200 Year Old Wreck Found In Gulf

[Thagarr]

Just ran across this one mates, any time I run across a story about a wreck that could have been a pirate ship, it always grabs my attention. There are few better ways to study pirates than the wrecks they leave behind, they didn't exactly go around keeping logs or writing down all their day to day affairs in diaries. Back in 2011, Shell Oil was conducting a survey in the Gulf of Mexico when they came across an unidentified target, after investigating, they had come across the wreck of a sailing vessel from the early 1800's. While piracy was definitely in decline by then, there was still quite a bit of activity, Jean Lafitte and other smuglers were making great use of the miles of swamp land and bays and rivers along the Gulf coast. And also of course the war of 1812, the Mexican-American war, and the Spanish were still being a bit of a pain as well.

"The wood is deteriorated. It's largely been eaten away by marine organisms, but what is left is a copper shell which would have been the lower part of the hull which was sheathed in copper to protect it," Irion said.
Among the wreckage were "a rather astonishing number of bottles," particularly square gin bottles known as case bottles, as well as wine bottles, Irion said.

There were many ceramic cups, plates and bowls that didn't appear to be cargo. Some were green shell-edged pearl ware, a British import popular in the United States between 1800 and 1830.
The ship's kitchen stove was found intact.
"Very few shipwrecks have been found that still have the stove intact," Irion said. "You can very clearly see the features of the stove. It's in rather good shape."

Also discovered were an anchor, cannons and muskets. Irion said researchers have not yet determined whether it was a merchant, military or pirate ship.
There was plenty of pirate and military activity in the Gulf at the time, surrounding the War of 1812, the Texas revolution and the Mexican-American War. The buccaneer Jean Lafitte and other pirates sailed the Gulf to smuggle goods into New Orleans, Galveston, Texas, and elsewhere.

"It was actually a fairly hazardous place to be if you were a merchant ship, so it was not unlikely that you would be carrying a cannon on board to protect yourself," Irion said
Researchers believe the ship likely sank during a storm.

"We haven't seen any evidence of burning, or explosions or cannon shot. That's obvious, so we strongly suspect that it was likely a hurricane or another strong storm and it simply foundered at sea and vanished without a trace and was never reported missing," Irion said.

You can read the full story and see a few pics over on the Huston Chronicle's web page HERE