‘Halsewell’ Shipwreck - 1

Minor updates have been made to the draft of the Halsewell CD-ROM which I have been preparing based on the records and artefacts recovered by the late David Allen, Sea Dart Divers, Northampton BSAC ('The A Team') and some pieces from Dorchester Museum.  I would like to eventually include the artefacts and work done to date by Ian Carruthers’ group. Copies of this CD-ROM are available on request to WLS members provided they are prepared to give me an honest appraisal.

Incidentally Gordon LePard is leading a walk to the wreck site of the ‘Halsewell’ on 12^th August as one of the Dorset County Council’s “Dorset Archaeological Days”, cost £3, contact Clare Pinder for details on (01305) 224921 or c.j.pinder@dorsetcc.gov.uk.

EMC

‘Halsewell’ Shipwreck - 2

Ed Cumming’s researcher in London has located a detailed list of the 103 soldiers on the Halsewell which includes their age, height, home county and previous occupation. Average age was 20.45 years, average height 5’ 5¹/₂”, the biggest group were 5’ 3” with the average brought up by a few lofty Celts!!  Information now available on the CD.

DJC

Pewter from the ‘Halsewell’ - Issue 2005/4

With thanks to Ian Carruthers & the Pewter Society

 Amongst the ‘Halsewell’ collection are some fine pieces of pewter that were sent by Ian Carruthers to Peter Hayward of the Pewter Society for conservation and expert recording. The items sent were returned in beautiful condition with a very enthusiastic in depth report due to the rarity of some of the finds which included an interesting section on the cleaning techniques used. Their cleaning techniques are copied verbatim below (with acknowledgement to the Pewter Society) but with the warning that the appropriate section in Wendy Robinson’s excellent book “First Aid for Marine Finds” should also be read including the reference to the Health Warning when handling lead based alloys and before attempting similar cleaning techniques. It goes without saying that before attempting such cleaning it is always best to first test a small fragment preferably on something already badly corroded or damaged rather than start on your best piece!

Cleaning Techniques – The pewter had already been soaked in fresh water to get rid of the chlorine ions from long submersion in salt water, but it was still covered by calcareous deposits, and – save for the small items with no flat surfaces – also by the remains of limpets. The limpet damage was variable, but in some cases (especially on the edges of the spoon handles) quite severe. It meant that chunks of metal were in fact missing, even though not evident before cleaning. The basic approach to cleaning was:

As an experiment the first spoon fragment was soaked in nitric acid overnight This successfully dissolved not only the calcareous deposits but also removed all the remains of the limpets. However it left a surface that was cratered because the damage caused by the limpets was now fully exposed so subsequent pieces were given a much lighter nitric acid treatment. Indeed, further experimentation showed that on many pieces satisfactory results could be obtained by omitting ‘Step 1’ altogether, since removing the oxide layer that always forms on pewter seemed at the same time to loosen the projecting remains of the limpets.

The cleaning process did reveal one on expected problem. Many of the spoons were, in fact, fractured even though they had not been stressed by bending, but the stress fractures were not visible under the calcareous deposit. As a result, some spoon parts simply fell apart when the deposit was removed. This was not expected as pewter is not normally a brittle metal. Interestingly, with one exception, this problem only affected the spoons that were already in fragments, suggesting that some spoons were particularly susceptible to fracture and had indeed already fractured in several places before they were recovered. There are several possible causes for this: the alloy may have been a more brittle one in the first place, the conditions in which these particular spoons lay on the seabed could have been affected the crystalline structure of the metal, or limpet growth could have created the stress in the metal”.

The ‘Halsewell’ Cufflink Collection- Issue 2005/4

From Ian Carruther’s magnificent collection of material from the ‘Halsewell’ on display in the MfDMH exhibition are the cufflinks seen below. There are 11 pairs and 3 singles, identically constructed 16mm by 12mm oval brass cufflinks. The late Dave Allen collection from the ‘Halsewell’ also has an identical cufflink. Due to the quantity and their similarity it can be fairly confidently assumed that these were “Private Trade” items being taken out by the officers of the ‘Halsewell’ rather than being personal items lost in the shipwreck. There are seven clearly different patterns consisting of geometric or floral designs but there is one pair that has a balloon flight represented on it.

Boarding of the ‘Halsewell’ took place on 15^th November 1785, just 2 years and 2 months after a sheep, a duck, and a rooster become the first passengers in a Montgolfier hot air balloon and 1 year and 2 months to the day after an Italian, Vincenzo Lunardi, made the first balloon flight outside of France with his cat and his dog from Moorfields in England, he unexpectedly descended near North Mimms, where he left his cat, who was not pleased with the experience, in the care of a woman, then took off again finally touching down safely in a field near Ware, in Hertfordshire.

But who or what does the scene on the cufflink represent? The balloon appears to be a round hydrogen balloon rather than an open bottomed hot air balloon and the two flags flown from the car indicate an international crossing. The most likely flight was the one on 7^th January 1785 when the Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and an American Dr John Jeffries became the first to fly across the English Channel. A picture of the event shown below displays great similarity to the image on the cufflink.

Their flight was not without difficulties as Dr Jeffries records in his book: 

“Heaven crowned my utmost wishes with success: I cannot describe to you the magnificence and beauty of our voyage. When two-thirds from the French coast we were again falling rapidly towards the sea, on which occasion my noble little captain gave orders, and set the example, by beginning to strip our aerial car, first of our silk and finery: this not giving us sufficient release, we cast one wing, then the other; after which I was obliged to unscrew and cast away our moulinet; yet still approaching the sea very fast, and the boats being much alarmed for use, we cast away, first one anchor, then the other, after which my little hero stripped and threw away his coat (great one). On this I was compelled to follow his example. He next cast away his trowsers. We put on our cork jackets and were, God knows how, as merry as grigs to think how we should splatter in the water. We had a fixed cord, &c to mount into our upper story; and I believe both of us, as though inspired, felt ourselves confident of success in the event.

Luckily, at this instant we found the mercury beginning to fall in the barometer and we soon ascended much higher than ever before, and made a most beautiful entre into France exactly at three o’clock. We entered rising, and to such a height that the arch we described brought us down just twelve miles into the country, when we descended most tranquilly into the midst of the forest De Felmores, almost as naked as the trees, not an inch of rope or cord left, no anchor or anything to help us, nor a being within several miles. My good little captain begged for all my exertion to stop at the first tree I could reach. I succeeded beyond my comprehension, and you would have laughed to see us, each without a coat of any sort, Mr. Blanchard assisting at the valve, and I holding at the top of a lofty tree, and the balloon playing to and fro over us, holding almost too severe a contest for my arms. It took exactly 28 minutes to let out air (i.e. inflammable air) enough to relieve the balloon without injury. We soon heard the wood surrounded by footmen, horsemen &c and received every possible assistance from them. I was soon well mounted and had a fine gallop of 7 miles.”

Queen Marie Antoinette called ballooning ‘the sport of the gods’, and after invading England the ballooning craze quickly swept all over Europe, with ascents in Holland (July 12, 1785), and Germany (October 3, 1785); to be followed in succession by Belgium, Naples, Madrid, Lisbon in the same year. Commemorative souvenirs of the cross Channel crossing must have been the trendiest thing to have in 1785 as the officers of the ‘Halsewell’ collected their wares to trade in the Far East.

 However how an American and a Frenchman really came to lose their trousers over the English Channel remains a mystery, perhaps that’s just as well!  

Nelson and the Halsewell.

In October 1781 Nelson had just taken command of the frigate Albemarle, which was seriously undermanned. Arriving at the Nore (in the Thames estuary) he heard that three East Indiamen were arriving in the Thames Estuary bound for the London docks.  They were sailing in company under full press of canvas as protection against both the French, and the Royal Navy, which might attempt to press some of their prime seamen as often happened when homeward bound and in sight of port.

This was exactly what Nelson had in mind. He gave chase to the East Indiamen, flying a signal ordering them to heave to. The big ships had no intention of complying for they were well manned and armed and, together, more than a match for a frigate. Nelson ordered a blank charge to be fired as a warning, but this, too, was ignored and the ships swept on led by the Halsewell swept on. probably the masters of the East Indiamen expected a shot across their bows before they shook the frigate off, but they did not know her captain. As the Albemarle sailed past the Halsewell, the latter’s master noticed that the frigate’s gun ports were open and her guns ran out; a moment later the flame and smoke of a broadside burst from her and tossed water spouts around the merchantmen.  A second broadside followed, also aimed to miss; then a single shot falling alongside. The Halsewell hove to, as did her companions, and “finding the Albemarle yard-arm to yard-arm with them”, as Nelson put it, “they submitted”.

After taking as many seamen as he required, he noted in his log that he had fired twenty-six nine-pounder and one eighteen-pounder shot in subduing his own countrymen.

Adapted from Horatio Nelson 1987 by Tom Pocock

 DJC