Tally Stick
Description
Light brown wooden tally stick, rectangular but roughly carved, one end has deep notches in either side.
Tally sticks as objects had more than one purpose in this period of the Royal Navy. An obvious example would be in keeping a count or a ‘tally’ of something, perhaps when firing the great guns or loading stores. Another, and the purpose of this particular types of tally, was as a marker or label nailed or tied on to a piece of equipment or dunnage, just as a ‘tie on’ white label would be used today. Tallies were usually hand carved from wooden offcuts, perhaps of pine, oak or hazel wood.
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