Fiumicino 3

Giulia Boetto

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Introduction

The Fiumicino 3 wreck was found in 1959 during work on Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino (Rome) on the site of the ancient harbour basin built in 42 AD by the emperor Claudius. The hull was salvaged in 1961. In the following year it was struck by lightning and caught fire. Most of the wood was destroyed but fortunately the keel and the sterngripe survived with some stakes and frames.

After the conservation process with a mixture of resins and a large number of repairs with modern pieces of wood, the wreck was exhibited in 1979 in the Museum of the Roman Ships.
Judging by the remains of the original hull, Fiumicino 3 seems to be a fluvial ship, a flat bottomed barge of medium-size. The bottom middle body is preserved for a length of 5,40 m and a width of 2,36 m.

The hull remains

The keel

The keel is formed by two pieces connected with a hook scarf. The sterngripe, 1,04 m long, is rectangular in section (9 cm wide and 14 cm high) with two rabbets to fit in the garboards. The connection is made with iron nails.
The keel, preserved for a length of 5,50 m, is square in section and tapered. The sides are straight and not moulded for the connection with the garboards.

The planking

The ship is single planked and carvel built. The remaining garboards are connected to the keel with pegged tenons. The other 13 planks are in fragments and these form 4 strakes in the port side and 5 in the starboard side. The widths are between a low of 11 cm and a high of 21,5 cm.
The planking is connected with mortise-and-tenon joints. The average distance between pegs is 28,9 cm. The tenons (4,6 cm wide, 0,65 cm thick and 7,3 cm high) are smaller than the mortises into which they are inserted (7/8 cm wide, 4,6/5 cm wide on the bottom, 4 cm deep and 0,7/0,9 cm thick) and both mortises and tenons are tapered. The pegs are slightly troncoconical (internal diameter 1/1,1 cm, external diameter 0,7/1 cm) and seem have been driven in from the interior of the hull.

The frames

There are 18 original frames and these are connected to the planking by treenails (diameter 1,1/1,3 cm). The cross section of the frames is rectangular and the their average distance is 24,3. The limber holes are present in central position along the axis of the keel.

The ceiling

Above the frame, there are 8 fragments of ceiling (thickness 2,5/3 cm) and stringers (thickness 3/4,5 cm).

The keelson

Moreover, the keelson has a rectangular section aftward (7 x 6,5 cm) and squared forward (5,5 cm) and is fastened to some floor timbers with treenails, probably modern. There are no recesses for masts or stanchions.

The types of wood

The types of wood used in the structure of the ship are: oak (Quercus sp.) and Aleppus pine (Pinus cf. halepensis) for the planking and the keelson; cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) for the keel and oak for the sterngripe. The stone pine (Pinus pinea) and the oak were used for the ceiling. Tenons were made of holm (Quercus ilex) while pegs of ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Willow (Salix sp.) and olive tree (Olea europaea) were used for the treenails connecting frame to planking.

Interpretation of the hull remains

The dating of Fiumicino 3 is still uncertain. The results of C14 analysis is imprecise (180 ± 50 AD) and we do not have associated material to suggest a date. However, a late date seems confirmed due to the highly spaced and irregular mortise-and-tenon joints. The principle of construction of the ship is shell-first because of the general homogeneity of the mortise-and-tenon joints, the weaknesses in the frames and the absence of connection between these and the keel.
Fiumicino 3 was, probably, towed, but no traces of the fittings of this system of propulsion survive. This is an hypothesis based on the similarity of the shape and structure of Fiumicino 3 with the biggest ships Fiumicino 1 and Fiumicino 2.