Block

^{Bryan Smith examines a small block from the wreck}

During the first dives of the 2006 season a single-sheave block was found sitting in plain view on the sand. The wooden sheave, or running wheel within the shell, and the wooden pin upon which it turned, were intact while the shell itself was in a remarkable state of preservation except for a largish fragment that had been lost recently from one cheek.

Of particular interest was the partial survival of the rope strop which had been spliced around the outside of the shell to brace the ensemble and take a fastening-eye.

Blocks performed a range of purposes, but most commonly they were used as leads for both running and standing rigging. A block such as this might also have functioned as part of a tackle, in which case it would have been rove through with rope to another block, to give mechanical gain in a hauling or hoisting operation. Its moderate size, however, probably means that itwas not used aloft, a more plausible explanation is that it was part of a gun tackle that was used to run out the vessel's minions for firing. This was necessary so that the flames which accompanied discharge did not set the vessel alight.