Boccalama B, before 1328

Country: Italy

Place: San Marco in Boccalama, a now-submerged island in the Venetian lagoon

Coordinates (approximate): 45.3889, 12.2809

Type: Thin galley (longship)

Identified: No

Dated: Before 1328; the hull was reused as landfill in a reclamation project before the monastery on the island was abandoned in 1328

 

Beam: Unknown.

Keel Length: Unknown.

Length Overall: Unknown.

Number of Masts: At least one; a mast step was found toward the bow.

 

History of the wreck

On the now-submerged island of San Marco in Boccalama, in the Venetian lagoon, an oratory was founded in AD 1013, and by the fourteenth century a monastery housed a small community of monks. Concerned that subsidence and erosion were destroying their home, the prior obtained permission for a reclamation project (Romanelli 2003: 90-93).

The hulls of a thin galley (Boccalama B) and of a rascona (Boccalama A) were brought to the island; piles were driven around them and their interiors filled with soil to extend the island (Romanelli 2003: 22). The attempt failed: the monastery was abandoned after 1328, and in 1348 the island became a burial ground for victims of the Black Death. By the sixteenth century it seems to have been submerged for some time (D’Agostino and Medas 2001: 13-14).

See also the fiche of Boccalama A (Med279), found on the same site.

 

Description of the site

The monitoring project that revisited the island in 1996 found the first wreck; Boccalama B was discovered later, during an attempt to relocate it (D’Agostino and Medas 2001: 3; Romanelli 2003: 25-28). Because of continued damage from fishing and unauthorized visits, a full excavation was launched in 2001 inside a coffer dam of metal sheeting. The wrecks were excavated under water, then the coffer dam was drained for a photogrammetric survey (McManamon et al. 2003: 23-24). Only a summary report has been published; a full report on the hull is still awaited.

 

Cargo

Not applicable; the hull was reused as landfill and was not lost with a cargo.

 

Ballast

Not applicable; the hull was filled with soil as landfill.

 

Anchors

Not reported.

 

Guns

Not reported.

 

Iron concretions

Not reported.

 

Hull Remains

Boccalama B was built on an axial structure with a rectangular keel (Romanelli 2003: 62-65). Several transverse keelson riders divide the hold into compartments, and vertical planking forward of the mast step shows a partition for a storeroom. The cross-section shows a flat floor and a round bilge (Romanelli 2003: 65).

 

Keel, keelson and mast step

Toward the stern, a hook scarf joins the keel to the sternpost; both have a rabbet. Above the scarf a sternson reinforces the joint and covers the seam. A rebated keelson runs along the centreline (Romanelli 2003: 62-65).

The mast step, toward the bow, has seven tall buttresses on each side supporting mast partners rebated over the frames next to the keelson; the buttresses are more widely spaced near the ends of the step. Two long chocks over the keelson, together with the partners, form the mast mortise, which shows wear from long use. The after part has a large adjustable chock and an upper lip that sits over the partners (D’Agostino and Medas 2001: 67).

 

Frames

Floor timbers overlap and are nailed to the futtocks without a scarf. The frame scantlings are light compared to those of round ships, presumably to keep the ship agile and reduce hogging (Romanelli 2003: 62-65).

 

Planking

The planks are joined with flat or hook scarfs and are simply nailed to the frames, not to each other (Romanelli 2003: 65).

 

Ceiling, thick stuff, and wales

A recessed stringer at the turn of the bilge clamps the frames. The ceiling runs longitudinally between the keelson and the stringers on each side (Romanelli 2003: 62-65).

 

Caulking

Not reported.

 

Size and scantlings

No measurements are given; the frame scantlings are described as light compared to those of round ships.

 

Wood

Not reported.

 

Bibliography

D’Agostino, M., and Medas, S. 2001. [Full reference to be completed.]

McManamon, F., et al. 2003. [Full reference to be completed.]

Romanelli, G. 2003. [Full reference to be completed.]

Bendig, C. 2021. [Full reference to be completed.]