- May 20, 2004
- 1,721
- 152
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excal 1000
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
http://www.staugustine.com/
It's a huge piece of weathered wood, the lower half sheathed in weathered copper, other parts charred from someone's attempt to burn it.
When it apparently floated ashore during an early October storm and was pulled onto a sand dune south of Surfside Park's beach access on Vilano Beach, no one knew what it was.
Now veteran St. Augustine underwater archaeologist John W. Morris III says the entire 12-foot, 4-inch wooden object is probably a rudder from a ship that wrecked in the waters off the St. Johns County community in the 1800s.
He has asked Florida's Bureau of Archaeological Research for permission to move the well-preserved rudder before it gets "picked apart" by weather or vandals.
"There is a chance another storm could suck it off the beach or people could take copper off it," Morris said.
St. Johns County Aquatic Superintendent Dave Williams said it is difficult to protect artifacts like this, which are uncovered by wind and waves on the county beaches after storms like those in recent weeks.
"This isn't the first time. Our coastline is littered with everything from schooners to World War II submarines," Williams said. "Sometimes when they are covered back over, they are somewhat more protected."Morris is executive director of Southeastern Archaeological Services and was field director of a French-American team that spent the past 13 summers exploring the 200-foot-deep wreck of the CSS Alabama, a Confederate ship sunk off France in 1864.
Since 1996, he helped conduct the first state-approved underwater archaeological survey of St. Augustine's waters in 1996, salvaged artifacts from a 1764 shipwreck off the St. Augustine Lighthouse and helped target 142 potential archaeological sites in St. Johns County's waters.
As for the huge rudder, his guess is it came off a "pretty substantial" coastal cargo ship of between 130 and 160 feet in length.
Morris said he has heard from area ship owners about a wreck near where the Surfside beach ramp is now and did a magnetometer search on the beach a few years ago with no success. As for the rest of the wreck, it could be to the north of the rudder site, just offshore. He plans to seek state funds to look for the rest this spring.
It's a huge piece of weathered wood, the lower half sheathed in weathered copper, other parts charred from someone's attempt to burn it.
When it apparently floated ashore during an early October storm and was pulled onto a sand dune south of Surfside Park's beach access on Vilano Beach, no one knew what it was.
Now veteran St. Augustine underwater archaeologist John W. Morris III says the entire 12-foot, 4-inch wooden object is probably a rudder from a ship that wrecked in the waters off the St. Johns County community in the 1800s.
He has asked Florida's Bureau of Archaeological Research for permission to move the well-preserved rudder before it gets "picked apart" by weather or vandals.
"There is a chance another storm could suck it off the beach or people could take copper off it," Morris said.
St. Johns County Aquatic Superintendent Dave Williams said it is difficult to protect artifacts like this, which are uncovered by wind and waves on the county beaches after storms like those in recent weeks.
"This isn't the first time. Our coastline is littered with everything from schooners to World War II submarines," Williams said. "Sometimes when they are covered back over, they are somewhat more protected."Morris is executive director of Southeastern Archaeological Services and was field director of a French-American team that spent the past 13 summers exploring the 200-foot-deep wreck of the CSS Alabama, a Confederate ship sunk off France in 1864.
Since 1996, he helped conduct the first state-approved underwater archaeological survey of St. Augustine's waters in 1996, salvaged artifacts from a 1764 shipwreck off the St. Augustine Lighthouse and helped target 142 potential archaeological sites in St. Johns County's waters.
As for the huge rudder, his guess is it came off a "pretty substantial" coastal cargo ship of between 130 and 160 feet in length.
Morris said he has heard from area ship owners about a wreck near where the Surfside beach ramp is now and did a magnetometer search on the beach a few years ago with no success. As for the rest of the wreck, it could be to the north of the rudder site, just offshore. He plans to seek state funds to look for the rest this spring.
