Accession Number

1986.008.0833

Creation Date

circa 1600 – 1620

Description

A bronze mortar from the wreck of the 1622 galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha was used in conjunction with a pestle to grind or pulverize medicines, spices, and foods. This example bears the likenesses of cherubic or angelic figures. It is 9.2 centimeters tall and 13.8 centimeters in diameter.

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023):

The Surgeon

Both Cecilio de Ribera aboard the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and Juan de Mercado on the Santa Margarita were ship’s surgeons. At this time, a surgeon was often a barber who had acquired a few additional skills rather than a man with medical training.

He would have few medicines to offer. His resources would include basilicum powder (made from basil) to speed the healing of a wound and poultice ingredients for sores or strains. The lack of fresh food in sailors’ rations would lead to digestive problems in the short term or even scurvy during a long voyage. Many minor illnesses were treated with enemas, whether truly appropriate or not.

In addition, the surgeon would know how to clean a sword cut, dig out a musket ball, or even pull a tooth. He might have to go as far as amputating the limb of an injured sailor. Dipping a man’s freshly severed stump in hot pitch to seal the wound would be as close to hygiene as the operation might come.
Object Caption (2023):

Mortar and Pestle
Bronze (c.1610)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0833, 1986.008.0834