At the Transition from Late Medieval to Early Modern: the Archaeology of Three Wrecks from Turkey

Abstract

During surveys in the Rhodian Straits in 2005–06, the staff of the RPM Nautical Foundation discovered three deepwater wrecks which reflect elements of the transition from late medieval to early modern seafaring. The assemblages, and their plotting on site‐plans generated from photographic evidence, point to the finding of a small oared warship equipped with wrought‐iron carriage‐ and swivel‐guns, a small coasting vessel armed with wrought‐iron swivel‐guns, and a larger merchantman equipped with cast‐iron carriage‐guns. While the features of the smaller vessels do not identify their country of origin, those of the larger merchantman have good parallels with known English wrecks.

© 2009 The Authors

Key words:

• shipwreck
• Turkey
• England
• ordnance
• Rhodian Straits
• Late Medieval—Early Modern

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our thanks to Loyola University Chicago and the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at UCLA for helping to fund our research. To our good friend, Dr Fred Hocker, for his expert guidance on issues of substance and terminology, we are most indebted. A special thanks also to Dr Cemal Pulak whose particular insight and wealth of knowledge is always generously shared.