Caribbean Research Institute ~~~

CARIBBEAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE ~~~ SILVER AND PEWTER Recovered from the Sunken City of Port Royal, Jamaica May 1 , 1966 - March 31 , 1968 Robert F . Marx - August, 1971 By Arrangement with theo Jamaica Na ~ iona l Trust Com:nissior: Kingston, Jamaica SILVER AND PEWTER ITEMS RECOVERED FROM THE SUNKEN CITY OF PORT ROYAI;.: MAY 1, 1966 - MARCH 31,· 1968 i i ' By Robert F. Marx Published·By the Caribbean Research Institute, College of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, U.S . Virgin Islands, August 1971. l CONTENTS I. Preface II. Hi story of the Site III. Excavation of the Site IV. Observations on the Silver and Pewterware V. Owner's Initials VI. Preservation of Silver and Pewter'Ware VII. References VIII. Bibliography IX. Drawings nf the Silver and Pewterware I . PREFACE 'l'he following is a preliHinarv report on tbe silver and I;'ewteri¥are from the sunken city of Port._qoyal, Jamaica. , uhich were recovered during the f)eriod o:f ~ 1 3.Y 1, 1966 to •· ~arct 31, 1!360, when the ~rogran of excavation c a!·11e to a halt for an indefinite period of ti~e . Other reports covering the excava tion of the site and the different types of artifacts recovered fror·1. the site have already been published , and s everal more are. still in preparation. For the identification and datinc.:; of tI1e i tens covered in this report, I obtained the assistance of experts on silver and pewteX"111are fron the Guildhall :'!useura, London :--J.useun, Pritish : lus eum and the Victorian Albert ~~ useum g all of London, En~Ilancl. I especially owe a great deal of thanks to •· :r. 1:: .F. '1icha.elis of the Loncl.on '.·luseum, who gave Pe the most assif)tance in prepa1> ing· this report, and to Tlrs . Gloria Gilchrist, of London p t11ho assisted in making most of the dra\vings. Robert F o ·1arx Satellite Beach, Florida Octoher, 1969 II. HISTORY OF THE SITE Port Royal and the large harbor it protects, al thougj:. one of the finest in the Pest Indies, had little i~:.1portance ir.. the history of Spanish Jamaica, since the Spanish colonists had scarcely any commerce to speak of. They l ocated a snall nort, called Puerto de Caguava, at the nouth of t he Rio Cobre, on the northwest side of the harbor. Port Roval it'3elf was called cuvo de Carena (Careening Cay) by the Spaniards and used only, as the name suggests, as a place for careening and r e fitting the occas ionRl ship that visited the virtually forgotten colony (1). After the En0lish captured Jamaica in 1655p they quickly recognized the corrm1ercial and r:lili t a.ry strategic v alue of Port Hoyal. The Royal Navy first made use of Port :toy al c1ur in9 the time of the invasion and, after the Spaniards were rout· ed , they were followed by the Army which s tationed troops the re cmd quickly hegan to fortify the site. In the years 1655-1660, t b.e English used Port ~oyal as a base frm:.. ;.-; ~-iich thay rn.ade nany successful raids against Spanish shi;:iping and settleI!l.ents. 'I'hen, Hh.en the J:12onarchy was restored. in Bngland in 16fi0, a.11 of t he naval forces and most of the soldiers ~1ere recalled, anc1 Port Royal became of priraary importance as a base for the buccaneers, such as Eenry I'·J.organ and scores of others of lesser fame. Phen Gpain and England made peace in 1670, all privateering con'mis~ nions were recalled and Port :~oyal' s inhahi tants had to f i nd ne~-; occupations. From the early beginnings as a purely military s i te, :t?ort Royal had quickly become a bustling c ivilian settle?"·'ler:t. T ~i thin a few years, the snall cay was so j armned with houses and other buildings that it was necessary to fill in the marshy are a separating Port Royal from the Palisadoes (a long lm•I c;and.:: r.)i t projecting out from the island and enclosinq what is known as X(ingston Harbor) to provide more room for e xpan s ion. The -t~m foundations of t hi s rap i d growth were plunder and contra.band . As soon as the f leet began to c arr y out s uccessful raids on the Spani ards from its base in Port Royal, merchants started to f lock the re from England and other colonies in Horth Ame r ica. and t he :·Jest Indies to trade in the booty taken from the Srya!l iards. The merchants a lso obtained money by more peacefu l me an:=: --- contraband trade o Spain claimed , but could not enforce, an e xclus ive monopoly on trade with her !.:Jew norld colonies and. , a fte r the destruction of t wo treas ure f l eets i n 1656 and 1657, Snain ' s comme rce with her colonies c ame to a halt. With Sn ai.n unabl e to satisfy he r colonists I demands for European prod~tc tu , the English at Port noyal wer e happy to do so - - at a handsome profit. Although much less glamorous tha n pirac y , the cont.ra· band trade actually brought more wealth to Engl a nd o By the ti ~'.te of the earthquake in 1 692, J? ort Royal had 1:.: een transforned, in a feN c~ ecades 1 from a deserted cav to the ,;:;ost ir:iportant trading center in the Hew r.·Jorld. The spacious :!.arbor 't!clS ah.rays crrnq(l.ed with shipping and the anount and vari-· (od:y of goods that passed over its uharves <:·rere astonishing·: Jali1aica' s mm export products to England an0. Horth Anerica ''?ere :.:i..a inly f.. · :~:· ::: , nolasses, rum, indigo, cotton, tobacco, gin'}2::., all·· ..._ _ _ spice, mahogany and dym,mods ;: as well as the i terns they o b tain- ··----·--.. -e..d. through their contraband trade with the Spaniards, such as g-o ld p silver, ::=>recious stones, pearls and various agricultural ?roducts . ~·lost of Jamaica ' s inports came froa England b ut small- "2.r anounts a lso cru:ae from Ireland and ~Jorth A.c~.erica. rrhe b ull: .... ---- - ::;.:[ tl1e imp orts fror:. England and Ireland consisted of manuf actur- / 2J goods and other products from Europe destined for local use ci.nc:J tzaci.e u i th the Spaniarc1,s. Large t:rumbers of i:Jegro slaves Y''t-: .'!:''"~ also b roug!'!t frm1 Africa, both for local use and for selling t "" tile Spaniards • I!'ror:i. an unpublished document uri tten in 16 8 f3 ··-· knmm ::1 ::: the ··rz'ay lor ~anuscript " ,._ _ ~Hhich is now in the possession of th~ I::-istitute of Jru".laica (2 ), ue have a fairl y detaile c.1- descrip~ ::- :L ·->11 of Port T~oyal shortly before the 1692 disaster. The town consisted .of. two .th.ousan.cl. .b uilO.ings., the ~ajority of l•lhich wer e O'.\.::t.C.e of b rick and r·1any were two or more stories hi0h . 'I'he popu··· 'i.3 t.ion ~,1as about e ight thousand and, although :most contemporary ... i, ~;c ·::mnts claim that the vast najori ty of the inhal::i i tants were :·.. .. x1less !\'\en," there u ere several different Protestant churches (including t~·r o Quaker meeting houses) , a Roman Catholic chapel, ;::·.nd a Jel,7ish synagogue" 'I'he wharves, warehouses and hor:ies of th<': veal thy aerchants v.rere located on the harbor v or north , side Gf tovm ? where the l:!ater was deep enough for ships of large ton· ~1age to tie up right against the shore. 'l'hree large forts ·- Cha.rles, Jar1es and Carlisle (the latter two sank during the earthquake) -- as well as several smaller batteries, protected !:.hs town. rrhere were three markets ; a produce r:iarket situated ln t.he center of the tm-m, and the fish and meat markets locat<.:! d ,::;; '(. the waterts edge on the western tip of Port Royal. The most 1 o i.:;tstanding huildings ·were the :r~ing s House 1 where the Island :~; e;,ye,:1cil m:~t:: the Governor's House; St. Paul's Church (..?\nglican) ;' 1-he Exchange, the center for the town's main business transactionE" t.he n arshallsea, which was :a prison for men 1 and 3ridewell, a p::i:. i s on for women. At twenty minutes before noon on June 7, 1692, Port T.°~' -~:.ra l was s trucl: by the first of three strong treI!lors . The l a st o ~-::7; \'Jas the most violent and was quickly follm·1ed bv a tidal \'lr.?.v.r<_) . \!i t !1 in a matter of minutes; nine:.:. tenths of t he city h a d e :.ti:1e r sunk or slid into the sea and no more than ten acres o f l .:: ,:nd rer~. ained out of the uater by the end of the day. Port :loyal l'la~3 once again a cay, separateC. from the Palisadoes . 1 ·'ore than .2p '.) fiC• lives were lost that day and , l1!ithin a month , a!1 ci.ddition J.1 3, OOO persons died in epider.iics that followed the disaster. Except for a numher of men who immediately began :>. -::-:~,:, · ing out salvage operations on the sub1,1er ged builc.'l. in~rs in , ;?0S of recovering some of the great amount of 'l:Jealth which went (:'.

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