A RARE 17th century gun retrieved from the wreck of King Charles II's famous man o'war, the Stirling Castle, has led to an influx of orders for a Masham company.

Ritchey-id - part of Ritchey plc - has found much demand for its robust polyurethane tags from the archaeological sector since the tags were first used to record and reassemble a medieval ship uncovered in Wales last year.

The Mary Rose Trust then ordered the tags to identify pieces of an early Greek trading vessel which has been recovered off Gella, Sicily. It then ordered more to label the rare wooden gun carriage holding the Stirling Castle's 49cwt gun.

Chosen for their durability and secure fitting, the tags were able to retain identification data despite submersion in the saline solution used to protect the fragile gun carriage during conservation.

Now on display at Ramsgate Maritime Museum, the Stirling Castle gun was designed by Prince Rupert, a nephew of Charles I. One of only eight made, it is the only surviving example of its kind, as the immense 32lb firepower often caused these large guns to crack.

The gun carriage was recovered from Goodwin Sands, off the Kent Coast, where the Stirling Castle foundered in the Great Storm of 1703.

To prevent loss of the important find, the gun carriage was rescued, as shifting sands are causing the 1,114-ton warship to disintegrate.

"We have chosen to re-order Ritchey-id tags because they have proven virtually indestructible," said Charles Barker, director of the Mary Rose Trust. "We need reliable labels, to prevent data loss during conservation. The tags remained clearly legible, even when submerged in the corrosive chemical solutions we use to conserve wet timber."

The tags can withstand extremes of weather and temperature and are also used in the forestry, horticulture, oil and petroleum industries, the fishing industry, hospitals, construction and manufacturing sectors.