"A Sudden Flaw of Wind" -The Politics, Prize, and Pottery of the British Sloop of War DeBraak

Author(s): Paul Nasca

Year: 2018

Summary

On May 25th, 1798 the British brig-sloop DeBraak was struck by a sudden squall and sank while attempting to put into harbor at Lewes, Delaware.  The unpredictable winds of the Delaware Cape may have spelled her demise, but it was the shifting political winds of war between Revolutionary France and England, coupled with the vulnerability of American shipping and a new nation’s demand for manufactured goods, that brought this warship to Delaware’s shores.  This paper examines the ceramics recovered from the DeBraak in light of these external political forces as well as the internal politics of shipboard life.  In addition, this paper will briefly reflect on the changing politics of DeBraak since her salvage 30 years ago.

Cite this Record

"A Sudden Flaw of Wind" -The Politics, Prize, and Pottery of the British Sloop of War DeBraak. Paul Nasca. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441220)

Keywords

Temporal Keywords
18th-Century

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 685