During the 17th century, active trade was carried on between the
Virginia colony and the mother country. Local commodities of timber,
wood products, soap ashes, iron ore, tobacco, pitch, tar, furs,
minerals, salt, sassafras, and other New World raw materials were
shipped to England. In exchange, English merchants sold to the
colonists, tools, farm implements, seeds, stock and poultry, furniture
and household accessories, clothing, weapons, hardware, kitchen
utensils, pottery, metalware, glassware, and certain foods and drinks.
There is also good evidence that some trade was carried on with Holland,
Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, and the West Indies.
Many artifacts unearthed (especially pottery) were made in the countries
mentioned. It is believed that certain commodities were acquired by
direct trade with the country where made, in spite of the strict laws by
which the Colonial Powers sought to monopolize the colonial trade for
the benefit of the mother country.
Lead Bale Clips.--A series of decorated lead clips which relate to
17th-century trade have been found at several places on Jamestown
Island. As their name implies, these lead clips, or seals, were attached
to bales of English goods, usually woolen cloth, to attest that the
goods were of an approved quality and length, and of a given amount.
Each clip usually consisted of two discs connected by a narrow band, and
when used for marking cloth the name or initials of the maker of the
material was often incised on one of the discs. The clips, too, were
often embossed with a decorative device such as a coat of arms, crest,
crown, name or initials of a king, numerals, king's head, royal arms,
animal, or flower. Over a dozen of these small lead clips have been
unearthed, and serve as reminders of a past day when majestic English
merchantmen sailed to Jamestown laden with bales of goods from the
mother country.
[Illustration: LEAD BALE CLIPS USED FOR SEALING BALES OF WOOLEN CLOTH
AND OTHER GOODS. ONCE A CLIP HAD BEEN ATTACHED TO A BALE IT ATTESTED
THAT THE GOODS WERE OF AN APPROVED QUALITY AND LENGTH OR AMOUNT.]
[Illustration: THIS 1,300-POUND IRON PILEDRIVER USED FOR DRIVING PILES
IN THE BUILDING OF SMALL WHARVES WAS FOUND AT JAMESTOWN.]
[Illustration: BUILDING A WHARF, ABOUT 1650. (Conjectural sketch by
Sidney E. King.)]
Piers and Wharfs.--In order to accommodate such large sailing vessels,
piers and wharfs had to be built at Jamestown. A 1,300-pound iron
piledriver was found in the basement of a 17th-century building in 1955.
It was probably used three centuries ago for driving piles in the James
River during construction of a small wharf.