Mar 03 2009
Civil War Era Shipwreck Discovered During Search for Hurricane Ike Debris
I could swear we already blogged about this….
But this article was written February 23, 2009 so I know it’s current news.
A Civil War era shipwreck has turned up among Hurricane Ike debris along the bay in Galveston Texas. Apparently none of this was a surprise to the State Marine Archaeologists Steve Hoyt. “There have been nearly 2,000 ship wrecks in Texas coastal waters, with a lot of those concentrated around the Galveston area.”
Which is surprising,… maybe because we’re in Florida, but we just don’t think of “Texas” when someone says “Shipwreck.”
But apparently a surprising amount of Texas history is underwater. The bays of Galveston were particularly busy and “its possible the shipwreck has been buried in mud and Ike’s surge might have uncovered it. Or, it could just be that it had simply been overlooked until now.”
Either way - that shipwreck is OLD and could yield a treasure trove of historic artifacts. The ship was apparently made from wood, so the iron or ceramic parts and fixtures will serve as a footprint of the site. Door hinges, drawer pulls, engines, anchors, mast and rigging will all be found and sonar crews will soon begin work on the area - which will remain undisclosed to protect it from plunder.
