The Filey Bay Initiative

Beneath the Waters of time - The Shipwrecks Project

A look at some of the artefacts recovered from the wreck

Strands of history

Are these strands of rope from the standing rigging that witnessed the death of the Bonhomme Richard ?

In 1979, the first diagnostic artifacts were recovered from the wreck site. Owing to lack of conservation facilities, however, the recoveries were intentionally limited to a modest few. First a wooden deadeye with part rope stropping preserved in tar, and after consultation, two samples of the rope were submitted to Professor V. R. Switsur of the Environmental Sciences Research Centre for Radiocarbon analysis.

In his report, Professor Switsur confirmed that, after calibration to take into account for radioactive pollution in the environment in more recent times, two possible date ranges were identified. The first date range was 1630 to 1680 AD (1655 plus or minus 25 years) and the second one was 1740 to 1800 AD (1770 plus or minus 30 years). Owing to identifications of later architectural features, ship fittings, and a second radiocarbon dating from the ship’s fabric itself, the latter date was determined to be the correct period during which the vessel was produced. By kind permission of Donald G Shomette.

The strands  viewed at 60x magnification.  Copyright A Green

Both sides of the deadeye recovered off the Filey Bay wreck, note heavy encrustation around rope stroping.  A sample of the rope was employed in the radiocarbon dating of the site.  Inset shows a deadeye in bobstay setting - Donald G Shomette.

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