'For the Want of Them may Ruin a Voyage': Analysis of Glass Beads from Channel Wrecks, Including the Dutch East India Company retourschip Rooswijk.

Glass beads from two maritime sites were analyzed: the Dutch East India Company vessel Rooswijk, wrecked in 1740 on Goodwin Sands off the Kent coast, UK, and an unidentified vessel known as the Bead Wreck, located off Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. Both vessels were carrying drawn, lead glass beads, which are found mainly in 17th- and 18th-century contexts. The study demonstrates the value of analysing glass beads from wreck sites because the information has the potential to help characterize unidentified vessels and further refine bead chronologies at post-medieval archaeological sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]