Find Spot MPM2120 - Early-19th century Buoy, Portsmouth Harbour

The remains of a large wooden buoy were recovered from Portsmouth Harbour during the Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project in 2016. The buoy dates to between c.1823 and c.1870 and was thought to have been used as either a navigational marker in the approaches to the harbour or a mooring buoy within the harbour. It is possibly one of the earliest examples of a hollow wooden buoy in England. The object is held by Portsmouth Museum Service under the accession number 2015/462.

The buoy was very fragmented and was in a number of pieces when it was recovered. Copper sheathing had been used to cover the outer face of three of the surviving timbers in order to prolong the serviceable life of the buoy and there was evidence of rope caulking.

Four of the timbers were inscribed with rase marks. These markings were used to identify individual timbers coming into the Royal Dockyards in the late-18th and 19th century. Each timber would have been numbered according to the species of tree and dated. It was then marked with the initials of the dockyard official who processed the timber and who would mark the size of the timber in cubic feet and a broad arrow to show that it belonged to the navy. These series of markings are known as a 'syntax'.

The rase marks on the buoy show that this object belonged to the Royal Navy and was processed and probably manufactured in the Royal dockyard at Portsmouth. The broad arrow was present in two of the syntax. Dates relating to when the timbers would have arrived in the Dockyard were visible in the syntax on two of the timbers, one clearly shown as 1823 and the second possibly 1811, although this was not as clear. The markings also show that the timbers measured between 3 and 5 cubic feet at the time of arrival and were probably checked and accounted for by an official who signed 'YC'.

See Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project report for detailed description and interpretation of this object.

UID: BWL7_0001 in Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project report.

Wessex Archaeology, 2018, Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project Her Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth: Archaeological Assessment Report (Unpublished document). SPM646.