Second Piece of Historic Ship Discovered at WTC Site

MANHATTAN -- Archaeologists helping to excavate the World Trade Center site have uncovered a second piece of the more than 200-year-old ship that was discovered there last summer.

The find, made last Friday, came as workers began digging up the east side of the construction area, which once housed the World Trade Center complex.

"We were expecting there to be something there," said Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist with engineering consultancy firm AKRF who was on hand for the unearthing. "But it was definitely exciting."

"Now no more of these remains are on the site," he added, explaining that the rest of the relevant area had already been excavated.

Archaeologists first noticed remnants of the ship -- curved pieces of wood buried 25 feet below street level -- last July and spent two weeks excavating the artifact, which turned out to be a 32-foot-long section of the boat's hull.

The piece that was found last Friday belongs to the very front of the ship, providing crucial clues as to its size, shape and, therefore, use, according to Pappalardo. (Visit DNAINFO for photos).

"It does give us a much better sense of the boat's original dimensions," the archaeologist, who now estimates that the ship was 50 feet long at its base and 60 feet long on the deck, explained.

Scientists from AKRF spent two days removing the newest piece, which measures roughly 6 feet long, 3 to 5 feet wide and approximately 1 foot tall.

It was still being stored at a facility in New York as of Thursday morning, but it will soon be reunited with the rest of the ship's remains at Texas A&M's Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation, Pappalardo said.

The artifacts will be saved there under stable conditions until the Port Authority decides what to do with them, according to Pappalardo. The authority might decide to undergo the lengthy process of preserving all of the remains -- perhaps to be reconstructed later -- or they might just decide to preserve some of the artifacts, the archaeologist explained.

At a panel last fall, convened to discuss the ship's probable history, experts speculated that it had been a merchant ship used to transport commodities like sugar, salt, molasses and rum up and down the Atlantic coast.

At some point it likely traveled to the Caribbean, where it became infested with Teredo worms, maritime historian Norman Brouwer said at the panel.

By 1797, the worm-damaged ship had been added to the landfill that was created to extend lower Manhattan westward.

Since the panel, Pappalardo said experts have continued to piece together the ship's history, using dendrochronology to date the ship's construction to the 1770's.c

Additionally, they have linked the wood that was used to construct the ship to Pennsylvania, suggesting that the boat -- which was likely created around the time of the Declaration of Independence -- might also have been born in the Philadelphia area.

Comments

[PearlDuncan]

05:45 PM on 08/05/2011

I researched the ship last summer and discovered her name, owner and sea adventures.

I am completing a book about the ship, so this is a fabulous find. I thank the archaeologists for their preservation work. It's interesting comparing the historical details I uncovered to the scientific information the archaeologists and other scientists are finding, as they examine the ship's artifacts.

Last summer, after the archaeologists first announced that the section found was the bow, I contacted my yacht-racing and boat building friends. One racer, a boat builder in Annapolis, described in detail how boats are docked then and now. He concluded that there's no way the section found could have been the bow. He said if the sailors who docked the ship were his, he would have fired the lot. I contacted the archeaologists and they confirmed that in fact, they had revised their assumption after studying the ship's hull, and the section found last summer was the stern.

It's fabulous to find the hull's bow, because the archaeologists had determined that a wall constructed to secure the WTC's foundation may have divided the 18th-century hull, leaving its bow pointing inland toward the eastern streets underground, and its stern pointing west, out into the Hudson River.

The adventures and fate of this ship are a dramatic New York colonial story, as dramatic as the story of her owners. Keep guessing; it's lots of fun. The ship is a mystery, and she wants her story to be told.

[left in vermont]

10:24 AM on 08/07/2011

I am looking forward to your book. The story of New York, its history and vibrancy are endlessly fascinating. Every time they dig up another great remnant, the life of the past comes into our own lives. We are lucky to have this.

[left in vermont]

10:30 AM on 08/07/2011

One other note: If the ship was put there as fill, how they handled her wouldn't be much of a concern to her crew.

[PearlDuncan]

04:56 PM on 08/08/2011

I included the maritime and technical information in a dramatic nonfiction narrative -- a historical treasure hunt, -- but I also listened to my friends in yacht racing as well as followed the details in the records I found. The ship was docked in the Hudson River before it was used as landfill, or what was then called cribbing. This ship had lots of very active, dramatic sea adventures. My yacht racing friends were correct about how the ship was docked, before it was used as landfill for the streets.

You obviously know a lot about boats and sailing. I wrote the book for sailors, history buffs, and curious readers. The research was lots of fun, because as I uncovered new details, I asked my friends in sailing about what I was finding. I'm now finishing the narrative of this book my agent calls a historical treasure hunt. I did not overlook the technical details, because the ship's owner and other colonial New York sailors did not, but I streamlined the narrative to make the story enjoyable for all readers. Thanks for your insight and your knowledge. Pearl

[farquar]

05:28 PM on 08/05/2011

Sorry, couldn't help it! "The ship was 50 feet long at its base" (?). I've never of a ship having a base. Does P. mean the keel? Not nitpicking, this is phenomenal professional ignorance.

[left in vermont]

10:28 AM on 08/07/2011

I was thinking, LOA (length overall) or length at waterline. I agree, basic maritime terminology seems called for!