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Touch-hole pricker excavated from the wreck site of the BATAVIA
Touch-hole pricker excavated from the wreck site of the BATAVIA

Touch-hole pricker excavated from the wreck site of the BATAVIA

Datebefore 1629
Object number00046318
NameTouch hole pricker
MediumBrass
DimensionsOverall: 229 x 56 mm, 41.5 g
ClassificationsClothing and personal items
Credit LineANMM Collection Transferred from Australian Netherlands Committee on Old Dutch Shipwrecks
DescriptionThis object is a touch-hole pricker made of brass and excavated from the wreck site of the BATAVIA. A touch-hole pricker was used to clean rifles.HistoryAmong the many artefacts excavated from the BATAVIA site was this touch-hole pricker. Ezekiel Barker explains the use of a touch-hole pricker in his 1825 book as ;"Whenever the barrel is cleared, it is necessary that the touch-hole should be well cleared with a small feather, a piece of rag, or tow, pushed through it with a small wire or touch-hole pricker, until dry, which will preserve it for many years". (Barker, E., Twenty-Six Years Practice and Observations with Rifle Guns, 1825, page 18.)