Crop Physical Object

Accession Number
1986.008.0956
Category
Alternate object names
Herding Crop;Herder's Crop;Whip
Creation Date
circa 1620
Materials
Description
A twisted bronze or brass wire, wand-like device, with a loop at one end and a handle at the other, looks like an animal tender’s crop, to be used a short switch or whip. There were many live animals on board Atocha, including horses, cattle, goats, and chickens. Certainly, a crop to keep livestock in line would have had a use on the ship. There is no record of who oversaw the animals, but the task most likely fell to the ship’s boys. Unfortunately, there are no known parallels for this device; we can find no historical or archaeological information to confirm our ideas about it. 39.5 by 2.5 cm.
Exhibition Label
Case Caption (2023):

LOADING PROVISIONS

Juan de Veas, aboard the Santa Margarita, and Diego de Medina, on the Nuestra Señora de Atocha held the post of steward on their respective ships. In every port these officers would go ashore to bargain with local merchants for water, wine cheese, and barrels of pork or beef preserved in salt. These were the basics of the crew’s diet, and it was up to each steward to purchase enough provisions without exceeding his budget for the voyage. Fishing was only an option if the ships were becalmed.

Officers and well-to-do passengers paid the stewards to buy them better provisions. The bottle tops found on the ships would have capped glass bottles holding brandy or fortified wine. In Havana, the stewards would have purchased live animals to be butchered during the voyage, ranging from cattle and hogs to chickens and turtles. These were expensive and took up valuable space, but fresh meat was far preferable to salted.

Seeds from pumpkins, squash, chili peppers and olives, as well as nuts and dried fruit would have added some variety. However, rates, roaches, and other pests constantly attached and contaminated the food, as the gnawed hazelnut shells indicate here.
Object Caption (2023):

Herder’s Crop
Bronze wire (c.1620)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0956