Historical Ship Graffiti on the Walls of San Juan's Spanish Defence System: an Interim Report

Abstract

This project intends to document graffiti identified on the walls of the defence system of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a collaborative effort between the author and the National Park Service. The initial proposal envisaged a maximum of 8 or 9 ship drawings previously identified by the Park's personnel. Fieldwork has hugely expanded that number—so far over 400. Preliminary evaluation of the ship‐types identified suggests the presence of a visual representation of ship‐type evolution, at least from the 18th to the first half of the 20th centuries.

© 2006 The Author

Key words:

• ship graffiti
• historical drawings
• 19th‐century ships
• Spanish defence system

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Walter Chavez, Park Superintendent, and the National Park Service for their interest on this project, especially Felix, Doris and Maritza. I also want to thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the volunteers who have helped me develop this project, especially the archaeologists Belford Matías and Myriam Llorens; the archaeologists in training Erika, Susan, Rosa, Raymond, Edmarie, Hernán and Sabrina. Special thanks to photographers Hernán Bustelo and Joseph Hernández who provided many of the images for this article. Special thanks also to Dr Lourdes Domínguez, from the Academia de Ciencias de la Habana, for helping with the contacts for ship analysis in Cuba; and to Luc Bucherie for his invaluable help.

Notes

1 We performed a small test with brick on a lime plaster surface and the product resembles the appearance of the lines of the drawings (see Fig. 28).

2 These numbers correspond to total of ship motifs only, they do not include all other figurative motifs.