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Posted on 09/15/2006 6:48:47 AM PDT by GinJax
GEORGETOWN - A shipwreck that could be the remains of a lost Confederate blockade runner, or possibly a vessel that predates the Civil War, was found Thursday near the entrance to Winyah Bay, researchers said.
Divers from the Maritime Research Division of the S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology dove in about 13 feet of water and discovered a vessel that is about 90 feet long, with a wooden hull and a possible copper coating.
The wreck could be the Sir Robert Peel, a blockade runner that was used by Confederate soldiers to get supplies to Georgetown during the Civil War, said state underwater archaeologist Christopher Amer.
Meanwhile, a search is continuing for the Chorruca, a Spanish galleon that was lost in 1526 during a Spanish expedition to Georgetown.
"It's not the 16th-century vessel, but it is exciting," Amer said. "By looking at the magnetic signature of the vessel, we knew it was large."
The shipwreck research team combed the water for the past week, struggling against bad weather and equipment problems.
Their search focused on the hunt for the Spanish galleon, but researchers were aware that other shipwrecks are nearby.
The team did not find the Queen of the Waves, a blockade runner thought to be in the mouth of the Santee River.
No boats were known to go down in the area where the wreck was found, two and a half miles south of the jetties in Winyah Bay, Amer said.
The research team will record the coordinates of the shipwreck and come back during another expedition, Amer said.
Some small bits of wood and copper were brought to the surface Thursday afternoon.
"It's possible that the wreck came from the 18th century," Amer said. "The best way to tell is to find artifacts."
Blockade runners, which were built for speed, were used to get supplies to Southerners during the Civil War - then take cotton and textiles back to England and Bermuda, Amer said.
According to historians, the Chorruca cargo ship was once part of an expedition led by Spanish explorer Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon.
De Ayllon led a group that included men, women and children who wanted to settle one of the first colonies in North America.
De Ayllon's journey to the Georgetown area was short-lived, however, as the settlement did not thrive.
The members of the expedition stayed a short while but were thought to have moved south, Amer said.
The Chorruca would have carried tools and implements needed for settlers.
The search for the Chorruca and other shipwrecks is part of a long-term project to map about 11,000 miles of inland water and more than 187 miles of coastline in South Carolina to determine where shipwrecks from all eras are located.
Well - the civil war was 100 years after the Revolutionary
War and the scars had healed. So, yes supplies were going TO England.
BTW Georgetown has the greatest number of haunted houses in South Carolina -according to Richard Davis, the "flipping realtor" formerly A&E's "Flip this House"
Forgot to add....Sir Robert Peel founded Enland's police force - their nickname Bobbys - derived from Robert.
sp
Blackbeard's lost ship?...........or wazzit Bluebeard?.........
2 1/2 miles south of the jetties...good spot for Spanish Mackerel.
I lived in England for a number of years and found the only people who call British policemen Bobbies were American tourists. The British call them police.
Affixed to the stern of the ship was a Re-Elect Strom Thurmond bumper sticker...
free dixie,sw
Just a trivia notation on the origin of the term.
Much like the nickname Limeys - sucking limes to prevent rickets/scurvey.
:)
sp
Thanks for the haunted house info - something to do this weekend since I just moved back to the Myrtle Beach area. I did a ghost tour in Charleston about 7 years ago and it was really neat. I had no idea about Georgetown's haunted houses. Google time...
Note: this topic is from 9/15/2006. Thanks GinJax.
Note: this topic is from 9/15/2006. Thanks GinJax.
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