bythesea Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 About 10 years ago I acquired a bunch of sea glass marbles from Puerto Rico (I am a sea glass jewelry maker) and was told that they were once used as ballast in holds of ships coming from Europe. The marbles would fill up the holds and be shoveled into the harbor upon arrival and then the holds loaded with rum, molasses and sugar cane. Though I have long used this as the origin of these cool beach finds and it has since become spread through the sea glass industry as the source of many sea glass marbles, I thought that the "experts" in the field may be able to clarify...... I have found no documentation to this ballast theory, but did find some on the use of marbles in buoys and channel markers....most of the sea glass marbles in Puerto Rico are cats eyes. Over the years I have expanded my collection with marbles from all over the world,,,,,Onionskins from England, codd marbles and the like. Any ideas on how marbles got tossed in the sea are greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffy Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 lots of collectors believe that yarn...me included.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steph Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 Very cool about the buoys and channel markers! I've been researching the ballast idea. I've learned some things about different kinds of ballast. I still haven't talked to any experts about it but I've seen more than one reference in newspapers to marble ballast. And some more credible sources than newspapers have discussed the idea of worthless ballast items which would just be thrown overboard vs. commercially sell-able items such as salt and iron which got cheap freight rates because carrying cargo at cheap rates was better than travelling with none. [edit: I mention that because many ballast stories discuss marbles as the sell-able type of ballast, as opposed to the kind which gets shovelled into the sea.] I saw your seaglass jewelry in the i.d. section. You should post it here too. Those are great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lstmmrbls Posted January 3, 2010 Report Share Posted January 3, 2010 I used to dig a lot for antique bottles. Living near a large Bay many old dumps sites are on the water line and slightly above. many glass marbles are found on the beaches near these dumps.(in which some were also landfills) The marbles even often appear at a certain level on the beaches during low tides. I have found many handmade German swirls in this manner. I also have gotten marbles from several of the major bottle diggers. I go to bottle shows to buy marbles as many diggers have them. I believe most marbles found on beaches were tossed away(or lost)in one way or another. And the fact that most of the marbles you find are cateyes pretty much eliminates any possibility they were ballast. I am one that believes the ballast stories are simply a marble urban myth. Glass marbles were too valuable to use as ballast and clay too light IMO. Also by the time glass marbles were being shipped to the US most ships did not have a need for free ballast. And they(glass marbles) were way too expensive to use as ballast IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delbert Posted January 30, 2010 Report Share Posted January 30, 2010 And the fact that most of the marbles you find are cateyes pretty much eliminates any possibility they were ballast. I am one that believes the ballast stories are simply a marble urban myth. Glass marbles were too valuable to use as ballast and clay too light IMO. Also by the time glass marbles were being shipped to the US most ships did not have a need for free ballast. And they(glass marbles) were way too expensive to use as ballast IMO That makes perfect sense. By the time that machine made marbles became cheap enough to use for ballast, ships had been steel-hulled with bilges instead of ballast fill for about 80 years. Before molten glass handling machinery was perfected, glass marbles were labor intensive and therefore, expensive in relation to other things that could be used for ballast. Also, ballast had to be easily moved around and anything that needed to be shoveled would have been a poor choice. That myth sounds like something made up to cover the fact that lots of what is sold as "sea glass" is acid etched, not tumbled for decades in the surf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffy Posted January 30, 2010 Report Share Posted January 30, 2010 if they were ballast i really dont think they was poured in...lots of stuff used as ballast was in containers...water is used in many modern ships.....just pumped in and around...marbles makes perfect sense...the maker had to pay a shipping charge...it wasnt free.....a ship with no ballast is hard to manuaver...so they had some kinda stuff in there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delbert Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 if they were ballast i really dont think they was poured in...lots of stuff used as ballast was in containers...water is used in many modern ships.....just pumped in and around...marbles makes perfect sense...the maker had to pay a shipping charge...it wasnt free.....a ship with no ballast is hard to manuaver...so they had some kinda stuff in there.... Well, to me marbles would make perfect sense if they had been cheap and available in huge quantities during the days of sailing ships. They weren't, though. In those days, glass marbles were handmade, one at a time. That made them a little too expensive to be used as disposable ballast. It's also what makes them collectible today. Ballast brick was commonly used, as was paving stones. The ship needed ballast in order to remain upright under sail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bythesea Posted February 3, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 I did uncover a deeply buried doc online about marbles being used in Buoys, wish I could remember or wade through my bookmarks and find it On another site I run called Seaglasslovers,,,,we have one member who collects glass, well not marble, more like golf ball size glass from the railroad tracks,,,, Other members researched it and found that they were used to transport cargo in stations,,,,laying the marbles out and putting planks on top to roll the heavy cargo......sounded credible to me..... Yes,,,,I am amazed at the "myth" idea and it is funny how it has spread through the sea glass industry since we first posted it on our site 10 years ago....guess that is how all "myths" start. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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