Message #136354

[Bianca]

Pewterware



Three large pewter chargers (20 inches in diameter), a medium-size charger (17 inches in diameter), and two smaller pewter plates (9.5 inches in diameter) have so far been recovered. Two additional plates remain attached to one of the cannons on the wreck site. All of the chargers and plates feature "hallmarks" or maker's marks on their upper rims or bases. Those marks have identified the makers as George Hammond and John Stiles, London pewtersmiths during the early part of the eighteenth century. The monogram B.A.S. occurs on the upper rim of one of the chargers and may well identify the owner(s) of the plate or the vessel to which it was assigned. The pewter artifacts from the Beaufort Inlet shipwreck may represent trade items destined for the African slave market prior to Concorde's capture by Blackbeard. Two of the chargers, for example, contain impressions of fabric on their surfaces, suggesting that they were in storage when the ship sank.





Figure 12. Brass sector possibly used for logarithmic navigation.