The Cattewater Wreck: The investigation of an armed vessel of the early sixteenth century

The Mortella II & III Wrecks: premiminary observations on two 16th-century archaeological sites discovered in Saint-Florent Bay, Corsica, France

“…In fact, whatever their size, ships from the Renaissance are generally built with a frame made of pieces whose sections vary little. We notice, for example, that the section of the floor‐timbers of the Mary Rose (20 × 20 cm) (Rule, 1982: 105) is identical to those of much smaller ships like the Cattewater wreck (Redknap, 1984: 23) or the wreck of the San Juan (Red Bay, 1565, Loewen, 1998: 194), estimated at around 250 tonnes. Brad Loewen (1998: 193) notes that the proportions of the pieces of wood used for the frame of a 400‐ton ship like the San Esteban (Padre Island, 1554) are similar to those of a small boat like the 15th‐century Cavalaire, estimated at 100 tons.…”

“…Although approximate and to be treated with caution, this relationship between keel‐section and size of ship appears to be an interesting indicator. We observe, for example, that the wrecks of ships from the same period but with a burden of less than 400 tons and total lengths between 20 and 25 m— San Esteban , 1554 (Rosloff and Arnold,1984: 286–96); the Highborn Cay wreck (Oertling, 1989), the Cattewater wreck (Redknap, 1984); the San Juan , 1565 (Grenier, 1998); or, closer to us, the Calvi I (Villié, 1991) have keel sections of less than 30 cm.…”

“…Archaeology shows, however, a wide range of keelson sizes on Renaissance ships, which does not depend much on the size of the ships. For example, the Cattewater wreck, estimated at c .250 tons, has a keelson with a section of 30 × 27 cm (Redknap, 1984: 30), proportions similar to those of Angra D, whose keelson measures 28 × 32 cm, whereas the ship is estimated at 1000 tons (Monteiro, 1999).…”

One of His Majesty's ‘Beste Kraffwells’: the wreck of an early carvel-built ship at Franska Sternarna, Sweden

“…Smaller assemblages where guns have been found in association with carriages and in the context of shipwrecks include the Cattewater wreck, Plymouth, dating from c .1500 (Redknap, 1984: 49–57) and the Studland Bay Wreck, Poole, Dorset (also dated to c .1500). Sites with assemblages comparable to that from the kravel are rare and none contains as many pieces still attached to their wooden carriages.…”

At the Transition from Late Medieval to Early Modern: the Archaeology of Three Wrecks from Turkey

“…For example, the Cattewater wreck, dated to the early‐16th century, was an armed merchantman of c .186–282 tons burden, which carried three wrought‐iron swivel‐guns mounted in wooden stocks. The best‐preserved was 1.25 m long and had an outside diameter at the muzzle of c .7 cm (Redknap, 1984: 39, 49–63; Redknap, 1997). The remains of the swivel‐gun at the stern of this vessel display muzzle‐hoops and perhaps portions of its forked mounting assembly nearby.…”