Find Spot MPM2121 - Elephant plaque, Portsmouth Harbour

Elephant plaque recovered from Portsmouth Harbour during the Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project in 2016. The plaque had been cut from hand hammered sheet copper 2mm thick and has a maximum length of 292mm and a maximum width of 184mm. The plaque was probably made as a decoration but its exact purpose is unknown. The fact that it is an elephant suggests that it may be related to HMS Ganges but a connection could not be confirmed. The find was recovered approximately 200m from an HMS Ganges plaque (MPM2088, BWL_0042) which also had a depiction of an elephant but it is not known whether the two finds are related.

The object is held by Portsmouth Museum Service under the accession number 2015/462.

UID: BWL7_0002 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Queen Elizabeth Class Capital Dredge Project Her Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth: Archaeological Assessment Report (Unpublished document).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.