A row of ship rivets in the soil

Although the wooden ship had completely decayed, Basil Brown, the archaeologist who discovered it, realised that by leaving the ship rivets in place and carefully excavating down to them, he could uncover the full shape of the ship. This was shown both by the rivets and by the impression of the ship in the sand, although the wood itself had rotted away. Altogether, the ship was almost 27 metres long and 4.5 metres wide.