sloop situated just ten meters from shore, near a projection of land known as "Reader's Point."  It was one of six 18th-century ships discovered on a survey of the bay conducted in 1991 and 1992 during INA’s Columbus Caravels Archaeological Project (CCAP), directed by Dr. James Parrent (see INA Quarterly 20.1: 8-14).  Test trenches on the vessels indicated that each of the hulls had been heavily used, with evidence of wear and repairs abundant among the remains.  Their close proximity to each other, away from the eastern half of the bay where most maritime activity occurred, suggested that we had come across an 18th-century ship graveyard, or disposal area, for vessels that were no longer seaworthy.

Our vessel, designated "Site 1611” in the CCAP survey, was discovered in 1991.  Test excavations revealed a medium-sized vessel capable of withstanding the forces of the open sea.  Since all of the vessels found on the CCAP project had been stripped of cargo and useful items, we did not expect to find an abundance of artifacts.  However, more than enough material remained to date the vessel securely.  The integrity and preservation of the hull combined to make the site an interesting example of 18th-century ship construction.

Initially, we uncovered the areas that had been previously excavated for the CCAP test trenches and were "sterile" with regard to artifacts.  Having determined the orientation of the vessel, we established permanent datum points around the perimeter of the site.  These datums were used in conjunction with the Direct Survey Measurement (DSM) computer program, developed by Nick Rule during the Mary Rose project in Great Britain.  This innovative software system applies best-fit algorithms to raw field data, providing an accurate site plan and alerting archaeologists to erroneous measurements.  Using this program, we mapped artifacts as well as the hull structure and were able to get quick verifications on the accuracy of our measurements.

Our ship lay in only one meter of water, but under two meters of soft mud and clay, which contributed to excellent preservation of the remains. A substantial ballast pile remained amidships, requiring an underwater “bucket brigade” to remove the stones.  We retrieved nearly 700 artifacts from the site.  These items included typical 18th-century finds such as white kaolin pipes, ceramics and glass bottles, as well as a few surprises.  A discarded wood plane, possibly used by the ship's carpenter, lay concealed within the ballast pile.  Our conservator, Amy Rubenstein, used an air scribe to break apart a strange, triangular concretion, only to find herself holding a 200-year-old clothing iron in excellent condition. 

Artifacts from the wreck. Photo: INA

Some iron artifacts had decayed to the point that no metal remained inside the concretion.  Epoxy casts of these hollow concretions produced exact copies of the objects they once contained.  One of these proved to be a chisel, with a shallow maker's mark discernible on its blade.  Clive Chapman, the project divemaster, found two complete bottles, one with its stopper and contents intact.  Personal items included buttons, buckles, shoes, and a bone comb.  All the artifacts were conserved in our field laboratory and turned over to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust.

The largest and most complex artifact was the hull itself.  Bringing the timbers to shore was impractical in terms of time and money, but the shallow depth of the remains allowed us to spend many hours underwater, recording each detail of the hull.  We produced measured sketches of every hull component, mapped in locations of timbers, recorded sections to show the hull's curvature, and created a photomosaic of the site.  

The construction of the sloop shows a high degree of regularity and workmanship.  Almost the entire length of the vessel was preserved, extending 18 m from the bow timbers to the stern knee.  The keelson is made of a single timber over 11 m long.  A rectangular mortise is cut into the keelson for the foot of the mast, located approximately one third of the vessel's length from the bow.  Small wooden chocks that kept the mast foot in position remain in the after part of the mortise.  Frames are generally cut evenly and square, with a few exceptions that are most likely repairs.  "Made" frames, consisting of floors and futtocks joined with horizontal treenails, were erected on the keel and defined the shape of the hull before the outer hull planking was added.  Forward of midships, floors are fixed to futtocks situated aft of them, and aft of midships they are joined to the futtocks forward of them.  At the bow and stern every second floor is a made frame. This changes to every third floor amidships, where hull curvature is not as drastic.  The remaining futtocks are not attached to floors, but simply treenailed to the hull planking.  Although a few iron nails are present, hull and ceiling planking are predominantly fixed to frames with unwedged treenails.

Besides the repaired frames, numerous ceiling planks show repairs and additions.  Lead patches indicate that there were weak or leaking spots in the outer planking.  The keel shows heavy wear.  The most striking damage occurred at the mast step, where a split on the starboard side of the keelson runs for nearly three meters.  This may indicate that the vessel was violently dismasted, one of the most serious and damaging accidents that can occur to a ship.

Section through the mast step of the sloop. G. Cook.

Eighteenth-century accounts of ships known as "Jamaica" or "Bermuda" sloops describe the great demand for these vessels due to their speed.  Historians have long recognized the impact of these small vessels on the development of colonies in the Americas.  Whether or not the Reader's Point wreck is an example of this famous type of sloop, it is proving an important addition to our knowledge of eighteenth-century ship construction.

Acknowledgements:  The success of the Reader's Point Sloop excavation is in large part due to the assistance provided by numerous individuals and organizations.  I am indebted to the following groups: The Reader's Point crew and volunteers; the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust, the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, Paradise Scuba, and Seascape Dive Resort.  Several individuals provided invaluable advice and assistance, including George Bass, Kevin Crisman, Mary Ann Franklin, Peter Gail, Dorrick Gray, Jerome Hall, Donny Hamilton, Fred Hocker, Becky Holloway, Phil Janca, Peggy Leshikar-Denton, John William Morris ill, James Parrent, Maureen Brown-Parrent, Wayne Smith, and Chip Vincent.

Project funding came from several sources.  The Institute of International Education granted me a ten-month Fulbright Fellowship to cover project costs and my living expenses in Jamaica.  A Marian M. Cook Fellowship and a gracious donation by INA board member Frederick R. Mayer fulfilled our funding requirements, making the project a reality.

- Gregory D. Cook

Bibliography

Baker, W. 1966, Sloops and Shallops.  Barre, Massachusetts.

Chapelle, H. 1967, The Search for Speed Under Sail.  New York.

Crisman, K.J. 1988 "Struggle for a Continent: Naval Battles of the French and Indian Wars."  In Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas, Edited by G.F. Bass, 129-148.  London.

Goldenburg, I. 1976, Shipbuilding in Colonial America.  Charlottesville, Va.

MacGregor, D. 1980, Merchant Sailing Ships, 1775-1815; Their Design and Construction. Annapolis, Md.

Parrent, I. and M. Brown-Parrent 1992, The Search Continues for Columbus's Caravels: 1992 Field Report.  INA Quarterly 20.1: 8-14.

A reprint of the full original article can be purchased from INA.

Gregory D. Cook
2003, The Reader's Point Wreck: An 18th-Century Sloop in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica
Edited by Ralph K. Pedersen
URL, http://ina.tamu.edu/stannsbay/stannsbay.htm