Warwick: A Rigging Reconstruction Of An English Galleon From 1619

Warwick was an English galleon that sank in 1619 off the coast of Bermuda while transporting colonists and goods. The wreck was excavated in 2010-2012 under the direction of Dr. Piotr Bojakowski and Dr. Katie Custer-Bojakowski, as part of a joint National Museum of Bermuda, Institute of Nautical Archaeology, and Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation, project. A total of 24 complete, or nearly complete, rigging elements, 13 rigging fragments, and several rope fragments were identified and recovered from Warwick, including deadeyes, blocks, dead blocks, a mast truck, a potential fid, chain plates, and miscellaneous rigging pieces and rope. This thesis reanalyzes outfitting and rigging transitions of ships during the 17th century and creates a rigging reconstruction of Warwick. Machine learning applications on archaeological data, iconography, treatises and ship lists, and ship models, were used for analysis. After an introduction to Warwick’s history and recovered artifacts, an overview of the previous literature on rigging from the 17th century is covered as comparison for new data presented in this study. Then, a summary of archaeological data is presented via the creation of a rigging database from which nearly all known wrecks containing rigging artifacts were logged, accounting for 58 wrecks and at least 2,512 artifacts. A deadeye typology was made using this database including each deadeye’s dimensions, shape, face form, wood grain, strap or strop attachment, score shape, and number of eye holes. Machine learning was applied to this deadeye database, which indicated that Warwick’s deadeyes, with the exception of #79: 155-344, were within range of Warwick’s sinking date. Combining the archaeological data and historical and iconographic sources, Warwick was then deduced to have a bowsprit, fore mast, fore topmast, main mast, main topmast, mizzen mast, and mizzen topmast, and each masts’ corresponding yards, except for the mizzen topmast which may have only been fitted occasionally with a yard. The thesis ends with descriptions of the standing and running rigging which include shrouds, ratlines, catharpins, stays, backstays, ties, halliards, jeers, lifts, braces, parrels, trusses, sails, tacks, sheets, clew lines, martinets, bunt lines, bowlines, and brails