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Post subject: Shipwreck recovery resumes
 Posted: Oct 23, 2006 - 07:26 PM
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Puffer
Joined: Dec 31, 1969
Posts: 73
Status: Offline
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Shipwreck recovery resumes
By Daniel Divilio, Staff Writer
www.delmarvanow.com Article published Oct 21, 2006
LEWES -- The recovery of artifacts from an 18th-century shipwreck and the search for the vessel's name has resumed in the Delaware Bay, and found objects are being added to a local museum's collection
The Delaware Department of State has teamed up with the University of Delaware's College of Marine Studies and Southeastern Archaeological Research Inc. to further the excavation of the wreck, which was first found in April 2005.
Researchers believe they know the name of the ship and when it sunk, but they cannot fully confirm it. There were four possible ships the wreck could be -- the Vaughn, Pitt Packet, Commerce and Severn.
"The Severn is the best candidate," said Daniel Griffith, director of the Lewes Maritime Archaeology Project.
The Severn was a merchant ship that departed from Bristol, England for Philadelphia, but sank in a nor'easter, probably trying to make safe harbor behind Cape Henlopen. Every-one on board the ship survived, but most of the cargo was lost.
After researching the period of manufacture of the artifacts found so far, researchers were able to establish a date range of between 1769 to 1775 for the wreck.
"Five artifacts of the 45,000 found gave us the date range," Griffith said. With those years in mind, they were able eliminate the Vaughn and Pitt Packet because they both sank in 1763.
The other ship left on the list was the Commerce, but since it was reported lost in Maryland waters, researches do not think it is a likely candidate.
The Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes currently has on display some of the artifacts recovered from the wreck, along with reproductions to show what the shattered artifacts looked like fully formed.
SEARCH was one of five companies that applied for the current excavation, which is being funded by a Delaware Department of Transportation grant of about $300,000.
Griffith said that SEARCH was chosen because all the divers who would be hands-on with the wreck are trained archaeologists.
In late September divers from SEARCH utilized advanced sonar and magnetic imaging equipment to get a better idea of the layout of the wreck prior to starting any of the actual excavation.
They were hoping to snap photos of the wreck as well, but water conditions have not allowed them to do so. They need a day with three feet of underwater visibility to properly photograph, but the closest they have had so far is one foot.
"We're crossing our fingers and hope we get at least one day out of the whole month that we're here," SEARCH's lead underwater archaeologist Jason Burns said.
SEARCH divers are excavating with hand-held dredges that suck up sand, debris and possible artifacts, then deposit it all into a net bag, which filters out the sand.
Once the divers fill a bag, they return it to the research boat. There the bags are emptied onto flat screens by local archaeologists who sift and pick out the artifacts from the debris.
In the fall of 2004, artifacts started showing up on Lewes Beach as it was being replenished by an offshore dredging operation. The actual site of the wreck was not found until the following spring.
The wreck is considered to be a major historical find based on its cargo and time period. The Severn sank several months after the Boston Tea Party and a couple of years before the American Revolution.
During this period, colonists participated in a boycott of British goods to protest taxes being levied upon them from across the Atlantic.
The Severn's cargo was primarily Dutch and German, much of it utilitarian in nature. The cargo did consist of some British goods, and artifacts originating from China and South Africa have been uncovered as well.
The artifacts show that even though merchant ships were still arriving from Britain, they had adjusted their cargo to meet the demands of the retailers and consumers of the time.
Some important artifacts discovered recently include a pewter warming plate, that kept food from getting cold as it was delivered to the captain, and a glass linen smoother.
"This is an exciting chapter in Delaware's history and it's unfolding before our very eyes," Delaware Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor said of the ongoing excavation.
This is the second major shipwreck discovered in Delaware waters. The HMS deBraak was discovered off the coast of Cape Henlopen back in 1984.
There are no plans to raise the Severn, like the deBraak was in 1987. The Delaware Department of State has requested that the Severn be added to the National Register of Historic Places through the National Park Service. |
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