Interpreting the Past By Exploring the Abyss: Archaeological investigations of an early nineteenth-century shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Increasing deep-water oil & gas exploration, through its compliance with offshore regulatory oversight, has located significant archaeological sites in the Gulf of Mexico. These unsolved mysteries of the deep have much to tell about the unique history and culture of this region. Recently, an investigation of three early nineteenth-century shipwrecks located 170 miles off the Louisiana-Texas coast has yielded invaluable information. Following the discovery of three distinct yet unknown sonar targets during a Shell Oil seafloor hazard and archaeological survey conducted in 2011, video examination of one site, named Monterrey Wreck A, occurred in April 2012 with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Okeanos Explorer expedition. The tantalizing results of that expedition led to another more intensive investigation in July 2013 with a multi-team, multi-faceted mapping and artifact recovery effort. The privately funded 2013 archaeological investigation was affected through collaboration between varied federal and state partners, academic and nonprofit partners teaming archeologists, biologists, ROV specialists, and educators together in a public/private partnership to explore and learn more about this site. After detailed mapping of the wreck site, more than 60 artifacts were recovered, along with biological and sediment samples, intended to help identify and date the site and provide information about the environmental conditions occurring on a shipwreck at a depth of 4300 ft. During the 2013 investigation, the two nearby shipwrecks were also mapped and documented; confirming a hypothesis that the three shipwrecks are likely associated and perhaps lost during a single cataclysmic event such as a storm. Artifact conservation and analysis is ongoing, but preliminary research suggests that Monterrey Shipwrecks date to the early part of the nineteenth-century and are comprised of an armed vessel and possibly two consort cargo vessels or prizes. The 2013 expedition was broadcast live, via satellite, through the unique telepresence capabilities of the research vessel Ocean Explotation Trust (OET) Nautilus that enabled field archeologists and educators to describe the ongoing work and interact with the public. Continued public outreach includes report preparation and the creation of educational materials.

Unearthing South Australia’s Oldest Known Shipwreck: The Bark South Australian (1837)

“…British wine bottles from this period exhibit an average height and diameter of 27.5 cm and 8.5 cm respectively, feature down-tooled or flattened lips that are equal to or slightly larger than the string rim, and have an average estimated carrying capacity of 801 mL (Jones and Smith 1985:18;Jones 1986Jones :80, 2010. Wine bottles and bottle fragments of similar size and appearance have been noted on other early 19th-century shipwrecks (Cooper 2012;Horrell and Borgens 2014;Irion et al 2014;Romey 2019;Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 2021). This includes the ship Solway, which wrecked at Rosetta Harbor only a couple of weeks after South Australian's loss.…”