Ship timbers?

pueblo

Hi there,

A friend found the piece below over 10 years ago on a beach in north Dublin, they have always thought it was railway related, but to me it looks like it came from a ship.

The wood is approx 8"-10" thick, the longest piece is about 3' long, (I didn't measure it!) both timbers are joined with metal bolts/nails..... anyone like to hazard a guess at what it is?

cfuserkildare

Looks to me like a boats rudder.

Could be a couple of hundred years old.

Reader1937

It might be easily typed by someone working in a timber yard. There is also a site compiling some dendro databases.
http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/databases.htm
Give it a go - you never know where it might lead you. Please remember if it leads you back before 1700 AD it needs to go to the museum - with as much information as you can muster about it - even stuff that might seem useless to you.
Best of luck.

slowburner

Reader1937 wrote: »

It might be easily typed by someone working in a timber yard. There is also a site compiling some dendro databases.
http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/databases.htm
Give it a go - you never know where it might lead you. Please remember if it leads you back before 1700 AD it needs to go to the museum - with as much information as you can muster about it - even stuff that might seem useless to you.
Best of luck.

The obligations are more recent when it comes to wrecks and maritime archaeology, but are largely unspecified because of the importance of wreckages that occurred in living memory.
On a broader note, the controversial 1700 cut off is not a legally binding determinant of what does and does not constitute archaeology. It is a fairly arbitrary point chosen by the NMS at a time when the surveys were being planned and is long overdue for review.

mocmo

Looks very much like a ship timber to me. It would be worth giving the guys in the National Monuments Underwater Archaeology Unit a call, in my experience they are very helpful and interested.

http://www.archaeology.ie/contact-us/underwater-archaeology-unit

pueblo

Will certainly ask them to give the National Monuments Underwater Archaeology a call about it.

The piece of wood is still proving it's worth but now in a new incarnation as a coffee table (past 10 years). I wouldn't think it's been too traumatic for the wood...just a couple of screws.. They were definitely convinced it was some sort of railway sleeper...so will be interesting to find out what it really is, perhaps there is even something more at the original find location?

celica00

Has there been any update to what it might could have been?

pueblo

celica00 wrote: »

Has there been any update to what it might could have been?

no updates i'm afraid....care to hazard a guess yourself?

chopper6

Looks like part of a ship's keel...it could be 50 years or a hundred years but the thing to bear in mind is the iron nails will perish before wood if they're left in saltwater....also the keel is nailed onto the centre planks so it suggest its more modern than ancient.