Possible piece of shipwreck? I could use some help on this one.

[TomW244]

I found what I thought at first was a big chunk of rusty metal. It was dowel-shaped, but tapered at the ends. It broke apart as soon as it went in my finds pouch. It turns out that what I thought was rusty metal was actually incredibly brittle wood, which felt like rusty metal to the touch. Running through the center of the piece is an iron square nail, which was well-preserved by the wood that once surrounded it. I found this piece in the same area I previously found a Spanish cob 2 reales coin which, based on the shield (and reverse), dates to 1712 or 1713 and likely is from the 1715 fleet. If this is part of a shipwreck, what would the purpose of this piece be? I'm no expert, but I know there are enough of you on this site who are, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

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[dirtdigginfool]

Hmm...an OLD chunk of wood..in the vicinity of 1700's silver..with a square nail in it. I'm no expert either TomW, but I guess it has a better chance than most at being old ship remains. Nice find..Ddf.

 

[TomW244]

Hmm...an OLD chunk of wood..in the vicinity of 1700's silver..with a square nail in it. I'm no expert either TomW, but I guess it has a better chance than most at being old ship remains. Nice find..Ddf.

Thanks, and, yes, I laughed at your reply! I just can't figure out what this specific design would serve. I've seen posts with flat pieces of wood with nails and spikes in them, but this appeared to be intentionally carved into the cylindrical shape with tapered ends. Used to plug a hole? A really poor attempt to make a very tiny baseball bat? ��

 

[CASPER-2]

post on the shipwreck forum
Shipwrecks

 

[TomW244]

post on the shipwreck forum
Shipwrecks

Did so at your suggestion and got a quick reply from AARC. Thanks!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very interesting find!