Texas A&M University - Department of Anthropology - Nautical Archaeology Program

The Cais do Sodré Ship Frames 2002 Field Season

Filipe Castro

Ship Lab Report 4

January 2003

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TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

ANTH660 – Field School: Recording the Timbers of the 16th-Century

Ship of Cais do Sodré

Instructors:

Filipe Castro Paulo J. Rodrigues

Participants:

Starr Cox Katie Custer Erik Flynn Gustavo Garcia Sara Hoskins

Lisbon, Portugal, June 2002

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Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática

Texas A&M University/Institute of Nautical Archaeology

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Index Introduction 5

Objectives 10

Team 12

Lodging 14

Working Schedule 15

Equipment 16

Duration of the Works 17

Work Assigned 18

Objectives 20

Conclusions 22

Acknowledgements 23

Appendix – Drawings 24

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Index of Figures Fig. 1 – The Cais do Sodré ship during its excavation.

Fig. 2 – Drawings of the hull.

Fig. 3 –Cais do Sodré´s timbers while under the "care" of IPPAR bureaucrats, in January 1996.

Fig. 4 – Anthony Randolph recording one of the frames during the 2001 season.

Fig. 5 – Erik Flynn and Gustavo Garcia at work in 2001.

Fig. 6 – Working at the CNANS warehouse, 2002.

Fig. 7 – Erik Flynn working at the CNANS warehouse.

Fig. 8 - Shipwright's marks on Cais do Sodré frame C87.

Fig. 9 – Ship plan.

Fig. 10 - Dante Bartoli and Michael Jones at the ShipLab in the 2001 Fall Semester.

Fig. 11 - Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática.

Fig. 12 - Example of a final drawing: frame C88.

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Introduction The remains of the Cais do Sodré ship were exposed in April 1995 during the expansion works of Lisbon’s subway train network (Fig. 1). The remains of a ship were reported to the responsible engineers, and the work was stopped almost immediately. However, we were to learn later from the hull remains that the midship frames had already been ripped apart and transported to a dump together with tons of sediment.

Fig. 1 – The Cais do Sodré ship during its excavation.

In spite of the interest shown by the public company promoting the construction of the new subway line – Metropolitano de Lisboa – the Cais do Sodré ship discovery happened in the wrong time frame. From 1993 to 1997 Portugal saw a peculiar law being enacted, which authorized treasure hunting on territorial waters, and discouraged all archaeology of sites without artefacts carrying market value. This legislation was frozen in 1995 and repealed in 1997 before any permit was issued to hunt for treasure in Portuguese waters. However, the simple existence of such a law induced an almost complete indifference on the part of the authorities for all shipwreck sites without treasure. This and several other circumstances would lead to the almost complete loss of the Cais do Sodré remains.

Metropolitano de Lisboa paid a team of archaeologists and supplied a total station for the complete recording of the hull remains. The work was carried out under the direction of Paulo Jorge Rodrigues assisted by archaeologist Ana Vale.

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The ship laid perpendicular to the axis of the hall of the subway station, preserved along its full width (24 m). This buried hall was built in three phases. First trenches were dug and concreted to form the outer walls of the hall, then the bottom (which stands below the water level of the nearby Tagus River) was executed by injecting concrete from the surface, and then a slab was built over the hall to form its roof. Only after this was completed did excavation begin inside this enormous concrete box. When it was found the Cais do Sodré showed that both the stem and stern areas had been cut during the construction of the concrete walls. And the injection pipes pierced the whole hull remains.

Three full drawings of the shipwreck were produced at a 1/10 scale: one after full excavation and cleaning tasks were completed, the second after the removal of the ceiling, and a third drawing after the removal of the frames (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 – Full drawings of the hull.

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The timbers were then removed to a warehouse and delivered to the antiquities agency in Portugal at that time, the Instituto Português do Património Arquitectónico e Arqueológico (IPPAR), which assumed the responsibility for its conservation, study, and publication. Nothing was done however, and the timbers were left to dry, warp, and decay until the creation of a new agency, charged with the management of Portuguese archaeology, allowed these responsibilities to be transferred to a new team of people (Fig. 3). This new agency, the Instituto Português de Arqueologia (IPA), included a department specifically charged with the management of both nautical and underwater archaeology in Portugal. This was the Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática (CNANS), and it inherited the Cais do Sodré timbers, whose study started again under the direction of Paulo Jorge Rodrigues.

Fig. 3 –Cais do Sodré´s timbers while under "care" of IPPAR bureaucrats, in January 1996.

During the summer of 2001 a group of students from Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program went to Lisbon on a grant from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology to help in the recording of the frames (Figs. 4 and 5).

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Fig. 4 – Anthony Randolph recording one of the frames during the 2001 season.

Fig. 5 – Erik Flynn and Gustavo Garcia at work in 2001.

In the summer of 2002 Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program promoted a summer school in Lisbon to finish the recording of Cais do Sodré’s frames (Figs. 5 and 6).

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Fig. 6 – CNANS warehouse.

Fig. 5 – Erik Flynn working at CNANS warehouse.

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All frames had been recorded at a 1/1 scale during the summer of 2001. During the summer of 2002 all 1/10 scale final drawings were finished.

Filipe Castro

College Station, September 2002

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Objectives The frames preserved on the shipwreck upon the arrival of the team of archaeologists in 1995 totalled 37, of which 23 were preserved towards the stern, and 14 to the bow. On each side some frames carried numbers in Roman numerals, and some did not.

Table I

Frame Numbers Fore Frames After Frames

Pre-designed Not pre-designed Pre-designed Not pre-designed - - C100 / IIII - - - C99 / V - - - C98 / VI - - - C97 / VII - - - C96 / VIII - - - C95 / VIIII - - - C94 / X - - - C93 / XI - - - C92 / XII - - - C91 / XIII - - - C90 / XIIII - - - C89 / XV -

C140 / XVI - C88 / XVI - C141 / XVII - C87 / XVII - C142 / XVIII - C86 / XVIII -

- C143 - C85 - C144 - C84 - C145 - C83 - C146 - C82

- C147 - C81

- C148 - C80

- C150 - C79

- C152 - C78

C154

C156

C158

These numerals were sequential, started somewhere amidships, and ended on number XVIII on each side of the ship, before and abaft the zone where the master frame (or master frames)

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stood.

Fig. 7 - Shipwright's marks on Cais do Sodré frame C87.

When Paulo Rodrigues examined the 16th and 17th century Portuguese and Spanish treatises on shipbuilding it became clear that Cais do Sodré’s frames could be divided into two groups on each side: pre-designed frames, and other (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8 - Ship plan.

The objectives and schedules for the summers of 2001 and 2002 were concieved having in mind these two groups of frames, as shown on Table I.

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Team In the summer of 2001 the team of students from Texas A&M University’ Nautical Archaeology Program was composed of:

Katie Custer, Peter Erik Flynn, Gustavo Garcia, Erika Laanela, Anthony Randolph, and Carrie Sowden.

The participation of this group of students was made possible through a grant from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, awarded to Dr. Kevin Crisman's Azores project. On the way to the Azores students made a stop over of one month during which they worked on the Cais do Sodré project. The total costs, including airplane tickets totaled around USD $6.800.

The work started in June 2001 was completed at Texas A&M University ShipLab, by:

Dante Bartoli, Starr Cox, Peter Erik Flynn, Gustavo Garcia, and Michael Jones.

Fig. 9 - Dante Bartoli and Michael Jones at the ShipLab in the 2001 Fall Semester.

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In the summer of 2002 the team of students from Texas A&M University’ Nautical Archaeology Program was composed of:

Starr Cox, Katie Custer, Peter Erik Flynn, Gustavo Garcia, and Sara Hoskins.

The participation of these students was partly funded by the Nautical Archaeology Program, partly by the students themselves, some of which paid their own travel and other expenses.

These teams were coordinated by Paulo Jorge Rodrigues, principal investigator in the Cais do Sodré project, in coordination with myself in what pertained to the academic development of the students.

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Lodging During both 2001 and 2002 summers all students stayed in the Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática’s warehouse, which is equipped with rooms for students, as well as a kitchen, and bathrooms.

Fig. 10 - Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática.

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Working Schedule During the month of June 2002 – the summer school class period – students were required to work five days a week, and between seven and eight hours a day. This was precisely the same schedule of the students that worked during the previous summer, in June 2001. For the 2002 summer school the work schedule was flexible so that both Katie Custer and Sara Hoskins could pursue archival investigation in CNANS library, and in several other places in Lisbon.

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Equipment All equipment was supplied by Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática (CNANS).

Since the work entailed the displacement and positioning of heavy timbers, the students were assisted by CNANS’ staff and Paulo Rodrigues.

A forklift was used to move the timbers around.

The 1/1 scale drawings were made with the help of a device developed at Texas A&M University’s Nautical Archaeology Program by Taras Pevni, consisting of a laser pointer pen mounted together with a pen on a small stand that guarantees a perfect 90° angle between the drafting plan and the timber underneath.

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Duration of the Works As mentioned above the work lasted from June 1st to June 30th of 2002.

In the previous year the work lasted from June 1st to June 30th of 2001.

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Work Assigned The objective of this field season was to produce a complete set of drawings of all pre-designed frames, at a 1/10 scale (Table II).

Table II

Frame Numbers Fore Aft

- C100 / IIII - C99 / V - C98 / VI - C97 / VII - C96 / VIII - C95 / VIIII - C94 / X - C93 / XI - C92 / XII - C91 / XIII - C90 / XIIII - C89 / XV

C140 / XVI C88 / XVI C141 / XVII C87 / XVII C142 / XVIII C86 / XVIII

The methodology followed was defined by the principal investigator Paulo J. Rodrigues, and consisted of three steps.

The first step entailed the execution of drawings of both fore and aft faces of each frame at a 1/1 scale over plastic sheets at an orthogonal projection. This work was completed with drawings of both upper and lower faces of each frame directly over their surfaces, obtaining extended, flattened drawings of these faces.

The second step consisted on the execution of 1/10 scale pencil drawings of each of the 1/1 scale drawings. The upper and lower faces were projected to create orthogonal views compatible with the fore and after face’s drawings.

The third step was the execution of the final drawings. The pencil 1/10 scale drawings were inked, scanned, and finished on a computer with a graphics program. In the final drawings each frame was represented in four views, as indicated in the figure below (Fig. 10). Since we have good reasons to believe that these frames were designed on the face that was afterwards placed to the side of the master frame, the “design face” placed below in the drawings – which carries the shipwright’s marks – is the after face on the forward frames, and the forward face on the after frames.

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Fig. 11 - Example of a final drawing: frame C86.

All captions are written in French, because these drawings were intended to be included in Mr. Paulo J. Rodrigues’ Thèse de Doctorat (the equivalent of a master’s thesis) that will be presented at Université de Sorbonne, Paris 1, in France, for the fulfilment of the requisites to obtain a master’s degree under the direction of Dr. Eric Rieth.

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Objectives The objective of the 2002 field season was the completion of the inked 1/10 scale final drawings, which were expected to be finished at the ShipLab during the month of September.

However, since the 2001 field season’s objectives were largely achieved and even surpassed, we decided to aim for a complete set of inked drawings of all 37 frames.

All work developed according to our planning, and the first drafts of all 37 frames, inked and finished on the computer were sent to Lisbon by late August, corrected almost immediately, and the corrections – on two frames only – sent back to Lisbon on the first week of September.

In the summer of 2001 the objective had been to make 1/1 scale drawings of all pre-designed frames. However, much more was achieved, and by the end of the summer all 37 frames had been fully recorded at a 1/1 scale.

Although we had considered sending all the 1/1 drawings to Texas A&M University so that the 1/10 scale and the final drawings could be completed during the following year, the idea was abandoned in view of the volume and weight of the 1/1 scale drawings.

Nevertheless, eight full sets of 1/1 scale drawings, totaling 30 large sheets of plastic, were sent to Texas to be finished at the ShipLab (Table III).

Table III

Frames finished at Texas A&M University Fore Aft C80 - C81 - C82 - C83 - C84 - C85 -

C86/XVIII C142/ XVIII Although the possibility of scanning and reducing the drawings in computers was considered at first, this solution was abandoned. Both its price and the limits to the size of the largest plastic sheets posed by the scanners available made it much easier to reduce the drawings on the drafting board. The reduction of 1/1 to 1/10 scale was performed by placing the 1/1 scale drawings over a grid with 1x1 cm squares, and transfer the lines to sheets of engineering paper.

The biggest advantage of this solution proved to be the re-examination of each drawing that it entailed. Since recording old timbers at a 1/1 scale in a large and uncomfortable warehouse can be a long, boring, and repetitive experience to many students, sometimes

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details go unnoticed or unrecorded. The process of putting together four views of each timber at a smaller scale demands attention to details, and many missed details are noticed in this process.

Once the recording of these eight frames was finished, they were sent to Paulo J. Rodrigues in Lisbon for comparison with the actual frames. The immediate conclusion taken was that is was impossible to achieve a good standard at the ShipLab, because 1/1 scale drawings often missed small details and sometimes even some important features.

It was decided to finish all 1/10 drawings at Lisbon, next summer, in front of the actual timbers. Because of the degree of degradation of the timbers, which by the summer of 2002 had been out of their undisturbed archaeological bed for seven hard years, pictures and sketches made in 1995 and 1997 were used to verify certain features. In some cases carpenter's marks had faded almost completely away and were reconstructed on the drawings from pictures and sketches taken during and immediately after the initial excavation.

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Conclusions This project was a major success. Given the political and financial environment in Portugal it was clear that the Centro Nacional de Arqueologia Náutica e Subaquática (CNANS) could not afford to have Paulo J. Rodrigues fully dedicated to the study and publication of this shipwreck. More important, this is not a task for one person alone, and CNANS could not afford to hire a team as skilled as the Nautical Archaeology Program students to record all the surviving timbers of such a ship.

This cooperation between TAMU/INA and CNANS allowed therefore a major contribution to nautical archaeology in Portugal and, given the characteristics of this ship, one can say to nautical archaeology in a larger sense.

This project is completed with the final drawings of all the frames preserved. However, should Paulo J. Rodrigues and CNANS be interested, I believe that the continuation of the recording of all the timbers of this ship would make a good summer school project for at least one more summer.

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Acknowledgements This project would never be completed without Dr. Kevin Crisman's support. I must therefore thank first of all Dr. Crisman and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology for its support of the Cais do Sodré project.

Then I must thank the project principal investigator, Paulo Jorge Rodrigues, for the opportunity he created, letting Texas A&M University participate in his project, and the wonderful team of students that worked so hard and aiming at such high standard of quality. Dante Bartoli, Starr Cox, Katie Custer, Peter Erik Flynn, Gustavo Garcia, Sara Hoskins, Michael Jones, Erika Laanela, Anthony Randolph, and Carrie Sowden, all performed a great job, both as skilled, hard working professional archaeologists, and as joyful and disciplined ambassadors of the Nautical Archaeology Program and Texas A&M University in Portugal.

Finally I have to thank the director of CNANS, Francisco Alves, and all its team for all the support given to this project.

Frame 78

Frame 79

Frame 80

Frame 81

Frame 82

Frame 83

Frame 84

Frame 85

Frame 86

Frame 87

Frame 88 – Sept 5

Frame 88

Frame 89

Frame 90 – Sept 4

Frame 91

Frame 92

Frame 93

Frame 94

Frame 95

Frame 96

Frame 97

Frame 98

Frame 99

Frame 100

Frame 140

Frame 141

Frame 142

Frame 143

Frame 144

Frame 145

Frame 146

Frame 147

Frame 148

Frame 150

Frame 152

Frame 154

Frame 156

Frame 158