Blackfriars shipwrecks

The ship was wrecked while carrying cargo that consisted of 26 long tons (26 t) of Kentish ragstone, a type of building stone.

Marsden was able to conclude, using the location and position of the wreck, that it crashed into another vessel, a collision which was responsible for the ship sinking.

Their findings showed that the cargo included new red bricks, pipes and pottery that dated back to 1660–80.

With this information, Marsden was able to conclude that the ship was carrying materials meant for rebuilding London after the Great Fire of 1666.

The techniques used to build this ship led Marsden to believe that the state of contemporary knowledge of shipbuilding was insufficient for dating small boats.

The Blackfriars III and IV were discovered in 1970 in the riverfront extremely close to the sites of the previous two discoveries.

The wreck contained no cargo, but archaeologists, while excavating around the site, found two pewter badges, the bronze arm of a pair of shears, two larger lead weights, and an iron grapnel.