Mysterious Shipwreck Unearthed At Bottom Of Gulf

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                                         Mysterious shipwreck unearthed at bottom of Gulf






by John Pope,
The Times-Picayune
Sunday March 08, 2009
Courtesy of Texas A&M University

The stamp on a large cannon recovered from the shipwreck shows it was made in 1797 by the Clyde Ironworks in Scotland. The weapons and cannonballs among the artifacts suggest the ship was engaged in illicit activities such as gunrunning, marine archaeologists say.

Nearly 200 years ago, a ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles off Louisiana's coast. It stayed, undiscovered, on the seabed, about 4,000 feet below the surface, until 2002, when a crew happened upon the wreckage while checking out a pipeline.

An expedition led by Texas A&M University found no skeletal remains and nothing to indicate the vessel's name, where it came from or how it sank. But underwater sleuths discovered plenty of artifacts, including a telescope, pottery, French bottles, swords, English mustard jars, hourglasses, a cast-iron stove and a Scottish cannon, Louisiana State Museum spokesman Arthur Smith said.

About 500 of those pieces are to be transferred today to the Louisiana State Museum and the state Division of Archaeology.

Archaeologists will study the pieces, Smith said, and eventually the museum will display them.

In addition to receiving the artifacts, the state will assume the responsibility of solving this mystery of the deep.

"It's a tantalizing mystery," Smith said. "Who knows who was on that ship and what they were up to?"

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Coin dates to 1810



So far the only clue researchers have about the vessel's age is a coin marked 1810. That means it might have gone down during the War of 1812, Smith said, but no one is certain about that yet.

Based on the styles of the artifacts found at the site, the wreck could have occurred as late as 1820, experts said.

Not much of the ship remains. There are some sections of the hull, but marine animals have eaten most of it, said Jack Irion, a marine archaeologist with the federal Minerals Management Service.

Even though little of the vessel remains, Irion estimated that it was a two-masted schooner, 55 feet to 60 feet long.

The discovery of the wreckage is exciting, he said, because the artifacts come from an eventful period in Louisiana's history, starting shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and continuing with Louisiana's admission to the Union and the War of 1812, which ended with the Battle of New Orleans.

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'Mardi Gras shipwreck'



Because the discovery was made near the pipeline of the Mardi Gras Transmission System and because no one knows the vessel's name, the wreckage has come to be called the "Mardi Gras shipwreck."

The Minerals Management Service, which regulates development of offshore energy resources, stepped in to keep the site stable, Irion said.

To ensure it remains undisturbed, that agency isn't giving out its exact location, agency spokeswoman Caryl Fagot said.

"It's part of our mission to protect it," she said.

By the time the wreckage was reported, the pipeline had been laid, but it didn't affect the wreck "because it wasn't on top of it," Irion said. "But it was close enough to make us concerned. . . . We took over the site and supervised removal of the artifacts."

There may well be more beneath the sea floor, too, he said, adding that he isn't sure whether they would be accessible.

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Possibly a privateer



To recover pieces from the shipwreck site, scientists used a remotely operated vehicle.

The biggest recovered piece was a 6-pound cannon made in Scotland in 1797. The weapon didn't get its name from its weight, Irion said, but from the size of the cannonball it was designed to fire.

Because of the presence of weapons and cannonballs among the artifacts, as well as the absence of anything that might suggest commerce, it's possible that the vessel was a privateer, a vessel engaged in illicit activities such as gunrunning, he said.

That, Smith said, would explain researchers' inability to find any documentation about the ship.

"Merchant ships kept extensive records," he said, "but if you're a privateer, operating on the fringe, you probably wouldn't."

Irion agrees, saying the absence of such documents "may point in that direction."

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Stove among artifacts

In 2007, Texas A&M's Department of Oceanography and Nautical Archaeology Program worked with Materials Management Services scientists to bring up the artifacts, which included a salt shaker, buttons and a pocket watch as well as the stove and cannon. Before they were shipped to New Orleans, they were chemically treated to limit the effects of being submerged for nearly two centuries.

Even though the wreckage has been there for nearly two centuries, the leather on the telescope case survived, Smith said.

"Deep under water is cold and dark, so it isn't disturbed that much," he said. "There's no wave action and few marine creatures."

The stove has attracted a great deal of interest among the museum staffers, Smith said, and it's not just because New Orleanians are naturally fascinated by anything involved with cooking.

According to a Web site chronicling the exploration, scientists are wondering whether it was used to prepare food -- and provide warmth -- for the crew or just for the captain.

As the work on the ship's treasures continues, Irion hopes to find out the vessel's name, where it came from and what its role was. He is optimistic, citing the wreckage of a British warship in Yorktown, Va., in the late 18th century that wasn't identified until last year, after 15 years of work.

"Somebody missed these people," Irion said. "There were people on board who, no doubt, had families that missed these guys when they didn't return, and we need to find a record of someone who was lost at sea. That could be the clue that we need."






Pictures and information about the exploration are available at

www.flpublicarchaeology.org/mardigras.




John Pope can be reached at

jpope@timespicayune.com or
504.826.3317.