Newport Medieval Ship

Rescue

The Newport Ship was brought into a pill, or side channel, of the River Usk some time in the mid to late 1460s. The ship heeled over and filled with sediment, which acted to preserve the timbers and artefacts. The ship soon disappeared under the mud, and remained hidden until it was discovered over 530 years later.

Prior to construction of the theatre, builders placed a large steel coffer dam (like a steel fence, but underground) around part of the site. A majority of the ship remains were contained within this coffer dam, which was designed to help the builders safely excavate the sediment prior to putting in the foundations for the underground parts of the theatre. Thousands of people got the chance to look over the coffer dam and see the archaeologists working on the ship.

The ship was disassembled and raised piece by piece. The waterlogged oak timbers were well preserved, but the iron fasteners holding the ship’s hull planking together had largely corroded. Wooden nails, called treenails, were the other main type of fastener used to hold the ship together. These were better preserved and had to be sawn by the archaeologist in order to separate the pieces of the ship.