Good morning, dear colleagues. Today I would like to present the rigging material
from the Roman ship that was recently excavated by the European Institute of
Underwater Archaeology (IEASM), directed by Franck Goddio, in the Portus Magnus of Alexandria.
Ship baptized J2 was found in the harbor of the Antirhodos Island in a course of
a survey with a parametric sub-bottom profiler. It was discovered only 17 m from shipwreck I1,
which was a Roman freighter dated to the first century or the early years of the 2nd century AD,
excavated by the IEASM in 1998. It appears that the construction of both ships
is very similar. The hull of the ship J2 was preserved for 19 m in length and 9 m
in width. The ship's bow position could not be determined due to the missing hull ends.
The central part of the ship was in a satisfactory state of conservation. It included the keel,
20 strakes of the northern board, 14 strakes of the southern board, eight stringers, ceiling planks,
63 frames, both floors with futtocks and half frames, and the fragments of one beam. The ship was built
with a wide variety of wood species from the northern Mediterranean. The framing was made
of pine, larch, oak, elm, and walnut. And the planking was made of various species of pine
and other conifers. For the moment, no radiocarbon date for ship J2 is available. The majority of the
pottery found in, above and around the shipwreck J2 can be dated to between the 2nd and the 3rd
century AD. Together with the coins, this seems to indicate the terminus ante quem or the wreckage
in the 3rd century AD. However, the construction of the ship and her deposition in the same
layer as ship I1 nearby point to an older date that is probably in the first 2nd century AD. The
study of the ship's construction is ongoing, but even the preliminary analysis allows suggesting
that the ship belongs to a Roman imperial type of construction. The reconstructed length of the
ship may be estimated at about 36-40 m. This figure is close to the estimated length of
the shipwreck I1 which was slightly smaller (30-31 m) and other larger Roman freighters.
The spars were not preserved on the wreck. So we don't have the mast or yards and even
the mast step was missing possibly removed in antiquity. However, the position of the mast step
may be established thanks to the notches cut approximately in the middle of two perfectly
preserved side stringers. In contrast, the elements of the rigging were quite numerous at
the site. Most of them were found in the spacing between the frames. This space was about 30 cm
deep on average. So the elements of the rigging were stuck inside and covered with sediment. The
assemblage of rigging elements includes 14 deadeyes, four blocks with numerous separate sheaves,
six toggles, and three seamen's tools. Of particular interest is the powerful four-fold sheave block that
to my knowledge has no exact parallels in the comparative material. The total number of the
elements of the rigging amounts to 35 artefacts. Currently the laboratory of the Maritime Museum
of Alexandria has no facilities for PEG treatment of water locked wood.
Thus the majority of the finds were taken aboard for documentation and then they were reburied in situ.
Some of the finds were however recovered and subject to other methods of wood conservation like
sucrose or acetone rosin treatment applied by the conservator of the mission, Olivier Berger. The wood
species of the rigging elements were determined by the method of thin section microscopy.
The most numerous elements of the rigging found on shipwreck J2 were deadeyes.
14 deadeyes belonging to two distinct types were found inside the hull of the ship.
Deadeye is a hard wooden block pierced with holes and without sheaves which is fitted in lower
ends of shrouds, ropes of the standing rigging that support the mast from the side. Shrouds
are set taught by lanyards passing between a pair of dead eyes. They are still used on the
historical tall ships and it is remarkable how little they changed since antiquity.
The dead eyes from ship J2 show a different position and number of shroud holes and seizing
holes which allow distinguishing five types of these blocks. The length varies from 10 to 19
cm and width from 11 to 14 cm. The dead eyes were grooved to take the loop splices from
approximately 25 to 35 cm thick rope and in one case we have a double grooved deadeye.
The deadeyes demonstrate the choice of several hardwood species. Among 14 deadeyes,
eight were fabricated from the wood of ash which is a strong and resilient wood. Three blocks were
made of evergreen oak and two more were made of boxwood, which is a very strong wood too.
The amazing discovery is this deadeye which proved to be fabricated from pine which is not a
suitable material for the purpose because being a soft wood it is not sufficiently strong. It may be
suggested that this deadeye was fabricated as a replacement piece possibly during the navigation.
The extremities of the vessel were not preserved and even if ship J2 had a bow mast (artemon), probably
nothing remains of its rigging. The considerable size of deadeyes indicates that they come from
the shrouds of the main mast. The important point is that the deadeyes were caught in the space
between the frames and so their distribution may contain additional information on the ship.
Thus, it seems that the deadeyes were found along two distinct lines, probably from the
shrouds of the two boards. The southern line almost coincides with the line of the keel. So,
it may be suggested that during the sinking event, the mast fell in the northern direction.
The next group of objects is represented by the sheath blocks. They were from 14 to 25 cm long,
8-12 cm wide, and 3-7 cm thick. Among three blocks, two had their sheaves still installed.
These blocks are paralleled by the contemporary material from the northern Mediterranean.
Much rarer is this block with two sets of four sheaves each, measuring 55 cm in length. This
block probably belong to a halyard system. The study of this block is on-going and the results
will be published soon. The pulley blocks were fabricated from the same wood as the
deadeyes, that is ash, oak and boxwood. Apart from the shells of blocks or complete blocks,
a considerable number of separate sheaths were found inside the hull of J2. The sheaths were
of two major types: Spoolled shaped rollers, which you see on the left,
and thin sheaths. They measured from 6 to 9 cm in diameter for the first type while
those of the second had a quite uniform diameter of about 10 cm. All 17 sheaths
found were fabricated of evergreen oak. It is noteworthy that 12 of them were found
together close to the shell of the multi-sheave block which didn't have any sheaths installed.
The next group of objects belonging to the rigging is presented by toggles. These wooden
objects were very useful in the rigging as they provided a convenient method of securing
and quickly releasing the ropes and sail. Six toggles of conventional form were found on J2.
Their length varied from 23 to 43 cm and the maximum diameter was about 5-6 cm.
They were fabricated of the same wood species that is oak, ash and boxwood.
In addition to the conventional toggles, three wooden tools were found inside the hull.
They have a length from 18 to 33 cm and are tapering towards one of the extremities.
These tools are Marlin Spikes which served as multifunctional tools for sailors. It is
possible that they were used as belaying pins or spill toggles
to ensure a provisional fastening. They were fabricated of oak and boxwood. Modern Marlin
Spikes are made of metal, but they remain an indispensable sailor's tool on the tall ships.
This interesting object made of boxwood measures 74 mm in diameter and has a complex
shape. It is probably an eye or a cringle that was inserted in the cloth of the sail.
What the discovered rigging fittings may tell us about the ship herself? The date of the ship
strongly indicates the square sail rig for the ship and this conclusion is confirmed
by a large number of discovered deadeyes which were of little use in the case of the Lateen rig.
The reconstructed length of the ship would be around 36-40 m and at least two masts carrying
two square sails seem a very probable sail plan. The one sheave blocks discovered inside the
hull are rather modest in size and they could come from the parts of the rigging that did
not require a lot of effort. The multiple sheath block may be associated with the halyard of the 0:12:37.680,0:12:44.720 artemon, the foremast of the ship. The ship of this size could sail with the Annona fleet although
the complete absence of cargo at the moment of sinking doesn't allow proving this. To conclude,
ship J2 brings precious information on the types and dimensions of rigging fittings from
Roman times and on the materials they were made from. Thank you very much for your attention.