DIMENSIONS and CAPCITY

Length Overall: 30.6 m
Length on loaded waterline: 27.0m
Length of keel: 21.6 m

Beam: 8.9 m
Draft (loaded): 3.9 m (3.5 m Forward)
Freeboard: 2.5 m (the distance from the waterline to the upper deck level)

Sail area:

Main - 254.6 sq. m
Fore - 63.6 sq. m
Mizzen - 76.5 sq. m
Total - 394.7 sq. m

Displacement (Loaded): 392.5 tons
Lightship: 131.5 tons (hull and rigging)
Deadweight: 261.0 tons (cargo, ballast, crew and provisions)
Weight of ballast: 74.0 tons
Weight of cargo: 174.5 tons

Internal volume: 996.0 cu. m
Volume for cargo: 225.0 cu. m
Stowage factor: 1.3 cu. m/ ton

WHERE DID THE SHIP COME FROM?

The Newport Ship seems to have been sailing between Britain and the Iberian Peninsula. It may have been built somewhere along the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Dendrochronology - tree ring dating - has revealed that the planks used to make the vessel's hull were harvested after 1449 in the Basque country in orthern Spain and this is likely where the ship was constructed. Similar analysis of the framing timbers has shown that these trees were felled between September 1457 and March of 1458 - meaning that the ship could not have been built before this point. An additional bit of dating evidence was the discovery of a silver French coin hidden in the keel of the ship. It was only minted between May and July 1447. This discovery doesn't necessarily mean the ship is French. The coin was placed in a small rebate as a good luck charm during the vessel's construction !

WHY WAS THE SHIP IN NEWPORT?

The ship was brought into a pill in Newport for repairs or a major refit in the late 1460s, The ship was resting on a cradle, but before repair work could be completed the cradle collapsed and the ship came to rest on to its starboard side, filling with water and silt. Wooden parts of the ship still above the water were salvaged and possibly reused.

HOW MANY PEOPLE DID IT TAKE TO BUILD THE SHIP?

Written records describing shipbuilding in the medieval period are rare, but a ship the size of the Newport vessel was probably built in a highly organised shipyard with clear divisions of labour There would have been numerous shipwrights, carpenters, blacksmiths, caulkers and riveters. The ship would have taken many months to construct.

WHAT CARGO DID THE SHIP CARRY?

The Newport Ship could have carried almost anything from bales of wool to barrels of fish. Many trade items, both wet and dry, were carried in wooden casks. Nearly 100 cask staves, head pieces and hoops were found during the excavation. Goods commonly carried in casks include wine, oil, grain, dried fruits, nuts, and salted meat.

The primary trade goods of the period coming from Iberia included iron and wine, and it is very likely that the Newport Ship was primarily engaged in the wine trade, most likely with Bristol, which was the main trade port in the 'Severn Sea'!

WAS THE SHIP A PIRATE SHIP?

While there is no direct evidence that the Newport Ship was engaged in piracy, archaeologists did find stone cannon balls and an archer's leather wrist guard. It was common for merchant ships to carry some defensive weapons as available naval protection was sporadic during the medieval period. The ship could also have been a victim of piracy, which was rampant during the Wars of the Roses in the mid-1 5th century.

WAS THE SHIP REPAIRED DURING ITS LIFE?

Archaeologists discovered numerous repairs made to the Newport Ship. Many of these repairs are thick planks of oak attached to the outer hull to cover cracks or holes caused when the ship struck submerged rocks or bumped into a wharf. Some of the repair planks have been dated to the late 1450s and early 1460s, which help inform us about the use life of the vessel.

WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE ONBOARD THE SHIP?

The ship was capable of carrying many tons of cargo, dozens of people, or both. As such, conditions would have been crowded, with people literally sleeping on top of the cargo. Archaeologists have found remains of rats and fleas, indicating that the humans on the ship probably shared their living spaces with a diverse collection of vermin. It would also have been cold, damp and draughty!

WHAT LANGUAGE DID THE SAILORS ON OUR SHIP SPEAK?

If we assume the crew were primarily composed of Portuguese sailors then they likely spoke Old Portuguese which was also known as Old Galician. This language has its roots in Latin and was superseded by 'modern/ Portuguese in the 16th Century. The Portuguese language spread far and wide during the age of colonisation and is the official language of a range of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

WHERE WOULD THE SHIP HAVE SAILED?

A vessel the size of the Newport Ship could have sailed anymhere from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. It was a sea going ship designed to operate in tidal areas, where the bottom of the ship could rest on the mud when the tide receded. The ships that Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492 were smaller that the Newport Ship.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SHIP NEXT?

The ultimate goal of the project is to reassemble the medieval ship in a new purpose-built museum in Newport. The conservation of the ship timbers is now complete — they are dry, strong and stable. We are now investigating how to reassemble and support the ship.

DID OUR SHIP TRADE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN OR THE BALTIC?

We have no direct evidence that suggests the Newport Ship traded with Mediterranean or the Baltic countries. The majority of environmental remains, ceramics and coins indicate that the ship was engaged in the wine trade between the Iberian Peninsula, France, and the British Isles.

WHY SHOULD WE NOT USE THE WORD "CANNON" FOR THE MATERIAL EVIDENCE WE HAVE?

The term 'cannon' refers to a specific size/type of gun, just as 'barrel' is a specific size of cask. It is more accurate to describe our guns as wrought-iron breech loading guns which were probably mounted on the deck rails. They are exceedingly small in terms of calibre at least by later standards and their stone projectiles would have had little effect on the hull of a ship but would have been more effective in an anti-personnel role.

IT APPEARS THAT THE MAKERS OF OUR SHIP DID NOT HAVE ACCESS TO SAWS. So, WHEN DID THIS START TO BE USED IN SHIPBUILDING?

Saws have been used in wooden shipbuilding since at least the early Dynastic period in Egypt and possibly much earlier. The Newport Ship was predominately constructed using axes and adzes to shape the timbers. The planking was radially split or cleft from long oak trunks before being shaped further with a side-axe. We have found saw marks on some of the stringers and ceiling planks, so they were utilising saws, but only for selected timbers, and not the planking and framing.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FIND THE NAME OF THE SHIP?

The local Newport and relevant regional archives for this period are scant. Except for the Warwick letter referring to the repair of an unnamed ship in Newport in the late 1460s, there are no other known textual references. The loss of the ship was significant, and it is likely that this event is mentioned in foreign archives, perhaps in Spain, France, or Portugal. These records have yet to be comprehensively examined, so the answer is probably out there, just waiting to be found! There are also customs accounts and port enrolment records to sieve through — please see the World of the Newport Ship book for an overview of this research.

IF THE TIMBER IS SO VERY WELL PRESERVED, WHY DID IT NEED SUCH ELABORATE CONSERVATION TREATMENT?

The ship timbers were indeed well-preserved but also waterlogged. This excess water has to be removed in a controlled fashion while minimising shrinkage, cracking and distortion. We have used a multi-step approach that involves mechanical cleaning, followed by chemical treatments to remove soluble irons salts followed by Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) pre-treatment and finally vacuum freeze-drying (VFD). The PEG helps protect the timber cells from damage caused by the formation of ice crystal during the freeze-drying process. During VFD, a process called sublimation occurs where the ice crystals turn into water vapour and exit the timber The end product is dry and stable and ready for reassembly.

IS IT TRUE THAT WE KNOW THE FOREST FROM WHICH OUR OAK TIMBERS WERE TAKEN AND THAT IT REMAINS IN THE SAME FAMILY OWNERSHIP?

The planking for the hull timbers has been dated via ring-width dendrochronology to after 1449, with the best match from the upland hinterlands of the Basque Country some 100 miles from the coast! This exciting research is currently ongoing, and we will be able to provide some more information very soon!