Stephen Baines, the Yorkshire Mary Rose. the Ship General Carleton Of

BOOK REVIEWS Stephen Baines. The Yorkshire Mary Rose. academic resource could have been greatly The Ship General Carleton of Whitby. enhanced by the use of footnotes or Pickering, N. Yorks.: Blackthorn Press, citations referencing the author’s sources of 2010. vi + 169 pp., illustrations, appendices, information. Within the text, he author bibliography, index. UK £14.95, paper; does occasionally mention sources like ISBN 978-1-906259-20-4. ships’ log books, sea shanties and receipts for repair or equipment. Muster rolls are a Stephen Baines, whose ancestors were key source, it seems, connecting crew mariners, tells the story of the merchant ship members to clothing and other personal General Carleton of Whitby (1777) that possessions and establishing a platform for sank off the coast of Poland. The vessel discussions about life on board. For carried Baltic cargoes of timber, iron, beer, example, seaman John Nodding might buy and tar. One of the most riveting parts of his clothes from slop shops but would repair the account is the details about the them with his own sewing kit containing archaeological recovery of a large collection pins, scissors, sewing palm and thimbles. of well-preserved sailors’ clothing from the Five artifacts bear carved initials leading to wreck, providing insights into the seamen speculation about ownership. Most are and their links to coastal towns in personal items like combs, a cut-throat razor northeastern England. Using the shipwreck and a pen knife. as a centerpiece, the author weaves in discussions about related historical topics In contrast to most literature about such as shipbuilding, press gangs, shipwrecks, this book pays less attention to privateers, the Baltic trade, and the the shipwreck, the wrecking event itself, American Revolutionary War. ship re-construction or the archaeology The book is chronologically project. This is a story about the ship, organized starting in 1728 and ending with artifacts and the people involved. In short, the wrecking event in 1785. The historical it connects the material culture to a regional narrative is peppered with details about society and a maritime sub-culture. Most of families and personalities involved in the the clothing recovered from the shipwreck shipping trade. These include families such came from the stern section of the vessel as the Campions, Holts, Boulbys and and most likely belong to the master, the Truemans — ship-owning business partners, mate and their servants. Hats, coats, and master mariners, apprentices and even shoes soaked in tar are of international cooks. Baines also addresses the role of significance to historians and archaeologists women, most frequently widows, as active as there are few illustrations of working participants in the management of maritime dress from that period. The study of these affairs. The women, like Margaret Campion, items also highlights the habit of recycling were “bred to the sea” and surviving materials. Pieces of cut sail canvas were portraits show that she “was not a woman to stitched over a worn-out felt hat, wool was cross”. The appendices are very useful and recycled into another fabric called shoddy include a list of the seamen on board and and old garments turned into mattresses and the dates of their service. upholstery. These artifacts now reside in The quality of the book as an the Maritime Museum in Gdansk, Poland, The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord, XXI No. 1, (January 2011), 69-115 70 The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord where the collection is undergoing All too often, excavations and the material conservation treatment. published by “amateur archaeologists” tend The book contains a number of to be considered substandard to the work of distracting formatting omissions such as the professional archaeologists. This is not the lack of a list of figures in the table of case with John Bingeman’s research and he contents, figure numbers out of sequence and delivers another quality piece of work about inconsistently formatted, as well as footnote a noteworthy vessel with heavy implications numbers referring the reader to additional for historians and archaeologists alike. The commentary placed sometimes before, and Solent waters and coast of southern other times after, punctuation marks. England, with its natural harbours, has been Another missing element was some form of heavily used by ships since the Roman acknowledgement below the figures of the occupation of Britain (43-310 A.D.). It is historical collection or source where it was not surprising that this area boasts a large obtained. It seems as if the manuscript number of wrecks, most notably the Mary needed another round of editing. The Rose (1509). On 19 February 1758, the first appendices present an interesting and useful Royal Navy ship named Invincible came to potpourri of information from a knitting rest in those same waters, in an area known pattern for “making your own General as the Horse Tail. Once the initial salvage Carleton Woollen Hat” to definitions of efforts ceased, none of her cargo or English ship tonnage, money, and period structures would see the surface again for measurement of length, distance and depth. over 200 years. In 1976, the first artifact The book would be a useful came topside when a fisherman accidently complement to anyone interested in English trawled up a pewter jug. Through a series maritime history, especially the coastal trade. of events, Bingeman became the license It fills the gap in libraries stocked with the holder of the site. more popular and glamorous literature about Bingeman bolsters the extensive Royal Navy warships and English East and fieldwork completed over more than a West Indies trade. For maritime decade with intricate drawings, archaeologists or students of maritime photographs, and diagrams (not to mention archaeology, the positive identification of the the CD-Rom with the artifact Access shipwreck through relevant historical database). His book stands as testament to documentation and the presence of the ship’s the 29 years he invested in documenting the bell provide a dated, eighteenth-century wreck. Ranging from ship construction to maritime artifact type collection for new artifact discoveries and major historical comparative research purposes. implications, Bingeman presents a stem-to- Lynn B. Harris stern account of the Royal Navy’s first Greenville, North Carolina Invincible. Although intensive excavation ceased in 1991, Bingeman remains in control of the site, serving as a watchful John M. Bingeman. The First HMS caretaker of the precious resource. The Invincible(1747-58): Her Excavations narrative commences with a look at the (1980-1991). Oakville, CT: The David French construction of the Invincible, turns Brown Book Co., Oxbow Books, to a study of the ship’s service and ultimate www.dbbconline.com, 2010. viii + 198 pp., foundering, covers the excavations, and illustrations, bibliography, CD-ROM. US culminates in a stunning study of the $80.00, hardback; ISBN 978-1-84217-393-0. artifacts and their historical significance. Book Reviews 71 Bingeman achieves his goal of creating a ON DEMAND REPRINT. General Books, document for modeling and discussing www.general-books.net, 2010. 248 pp, which artifacts might be present on similar index. US $52.34, paper; ISBN 978-1-151- ships from the same era. Since the book 73879-0. focuses heavily on the artifacts and their Earlier this year, I noted that reprints of historical significance, the author’s 1890s Brassey’s Annuals were being discussion of the archaeological advertised on-line. I have number of investigation does not receive much original 1880s and 90s issues and thought I attention. It should not be dismissed, might “fill in the gaps”; however I put off however. Despite management problems, doing so, and recently found that only the mounting personal expense, and 1902 issue was available, which I ordered. underhanded business dealings around him, Others thinking of doing the same deserve Bingeman held on to the license and to know exactly what they will be getting, persevered to see the excavations through so I have volunteered this review. and ensure the proper conservation and The supplier states frankly that study of the finds. illustrations, plans, diagrams, tables and A casual reader, flipping through maps are not included and that misprints the book, might view it as simplistic due to and other errors are to be expected, the large number of pictures. The images attributing this to the age of the originals are essential, however, as they elucidate the (though my own much-used copies, which I material being discussed and provide the have had for fifty years, are in perfect reader with a visual sense of the items condition.) The reason is the method of found on board an eighteenth-century ship- reproduction. Anyone expecting of-the-line. Bingeman brings this point to photographic facsimiles, as in the reprinted bear throughout the artifactual survey using Jane’s Fighting Ships, will be disappointed. the information to emphasize this data can It is explained in the publication data at the be applied to similar ships. For example, front of the book that the original was Bingeman’s excavations and artifact scanned by a robot which automatically research offers an earlier date for army flipped each page and the typing, buttons than was previously known or proofreading and design was automated accepted. In all, this book showcases some using Optical Character Recognition of the problems that can be encountered in (OCR). While this method may work for an underwater archaeological study and the some books, it is not suitable for rewards of perseverance. Undergraduates, publications like Brassey’s Annuals, where graduates and professional archeologists the omitted diagrams and tables as well as will find Bingeman’s account useful as well W. F. Mitchell’s illustrations are important as fascinating.

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