How to identify the name of a shipwreck?

[Crow]

Hello All

Here is Question, other than a ships bell. Is there any other it item on a ship that could be used to identify the name of the vessel?

Thanking you in advance.

Crow

 

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[aquanut]

Cannons can give you a clue. Also the ship's manifest can identify stamped bars and other items that were on the ship. Other, less reliable but ballpark info can come from the dated and type of wood that the ship was constructed of... The ballast used, personal items and those that belonged to the clergy.
Armament, and of course the dated coins are clues. There's more, but I've already gotten into the Captain, so I'll let others continue on...
Aquanut

 

[Mackaydon]

The vessel's name on the stern and/or forward sides is a good clue. (tongue in cheek, guys)
Don.....

 

[Bobadilla]

Hi,

Sometimes small item can help you. Three years ago we found a military button with number and crossed sables on it. First I asked a specialist in military buttons in Europe to help me. He found out that the button was French. I followed the track and through other colleague of mine in France I found out that the number on button matched the number of French Naval Regiment in the late 18th century. Following the detailed history of this regiment in French naval archives we found out that one batallion of this Regiment was sent to the Caribbean. The end was easy - in couple of days we knew the year and month when the batallion was sent from France to the Caribbean, the name of the port where they boarded the transport ship and, of course, the main price - the name of the ship. Everything matched, case closed.

Regards,
Lobo

 

[aquanut]

Bobadilla, That's what I'm Talkin' about!
Aquanut

 

[bell47]

We found a wreck a few years ago and suspected it was the one we were looking for, but didn't have proof until I found a plate with the name of the shipping company on it. It also has a picture of the ship in the center of the plate! The best part is Clive Cussler looked for it and couldn't find it a few years before we found it. It was the C.S.S. GEORGIA , a Confederate raider that was lost on the coast of Maine after the Civil war.

 

[Mackaydon]

While salvaging a vessel in the Bahamas about 15 years ago, several short planks drifted to the surface after we removed an overburden of deck sand. One plank drifting upward in the water column particularly interested me and had the words " Brig Baltic, Galveston" inscribed on it. Not knowing if that was the name of the vessel or the vessel from which it came... or was destined to....future research determined it was, in fact, the Brig Baltic lost enroute from NYC to Galveston, Texas. The main cargo of interest was Wedgewood (blue and white) China.
Don.......

 

[RELICDUDE07]

Like bobadilla said .It can be something small,save everything from the area they are all clues.1 time i found a side plate from a flintlock-it had 3 small letters GWC ,didn't think much about it until i found out where the history came from. (known as the "GWC") of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx (1567-1647?). On June 2, 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the African slave trade

 

[Crow]

Thanks everyone

Some real interesting comments it has really helped.

Can anyone clarify the following. From memory so forgive me the British immigration passenger act 1857? Required ships to supply bedding cooking utencils, cutlery and enough food as require per passenger for the voyage. Before that date a passenger has to supply enough food bedding and cooking utencils themselves. After 1857 cuttlery and plates etc had the ships name on it?

Any info on this would very helpful.

Thanking you all in advance.

Crow

 

[Mackaydon]

I'm unaware of any law that requires a vessel's name to be placed on their cutlery and plates. And finding an artifact at a wreck site with the name of the vessel is not proof certain that the name on the artifact is the same as the name of the vessel. That finding needs to be corroborated with other information. The same applies to, for example, cannons. Finding (say) a Spanish gun at a wrecksite should not be immediately concluded the vessel is Spanish; it could have been captured or salvaged by the crew of another country's vessel.
Don.....

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Crow:

A great deal depends on the age of the wreck. For example, beginning in about the middle of the 19th Century, US ship builders carved the Official Registration Number into a key beam of every vessel.

Find that number and you probably have the entire history of the boat.

Machinery can have builder's plates, numbers, and other useful information.

Cargo can be a key. Off Vessel Point, North Manitou Island, Lake Michigan, lies a wreck in about ten to fifteen feet of water (Winter ice may move it around a bit). The remains of the bottom of the hull have stacks of brick on top.

Government records (primarily the annual report of the US Life-Saving Service) show the Brig Supply came to grief on North Manitou in November, 1859. For years divers called this the Geneva because Capt. Frederickson's wreck chart showed that wreck at that spot with a cargo of brick.

For my money that hulk, and the bits of brick that may be found on the beach, are from the Supply.

There is an astonishing amount of reliable government information on 19th and 20th century US and Canadian shipwrecks.

Vessel artifacts with a name on them are a clue that should be used with care. Everything - up to cannon and anchors - were used by more than one ship. Borrowed, stolen, loaned, etc.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

 

[Crow]

Thanks again

You all make very interesting points

Hmmm You could say identifaction of a vessel comes down to various items to prove the case for the identity of such a vessel?

I wonder how many shipwrecks have been in the past mis-identified?

Thanks again for all assistance.

Crow

 

[ruso]

The british warships have all marked with a "broad arrow" even in the nails of the ship. Also read the cooper sheeting for I.D.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Crow:

Yes, that's true. When the Str. Eastland capsized at the Chicago River dock (causing the largest loss of life of any Great Lakes shipwreck) it wasn't hard to identify the wreck.

When divers and archaeologists find an ancient Greek shipwreck, there is (in my opinion) no practical chance the name of the vessel will ever be known.

Then there are all the wrecks between the beginning of time and, to be conservative, about 1900.

Have you read the "Homewrecker?" - Potter's Treasure Diver's Guide? I think it will answer some of your questions - as will a couple of Sir Robert Marx's books.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo