Dutch Wrecks Off Florida...

[Peg Leg]

Rusty,
I am looking for a ship that maybe only the Dutch have listed.
What I really need is a description of Dutch sailing craft during the early to mid 1600's. It has to be a shallow draft ship.
What I have is about 55 feet long. It is a very long story. I also have another ship wreck but this one went down about the mid 1800,s. I also have ballast rocks that stretch for over 1/2 mile from West to East. But my main concern is the 55 footer.
Thanks.
Peg Leg

 

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[Peg Leg]

From the same link above...

In November 2002, Mel Fisher under-water archaeolists found an underwater forest near the site of of the Henrietta Maria slave ship about 35 miles off of Key West. It appears to be a burned forest of prehistoric pine land and radiocarbon cones and wood were dated as 8,400 years old. Albeit no human remains have been found, it does indicate that a habitat was available had humans been there. I predict more evidence will be discovered where there is sand to cover the artifacts. The inhabitation by the Mayas has not been ruled out. There is more to be learned than is known. However,

While doing some search work on the St. Johns River I recovered a few pottery sherds that had MAYAN markings. I asked the State of Florida people and they said NO WAY but the kep the sherds anyway.
PEG LEG

 

[Madonna of Utrecht]

Dear Mr. Peg Leg,

Thank you for your interest in this post. As I mentioned earlier, I am not an expert in the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC). Much of what I have commented on I have noticed from working on translations of document sources that often relate to Dutch shipping directly or indirectly. Many Dutch and Flemish charts for the late 16th and early 17th century are annotated in Latin, for example.

Because I have no command of Dutch, I can not offer any detailed information with regard to Dutch wreck locations in the Floridas. I strongly believe that the problem deserves greater research. I note that Rusty Sailor has provided a link to a wreck data base that might be of use.

While the topic of my last post touched on the Dutch in particular, I should add that the British were quick to adopt several elements of the Dutch game-plan when it came to sailing and trading in the Caribbean, particularly after the first Anglo-Dutch War. At this time numerous shallow draft Dutch vessel types were auctioned in English prize courts and Dutch design began to influence English ship design. For the North Sea shallop, here is a link to an excavation that gives a basic idea of this vessel type. It is argued that the shallop evolved into the famous Bermuda Sloop design:

http://www.mit.edu/people/bpfoley/shallop.html

I notice that you believe you are involved with a vessel approximately 55’ in length. If this is the case, the vessel may be of a type larger than a shallop. This keel length tends to suggest a sloop of some sort, although this is just a guess. I might also point out that during the British occupation of Florida between 1763 and 1784; the English introduced a significant number of vessels of this type to provide support for what I believe were two regiments stationed in the colony. The link below will take you to a Master’s Thesis covering the basic subject of 18th century ship types in the American Colonies. I know it is later than the period under discussion; however, one of the main sources used by this student is H.I Chapelle’s famous work on the history of the American Sailing ship. There are many very good draughts of basic ship types rigging, and hull configurations. Additionally, there is a very good summary of several archaeological sites associated with the ship types in question.

I call your attention to the Deadman’s Islet Shipwreck on page 133, it was abandoned at a careenage point and appears to be a sloop.

https://txspace.tamu.edu/bitstream/1969.1/1421/1/etd-tamu-2004C-ANTH-VanHorn.pdf

I hope this is of some use.

Very Best Regards,

Ursula Utrecht

 

[Peg Leg]

Thank you Ursula,
The drawing is not even close to what I have discovered but until I get PERISSION from the State we may never know for sure.
Peg Leg

 

[Salvor6]

There are West coast Dutch shipwrecks, most notably the Eendracht that wrecked in 1624 in Charlotte Harbor and another unidentified wreck off Baileys Bluff in New Port Richey. The Eendracht was part of Admiral Pieter Schouten's fleet that was blown into the Gulf during a storm. After capturing the Spanish vessel Juan Baptista and running his own ship aground, Capt. Hillebrandt Jansoon abandoned the Eendracht and sailed home on the Baptista. A local treasure hunter found a chest wrapped in sailcloth and covered with tar on Baileys Bluff. Inside the chest was hundreds of gold coins and documents written in Dutch.

 

[Peg Leg]

I have located an area which the AIS used as a trading post but have been unable to go there with a MD.
Maybe in the near future I can check this area out.
I have found through my research that in the beginning the AIS were only interested in the IRON pots and pans and sharp pointed objects and tools. The gold and silver were used to make trinkets. When the Spanish arrived the AIS would watch how the silver and gold were worked. This is the time that they learned that Gold had a grater value than silver. This is also the time that ALL gold belonged to the Chief of the tribe and the silver belonged to the tribemans to do with whatever they wanted.
There was a BIGGER CHIEF that lived on the West Coast of Florida. He was the Chief of the CALUSA. iF YOU WANTED TO DO SOME TRADING YOU HAVE TO GET HIS APPROVAL FIRST AND TO GET HIS APPROVAL YOU HAD TO GIVE HIM A GIFT IN THE FORM OF GOLD.
Gold is scatter all across Florida from the East Cost to the Gulf Coast. Also there are stashes of gold in and near the Indian River. Most of if it is still in chest laying in the mangroves swamps. This includes chest of emeralds which the Indians had no use for.
More later.
Peg leg

 

[Kanaz]

Chief of the Calusa / State of Florida ... sounds about the same, huh.

 

[transplant]

i was at Pensacola in 06 and they found the remains of a shipwreck a long way inshore at the navy airfield

 

[Silvestri]

I rememeber that in 2005 there was some reports out of Boca Grande of a ballast pile and relics being found down there..someone might have a lease down there in fact...anyone else have any info on this?

 

[Salvor6]

This is the Endracht that I mentioned above. The area is leased to Triton Quest.

 

[RELICDUDE07]

This may help.

 

[keegah]

Jeff would this be the 3 Dutch ships purported burned to the waterline at the Old Ft Pierce Inlet?
thank you, Dennis

 

[Darren in NC]

keegah, this is a 13 year old post, and Jeff has since passed away.

 

[somewhere on the beach]

They were digging the foundation and septic tank, and hit the ship, and the cannons and anchors were all they pulled out. The newspaper clipping showed an anchor hanging from a crane on the site.

where was this site?

 

[ivan salis]

it is a well known that the dutch often raided the spanish treasure fleets ..,.1628 is about the time of a very famous raid by the dutch on the treasure fleets