This Roman boat was discovered by Peter Marsden in 1958 at New
Guy's House, the surgical wing of Guy's Hospital, Southwark in
south London, England. The boat had been abandoned during the
Roman period in a stream or creek close to the River Thames.
The abandonment of the boat is dated by associated pottery to
the end of the second century AD.
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Only the extreme north end of this boat has been excavated, and it comprised a stem or sternpost with carvel-laid strakes. All the timbers were of oak (Quercus), but there was some caulking between the planks of hazel (Corylus avellana) shavings in pine resin. The planks were attached to the oak frames by iron nails with flat heads and square shanks, whose points had been bent over their inboard faces. Near the centre of the vessel was a ceiling of oak planks. |
The total length of the vessel was probably at least 16m, and
it had a beam of about 4.25m and a height amidships of only about
1m. It was a river barge whose means of propulsion and steering
is not known. A very approximate hydrostatic study shows that
the vessel was a river craft that could carry a cargo of about
7 tonnes.
This vessel is still in situ, but fragments are preserved at the
Shipwreck Heritage Centre, Hastings.
Main Publication:
Peter Marsden, Ships of the Port of London: first to eleventh
centuries AD. 1994, English Heritage Archaeological Report
3.