Examining Nineteenth-Century British Colonial-Built Ships HMS Buffalo and Edwin Fox: Two Case Studies from New Zealand

Abstract

This article examines the archaeological timber remains from HMS Buffalo (built 1813), held in the Mercury Bay Museum, New Zealand, and the preserved hull of Edwin Fox (built 1853), sitting in dry dock in Picton, New Zealand. Both ships were constructed near Calcutta (Kolkata), India. Archaeological recording methodologies included detailed timber recording, dendrochronology, archaeometallurgy, organic resinous analyses, and wood-species and fiber identification. The results are then presented to highlight differences and similarities in resource choices and technological development pertaining to ship-construction elements. This contributes to understanding how shipwrights were adapting to new environments while maintaining their learned knowledge in a 19th-century colonial context.