Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/272

 212 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. earliest mention of the common seal is on the Patent to Gorges and Mason, loth August, 1622. With the excep- tion of the fragments belonging to the Trelawney and Second Plymouth Patents, the seals of all the known Patents in this country have disappeared either from neglect or malicious intent. The remains of the Great Seal are now to be found at the Registry of Deeds, Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was originally about 4f inches in diameter. The wax composition was reddish brown and quite hard. It seems probable that some strain on the pendant split the seal into layers, and that these have been fractured and cross-fractured. Of course, there is the tradition, common to all seals, of its use for cracking walnuts. The Seal is known to have been detached from the Patent as early as 1818, when the fragments were "cemented" together by a watchmaker without knowledge of heraldry or numismatics. Apparently selected fragments were placed more or less at haphazard, and others, perhaps those of the opposite "face," were fused and poured into the interstices, making a questionable mosaic. Since 1818 the Seal has been broken in new lines of fracture. The present " other face" tells nothing definite. There was evidently a modern Tudor, or Stuart, craft " on waves," seen in threequarter profile : one mast and shrouds are preserved ; also anchor, hawsepipes and ports. There is the suggestion of a shield now lying on its side, which quite possibly hung on the mast, although it might belong to the other "face." The coat of arms of the London- Virginia Company had the cross of St. George on the escutcheon and supporters, as an allusion to London, while the ship in our case may well be an allusion to the home town. The " ship on waves " is found also on the Sigillum Aquate of Saltashe, as well as on that of its neighbour and rival, Plymouth. There is some doubt as to whether the three masts of the latter's seal were stripped, but as that of Saltash certainly bore yards, the question seems to be settled and the masts stripped for Plymouth. It is possible that the upper masts on our Great Seal were hidden by the suspended shield, which would naturally carry the Royal arms only in contradistinction to the Council's shield on the *' other face." There were two human figures, of indeterminate