Mystery object found on Florida beach could be shipwreck from 1800s

Dec 07, 2022

Two late-season hurricanes that hit Florida’s east coast have helped uncover a likely shipwreck from the 1800s.

Buried under the sand on Daytona Beach, Florida, for up to two centuries, beachgoers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure poking out from beneath the sand.

The wooden ship, 80 to 100ft long, was spotted over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes along the Volusia County coastline which had collapsed into rubble last month due to Hurricane Nicole.

The properties had been made vulnerable by Hurricane Ian, which hit in late September, and swept across the Floridian southwest coast and central Florida.

Maritime archaeologist Chuck Meide, who on Tuesday led an archeological team from St. Augustine, Florida, to examine the beach find, described it as an “amazing occurrence”.

He said he is convinced the structure is a shipwreck because of how it was constructed and the materials such as iron bolts that were used.

Despite the rarity of the discovery, with climate change causing “more intense hurricane seasons” such finds are “happening more frequently”, he added.

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As well as removing sand and making a shallow trench around the structure’s wooden timbers, the archaeological team also made sketches and took measurements, whilst diggers used shovels and trowels to expose more of the frame.

There are currently no plans to remove the ship from Daytona Beach shores, but work is ongoing to find out more about its origins.

“We will let Mother Nature bury the wreck,” Mr Meide said.

“That will help preserve it. As long as that hull is in the dark and wet, it will last a very long time, hundreds of more years.”

It is not the only unusual item to have been exposed on Floridian shores.

Hurricane Nicole also unearthed the skeletal remains of six people from what is believed to be a Native American burial ground in Martin County, around 160 miles south of Volusia County.

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