Very old keel?

[Dave44]

Haven’t posted in awhile. Life’s making it a little harder to do some of the hard digging. But, as some of you know, we have had some intense nor’easters around the east coast and really churning up the ocean.
While walking the dogs one morning I found part of a keel framing on the beach, it’s all made out of 1 tree, has multiple pegs and peg holes. It had a little iron here and there, but hard to tell how it was attached. I did see what looked like an iron plate and a dowel sticking through it.

Y’all care to try and guess the age? It weighed approximately 500 pounds. The dog is just over 50 pounds.

 

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[Dave44]

Oops, forgot to mention another piece washed up the next morning, it weighs less.

 

[TRG]

Looks like conifer wood with wide rings, although it's hard to be sure from the pictures. Eastern larch was favored in the 18th and 19th centuries by east coast shipbuilders for pieces like your first picture. Trunk and root make that natural bend at the base of trees in swampy areas. Live oak was also used for timbers taking advantage of natural bends in the trunk. Larch is not so heavy/dense a timber while live oak is very dense and heavy. Your piece could be heavy from water saturation and the associated ironmongery.

Picture below shows raw oak ship timbers excavated from the Boston Navy Yard. Straight are mostly white oak, curved or swept are live oak. There were also larch "knees" in this lot, but not pictured. There were cut in the 1850s and 60s.



Not much help on exact age determination...

 

[TRG]

For example:



from

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/25098

 

[Dave44]

Great picture, and a fantastic article! Those angles look exactly like that piece on the beach.

 

[Peyton Manning]

17th century

 

[Dave44]

Do you think the part at the heel was laminated on? It appears to be colored differently and the grain seems different, with quite a few pegs.

 

[CaptEsteban]

You would call that a " knee," in ancient shipbuilding.

 

[Dave44]

You would call that a " knee," in ancient shipbuilding.

So that’s the patella?
I think you are right.

 

[Dave44]

17th century

It looks like that to me too. How have you been?

 

[islamoradamark]

cool find i like beach combing you just never know whats gunna float up

 

[TRG]

Do you think the part at the heel was laminated on? It appears to be colored differently and the grain seems different, with quite a few pegs.

Possibly, but the color difference may just be the result of another timber remaining attached there for some period of time. Grain doesn't seem discontinuous to me.

Did you detect in that area of beach? Maybe more than timbers washed up...

 

[Dave44]

Possibly, but the color difference may just be the result of another timber remaining attached there for some period of time. Grain doesn't seem discontinuous to me.

Did you detect in that area of beach? Maybe more than timbers washed up...

unfortunately I haven’t had the time yet, but I told my wife the same thing.
About a year ago I found a bunch of little pieces of copper that I thought was trash in that area. Once I cleaned some of the stuff up I found I had a back of a button, the next day there was nothing.
More time and energy would be nice!

 

[Gold_FInger]

It looks like a rudder...Should be in two pieces, lengthwise...The length will determine the size of the ship/boat....

 

[Dave44]

Found another piece, about a 1/4 mike down current. High on the beach and apparently everybody walks right by it.
How do you feel about wooden pegs and big brass nails? Maybe 1/2” diameter.
its about 14 ft long and even though it’s sanded way down it’s super heavy.
Walking these dogs might kill me!

 

[Red_desert]

Great to see the old wood washing up!

 

[CaptEsteban]

Do you believe these are individual pieces washing ashore ,,, or a buried ship that is being uncovered by the waves, etc . If it is the latter, I would call the state archaeological office.

 

[Red_desert]

Better yet, could be a ship out there not yet uncovered.

 

[Dave44]

Do you believe these are individual pieces washing ashore ,,, or a buried ship that is being uncovered by the waves, etc . If it is the latter, I would call the state archaeological office.

I actually think it may be 2. One has some bronze pegs along with the wooden dowels. The other seems to have only wooden dowels, with a bit of iron adhered in places. I’m still trying to figure out the path forward.

 

[Salvor6]

The last thing you want to do is call the state archaeological office. Look up that thread that Fisheye posted about the keel and lower ribs that were exposed off Daytona Beach. The state called the local garbage collectors to bulldoze it and haul it to the dump!