Bermuda has hundreds of wrecks that surround the island chain and little is known about most of them. The reef system that surrounds the islands has been the end for many ships including the Stonewall wreck. The actual name of the Stonewall wreck remains unknown but plenty of other interesting information has been gained from studying the wreck further. Studies were carried out in the 1970’s by Edwin Dethlefsen and Pierce College, by East Carolina University in the 1990’s, and a survey done by Rod Mather and Jim Allan in 2012. Throughout these studies a few artifacts were found including a bone die. There has been very little written down throughout history on gaming by sailors on their long voyages at sea. However, this die shows that even though it is not well documented, dice based gaming did take place on ships.
The Stonewall wreck was first discovered in the 1950’s by Harry Cox and gave the wreck its name from the shape of the ballast pile. Teddy Tucker also took a look at the wreck but since there were no real viable materials on the wreck it was mostly left alone. Tucker did some research on the wreck in the Bermuda archives and decided that it was most likely a 17th century Spanish ship (Dethlefsen 1978:159).
A couple decades later, in 1975, Edwin Dethlefsen from Franklin Pierce College started a field school to study the wreak. The field school lasted for three weeks where excavation of the stern was conducted and documented. During those weeks photos were also taken and stitched together to create a photomosaic of the wreck (Dethlefsen, Davidson, and Buchman 1977:315-316). Besides just documenting what they could of the vessel some artifacts and samples were recovered. There were many bone remains of various animals found as well as some fruit pits representing the diet of the sailors (Dethlefsen, Davidson, and Buchman 1977:321). Many other types of artifacts were found including a few coins, glass, ceramics. The coins all dated to between the 1620’s and 1640’s. Some of the ceramic tobacco pipes could be dated to around the late 1640’s. Some other ceramic pieces could be identified as coming from the Americas from between 1600 to 1660. After looking over the information that they were able to gather Fairbanks recommended that the ship was from the Americas from around 1650 (Watts 2003:67-68).
The second study of the Stonewall wreck was carried out by East Carolina University across 1994 to 1996. The wreck was fully excavated and mapped by ECU over those 3 years and combined to create an accurate plan of the wreck (Watts 2003:69). Artifacts were also found during these excavations and were recorded in situ and collected. All artifacts were then brought back to the National Museum of Bermuda to undergo conservation. Every small detail of the vessel structure was studied to try and gain insights as to the origin of the ship. From the construction ECU archaeologists believed that the wreck might be of English make. Out of the artifacts that were recovered most emphasis was placed on artifacts from undisturbed arears of the wreck. To help dating of the wreck ceramics were particularly important, however the collected ceramics seemed to collaborate the deductions made by Edwin Dethlefsen (Watts 2003:84-86). However, once focus had shifted to other cultural materials collected including glass, silver, copper, and bone a new determination was made that the ship might have been Spanish, or at least the crew was. Artifacts like aglets, which were used on cloths instead of buttons was a Spanish custom. Artifacts such as these also pointed to the ship coming from around 1685 instead of slightly earlier like previously believed (Watts 2003:90-91).
One artifact that did not necessarily help in the identification of the vessel but is still an important example of life on board a ship is the bone die that was recovered during one of the excavations. Gaming and dice have been around for a very long time, and it would only be natural for dice to make their way aboard ships. Before the dice that we know today there were knuckle bones which were used as both dice like gaming pieces and for divination. Examples of knucklebones have been found on the wrecks at Cape Gelidonya and Uluburun from around 1,200 to 500 BCE. Another ivory die was found on a Roman wreck from around 15 CE. Other gaming pieces have been found on many other wrecks showing that gaming has a rich history aboard ships. Pieces of chess, checker, backgammon, and nine men’s morris sets have been uncovered from shipwrecks dated to anywhere between 900 CE to 1900 CE and that is just a small piece of the gaming evidence aboard ships. (Bass, Matthews, Steffy, and Doorninck 2004: 339-340) La Belle also has a few game pieces that were recovered. Some small wooden discs were likely used as game pieces, likely for games like backgammon or checkers, that show heavy use through worn surfaces. There was also what could be a chess piece found on the wreck. (Le Belle 713) The earliest example of what is considered a die today found on a shipwreck is from around 850 BCE, the Belitung shipwreck located near Indonesia.
The bone die that was discovered on the Stonewall wreck which can be seen in figure 1 is very similar to others found on wrecks from around the same time.
Four very similar dice were found on the wreck of the Spanish Rosario, which sank in 1705 possibly only a couple of decades after that of the Stonewall. If the analysis that the crew of the Stonewall was Spanish it would make since that the die found on the wreck would match those of a Spanish ship from around the same time. The four dice on Rosario can be split into two different types. Two of the dice are right-handed parabolic cubes which means that the faces with the 1, 2, and 3 run counterclockwise and have inward curved edges. The other two dice are left-handed with one also parabolic cube so the 1, 2, and 3 faces run clockwise and one has inward curved edges while the other has straight edges (Wampler 2012:59).
Unfortunately, since there is no scale in the image and there is no detailed information about the die from the Stonewall wreck it is difficult to figure out many details about this die. It is a left-handed parabolic cube die which most closely equates to a Potter type 4, and is likely around a half a centimeter to a centimeter wide (Egan 1997:3; Deagan 2002:291). It is not possible to tell whether the die is weighted, one side heavier than the others, without rolling it a few times. The die appears to have some chipping as well as some smooth or polished areas that indicate heavy use. The type of bone that the die is made from is unknown.
Although not much is known about this specific bone die it is still an interesting artifact that can tell us a little about the ship and the people that served on it. Comparing the die to the dice found on Rosario it backs up the claim that the Stonewall wreck once had a Spanish crew. It is also possible to see that gambling was probably a favorite of some of the crew. The surface of the die looks worn down and well used. Shipboard gaming has been around for a long time and this die is another example of its history. Hopefully more will be written about gaming on ships soon.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bass, George F., Sheila Matthews, J. R. Steffy, and Frederick H. Van Doorninck
2004 Serce Limani: An Eleventh-Century Shipwerck, Volume 1 The Ship and its Anchorage, Crew, and Passengers. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, TX.
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Waselkov, Gregory A., Bonnie L. Gums, and Helen DeWolf
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2003 A Second Decade of Shipwreck Research on Bermuda. Bermuda Journal of Archaeology and Maritime History, 14: 61-147.