The Archaeology of Small Things - 3D Imaging and Its Uses

The most prominent items recognized from the maritime past are the structures of shipwrecks that grab public attention, especially when they are displayed in a museum setting or are reported by the media. Marine archaeologists study these large cultural items because they tell important stories about the histories of exploration, trade, and war, especially since they were the venues for the changes that arise from the connection and communication between cultures. But the details of those histories are more likely to be teased out from the studies of the smaller artifacts associated with these more glamorous shipwrecks, and not from the ships themselves.

Such is the case with some small artifacts from a shipwreck in Newport's Outer Harbor of Rhode Island. Site RI 2394 is an 18th-century vessel that was scuttled among a group of 13 transports and victuallers in August of 1778, to protect the British troops in Newport from the threatening French fleet during the American Revolution. The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) has located and mapped 10 of these 13 ships, identified a group of 5 sites that included this particular vessel, and now considers RI 2394 as the prime candidate to be the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour.

The Endeavour was the ship to carry Capt. James Cook on his first circumnavigation (1768-1771), but RIMAP's research has proved that, after this vessel left the Royal Navy and returned to private service as a transport named the Lord Sandwich, she carried Hessian troops to serve with the British in the American Revolution. She served as a prison ship in Newport Harbor, was scuttled there in 1778, and then was lost to history. Another vessel (La Liberte­) was mis-identified as the Endeavour. RIMAP has spent 27 years in the study of the vessels lost in Newport and is at last closing in on RI 2394 as the prime candidate to be the Endeavour.

The international interest in the Endeavour has as its focus the identification of the vessel itself, and RIMAP's excavations have started to reveal the structure of the ship. The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is RIMAP's partner for this part of the study because Capt. Cook and the Endeavour are important to the European history of that southern hemisphere country. ANMM staff have been conducting photogrammetric imaging of the exposed portions of the RI 2394 timbers, and if this archaeological site is finally confirmed to be the Endeavour, these 3D images will be important diagnostic tools for that identification.

The Endeavour was built at Whitby in Yorkshire in 1764 as a collier, a merchant vessel used to carry coal and other heavy cargoes. Originally named the Earl of Pembroke, the Royal Navy bought her for Cook's voyage, and made detailed surveys of her condition, including line drawings of her construction. There are many documents that also describe how she was adapted for the voyage, and how she was repaired at various locations around the world. Unfortunately, less is known of the construction details of the other 12 ships in the Newport fleet, and the abundance of data about the Endeavour has skewed the interpretation of what those construction details at RI 2394 might mean.

Despite the fact that the international media focus has been on the Endeavour, RIMAP's philosophy has always been that the Lord Sandwich transport, the ship that had been the Endeavour is important to American history, too, and that the 7 years after Cook left the vessel are the key to identifying its archaeological site. Not only must the remaining structure be consistent with what is known of her original construction and later repairs, but the artifacts associated with the site will more likely come from the later periods as the Lord Sandwich, when she carried Hessian troops to serve in the Revolution, and especially when she held local Newport citizens as prisoners on board.

So far the structural details revealed at RI 2394 are consistent with what is known of the original construction of the Earl of Pembroke and further excavations may locate the areas where repairs are known to have been made to the Endeavour. And so far all of the cultural materials retrieved from this site are consistent with what has been found on other 18th-century sites, including bits of personal clothing, gun flints, and many different wooden pieces. All of this is important confirmation of the general identity of this vessel as having been part of the August 1778 fleet scuttled in Newport Harbor, but as yet none of it is diagnostic to any particular vessel and certainly not to the Endeavour.

However, during recent excavations, RIMAP and the ANMM have also retrieved for study and interpretation many smaller items that may be associated with individuals who were on board the ship before it was scuttled. Three of these items are are shown in the 3D images attached to this essay -- a leather shoe sole, a piece of flint, and a 3" long cuprous (made of copper) handle with holes to receive missing fasteners. Other shoes and flints have been found on local 18th-century ships, and although there is no identification of who owned these items, they can tell us generally how people lived at the time. The leather shoe sole not only shows what folks might have worn, but the sewing holes and multiple layers suggest how the shoes were made. The flint is similar to many other pieces that could have been knapped from larger stones and that could have been used in the guns of the period. These are not diagnostic of any particular owner or ship.

However, the handle deserves special attention. It was removed from a small test pit that has yet to be completely excavated, so its complete context is as yet undetermined. But because it is unlike the kinds of materials found on other 18th-century shipwrecks in Rhode Island, it needs to be identified and studied further. This item could be particularly significant if it were to be related to someone known to be on board the Lord Sandwich, such as the fine cabinetmakers and shipwrights known to have been kept as prisoners there in 1777.

Therefore, if the ship's structure is consistent with what is known of how the Earl of Pembroke was originally built, and if the ship's structure is consistent with what is known of how the Endeavour was adapted and repaired during her time with Capt. Cook and service in the Royal Navy, and if the small artifacts are consistent with the individuals known to have been on board the last use of the vessel as the Lord Sandwich transport and prison ship, then we can with confidence identify RI 2394 as the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour ex Earl of Pembroke.   

The 3D images of such small items can assist in their study and interpretation, and the assistance of Christopher Wilczewski of Functional 3D by scanning these three artifacts will give the public an important look at why such mall artifacts are so important to archaeological studies.