The Knees

A number of knee riders, hanging knees of which the vertical leg follows the shape of the hull whilst the horizontal leg is bolted to bottom of deck beam, were also mapped and recorded. The use of such knee riders in ship construction was common place by the mid nineteenth century (Leigh Stone, 1993.30). Their use is also diagnostic of British and Canadian ship building techniques as the Americans still relied on wooden knees. This helps to further confirm the site as the Ayrshire with the absence of such evidence as a ships bell or builders plate.