As many of you suggested, shells would make very lightweight ballast. And that's not what ballast is. HOWEVER: perhaps the misconception is that cowries may have been carried in the hold for trade purposes, and thus mistaken for ballast.
Works fer me!
    Art
>
> From: mike gray <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2005/03/07 Mon AM 10:07:10 EST
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Venezuelan "Cowries On Board"
>
> Jim Miller wrote:
>
> >> Randy brought up the fact that cowries were used as ship ballast in
> >> former centuries.
> >
> >
> > I'm sure that's true, but you have to wonder how long it would take
> > to collect, say, 800 pounds of cowries, as opposed to, let's say 800
> > pounds of sand or rocks. It's one of those historical facts that is
> > undeniable, but it still sounds a bit loony to me. Then again, maybe
> > everyone back then had a big shell collection. And wait....did they
> > use live ones or did they clean them first? I wouldn't want to be on
> > any ship with 800 pounds of rotting cowries. Ugghh!
> >
> > Thanks for the info, David. I'm glad you made the ID. It can drive us
> > all a bit nuts when we find a shell that seems out of place or one we
> > can't quite identify. I love a happy ending.
> >
> > Have a great week everyone!
> > Jim
>
> The cites in following messages notwithstanding, the fact is
> that cowries would make lousy ballast.
>
> Loose dry gravel is about 95 lb/cf
>
> Rock and dry sand are each about 100 lb/cf
>
> Oyster shell (as a cargo, for fertilizer) is about 50 lb/cf
>
> A small sample (60 cubic inches) of roughly half and half C.
> cinerea and spurca with some Prunum and a few other small shells
> thrown in, and a home food scale, shows about 35 lb/cf. In
> ballast, of course, breakage and settling would increase the
> density somewhat.
>
> I have a hard time thinking a captain concerned with keeping his
> vessel upright would consider cowries as ballast. As cargo,
> perhaps, but ballast?
>
> m
>
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